It’s been awhile since I’ve done an all pizza special. Much as it is Nature’s Most Perfect Food, it’s not necessarily good for the waistline. Especially when I either go out and sample slices and 3-4 different spots in a row or eat whole pies by myself. Moderation and all that.

 

La Clotilde, Jerónimo Salguero 2692, Palermo – While not primarily a pizzeria, it’s focus being on classic Argentine dishes that are served in cazuelas, or casserole dishes, it caught my eye because of the offering of pizza a la parrilla – grilled pizza. I’m one of those folk who likes either absolutely paper thin crusts, or thick, deep dish styles. The in-betweens… oh hell, I just like pizza, but it doesn’t mean I don’t have favorite styles.

I have to admit, I almost walked out on this one. First, I waited a solid 10 minutes after being seated before someone brought me a menu. They weren’t that busy, it was mostly just the waiters standing around talking to each other and the cooks and ignoring the room. Second, the young man who brought the menu, tossed it on the table and said, “We don’t take credit cards, just cash, do you have enough with you?” WTF? I don’t care if someone stiffed you on the bill yesterday, that’s no way to treat a customer. I wasn’t dressed like a bum or anything. I glared at him and said, “Excuse me? Would you repeat that?” He said, “Umm, cash only, just wanted to make sure you knew.” Right….

They only have four pizzas available on the menu. They’re priced around 300 pesos, and I didn’t think to ask the size. So it was a bit of a surprise when this huge tabla covered with a near equally huge 8-slice pizza that was roughly 1 x 2 feet showed up. I mean, it’s paper thin crust and all, but still. I guess it’s not an individual sized. There was a time when I would have gamely made my way through it, had it been absolutely delicious, but not now, and it wasn’t. It was fine. The crust could have used another minute in the oven to brown, and to melt the cheeses on top. This was their eponymous Clotilde pizza with tomato sauce, mozzarella, parmesan, arugula, olives, and prosciutto, and somehow it all came out tasting completely bland. I’m not sure how you remove the flavor from those ingredients, but they did it. Yawn.

 

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The Pizza OTL (“Only True Love”), Caseros 424, Barracas – For months we’ve been hearing about this new spot along the restaurant row that Caseros has become (if you haven’t checked it out, it’s worth a trip to the 400 and 500 blocks of the avenue, the 400 end of which is the meeting point of barrios San Telmo, La Boca, and Barracas). Their claims to fame – traditional Neapolitan style pizza, a masamadre (slow fermented and using some of the old dough to help start the new batch) crust, and really interesting toppings. They’re open for dinner every night, but lunch, Sundays only. A trio of us made our way there on a recent Sunday.

We briefly talked about going for one or another of the real specialties, like the black truffle pizza, or the grilled octopus pizza, but at 1100 and 900 pesos, respectively, for individual sized pizzas, we decided against it. For the moment….

Since claims of individual size can vary, we went with ordering one pie at a time. After all, in a blazing hot oven, these don’t take that long anyway. After a bit of discussion, we just voted each round based on a few that we’d narrowed the list down to. First up, the Funghi forest, a mix of portobello, button, and pine mushrooms with red onion, thyme, oregano, cream, and goat cheese. A truly tasty mushroom pizza. But… kind of skimpy on the toppings. There’s a big border with nothing on it (albeit that that sourdough crust is a delight), and even in the center where the toppings are, they’re a bit scant. I mean, compare it, for example, to one of my favorite mushroom pizzas, at De Rosa.

Next up, the vote went to the Meatballs lamb pizza (I didn’t write the order of the words, they did). Again, same reaction. Delicious, but. On the six slices, four tiny meatballs, each smaller than a walnut, and two egg yolks, with fresh mozzarella and parsley.

And, not a surprise, since this is obviously the style they go for, the same on the Mediterranea, with tomatoes, anchovies, capers, olives, Haloumi cheese, oregano, and roasted garlic. Again, flavor-wise, great, there was just too little of the stuff that gave it that flavor.

So, where does this land us. Beautiful room, with great attention to detail, and the same with everything from napkins to salt cellars. Excellent service – friendly, welcoming, efficient. Pizzas? Delicious, but the ratio between crust and toppings was just off for us. Pricey. These are individual sized pies and the cheapest, the Margherita is 380 pesos, on up to the 1100 peso Tartufo V.I.P., the truffle one. Our three, respectively, ran 520, 530, and 410 pesos! That’s a lot for individual sized pizzas, even delicious ones. Would I go back? Yes. Would I pick it above the delicious Neapolitan pies at, say, Siamo nel Forno? Probably not, since the latter has a wood-fired oven which gives an amazing flavor and char, and, the price. But still, for Italian style pizzas here in town, a great option.

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Big Joe, Av. Corrientes 4656, Palermo – Replacing one of the entries on my old “92 Bus Pizza Trek”, Pizza Catania, this spot feels more like a lunch cafe than a pizzeria. And, in fact, pizzas, while a good portion of the menu, are no longer the mainstay of the place. However, there are two sections of the menu dedicated to pizzas – the first, to classic Argentine pies – straightforward thicker crust, lots of cheese, and the usual suspect combos of plain mozzarella, anchovy, napolitana, calabresa, and fugazzetta. The second, is their “Italian Style” pizzas, made with a masamadre, a prefermented base, like a sourdough, and here there are likewise a short list of five – anchovy & olive, a white pie with potatoes and pesto, a prosciutto and arugula, a mushroom, and one made with squash and blue cheese, which doesn’t sound remotely Italian in my mind.

They only have one size, something that comes in somewhere between what I’d call a medium and a large, and I was solo, so I decided to order it, and if it was good enough, just take the extra slices home. Not surprisingly, I went Italian style, and half of the anchovy/olive, and half mushroom. A slice of fainá is apparently gratis with a pie, sitting atop one portion. Crust? Good. No real sourdough character, but still good. Although the top is nicely browned, the bottom isn’t, and could have used another minute or two in the oven, but at least not soggy. Good quality mozzarella. Generous with the anchovies on that side. The mushroom side, I’m not convinced. First off, those orange circles are thin slices of carrots… I don’t get that at all. The mushrooms also had the sort of texture and flavor of canned ones – I don’t think they were, but I think they probably sauteed them in advance and then they sat around. And just to go further, there was way, way too much dried rosemary covering that side of the pizza. It was like having anise flavored, chewy, sawdust over it all. I mean, it’s fall here, you can get fresh rosemary in any market – use it. Sparingly. 470 pesos for a pizza, but it is a large, in their minds anyway. I ate the anchovy side, poked a bit at the mushroom side, left it. Not bad, but not impressed.

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La Particular de Virginio, Juncal 2701, Recoleta – taking over the space vacated last year by Pizza y Espuma, and that’s not going to be missed, this spot is another touting Italian style, with a masamadre, and unusual toppings to boot. Delivery order, though I’ve passed by the space and it looks quite charming. More than one reviewer has touted their pizza caprichosa, which comes with mozzarella (excellent quality), artichoke hearts, mushrooms (too few), prosicutto (too much), and an egg. Overall, very good, other than ratios being off, and… the egg could have spent another 30 seconds in the oven – I don’t mind a runny yolk, but I’m not overly thrilled with a still runny white. Not inexpensive, with a small sized, 6 portion pie (which really was the size of a more common 4 portion individual size), coming in at 410 pesos. Still, I’d have it again, and am looking forward to trying more of their pizzas here in the ‘hood.

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Antonia’s, Julián Álvarez 2773, Palermo – I can’t even…. Blond, barely cooked crust. Mediocre cheese. Canned mushrooms. Tasteless bacon. Chemical tasting sauce. And, not even what we ordered, which was a half “white pizza” with mushrooms, instead arriving as a tomato sauce version (not even on their menu), and half pepperoni, which is not bacon. They did call to say that that they didn’t have white sauce, so we knew that part was coming, and instead they offered… a “chicken pizza”. What? No, we don’t want a chicken pizza. Okay, half mushroom and half pepperoni. Well, half right, even if not what we’d wanted. And none of it anything we wanted to eat more than a slice apiece. Dumped in the trash. And expensive, even for a large pizza, at 595 pesos! [Closed]

So, all told, two thumbs down, two thumbs up, one in the middle. Not a bad ratio.

And just to remind you it’s there… the pizza map! You can click on the icon in the upper right to bring it up to full size.