Pizza News

Undici Restaurant in Rumson NJ is home of New Jersey’s best Pizza Napoletana.  The pizza is made fresh to order, in a piping hot wood fired oven.  To make NJ’s best pizza is an art form, one that requires as much form as it does fresh ingredients.

According to Victor Rallo, owner of Undici Italian Restaurant, the sum of a pizza is not greater than its parts. In other words, all of the ingredients of a pizza have to be made from La materiale prima, Italian for best materials, and it starts with the flour.

Ingredients Used to Make the Best Pizza in NJ

Undici’s Pizza Napoletana is made with imported Italian “double zero” flour and extra virgin olive oil.  Rallo advises at-home pizza chefs not to skimp on the flour.  “Pay a little extra for better quality flour,” says Rallo, “you don’t have to import Italian double zero flour, but using a higher quality flour will make a big difference in the taste and texture of the crust.”

Next is the sauce. A thin coating of San Marzano pureed plum tomato sauce is spread over the crust of Undici’s Pizza Napoletana.  Those who don’t have time to puree their own tomato sauce at home can look for canned sauces that say ‘made from real San Marzano tomatoes’. “Of course it can’t compare to home made sauce, but the San Marzano tomatoes offer a taste that can’t be beat,” says Rallo.

To create the silky smooth texture of melted cheese, Rallo only uses Bufala mozzarella, made from milk collected from Italian water buffalo.  According to Rallo, this cheese melts well in high heat and has much more flavor.  High quality Bufala mozzarella can be found at select Italian specialty stores.  Rallo imports his from Italy.

“The hardest part of pizza making is keeping the fire burning at the right temperature,” Rallo said.  At Undici, a wood fire stove reaching temperatures of almost 800 degrees cooks his pizza to perfection. “There’s no thermostat,” he said. “If it’s too hot, you burn every pizza. If it’s too cold, you don’t get the proper rise, the proper color. Getting the top heat and the bottom heat proper is a process that took 2,000 pizzas to get it right on this oven.”

At home, Rallo recommends cooking pizzas at about 400 degrees while keeping a close eye on its progress.

Of course, for those who would rather not try their hand at making authentic Pizza Napoletana, Undici Restaurant in Rumson is serving up the best pizza in NJ every night of the week.  Undici offers 5 varieties of their mouth watering pizza; Bianco, Arugula e Prosciutto, Filetti, Margherita, and Originale.

When Red Bank-area residents think of pizza, recently the first thing that usually comes to mind is fresh Italian ingredients cooked to crisp perfection thanks to the restaurant who has pizza making down to a fine art, Undici Taverna Rustica.

Undici Restaurant is known for having the best pizza in New Jersey, and after the recent Asbury Park Press article featuring Undici’s rustic pizza, it is no secret why residents continue to hail Undici as the best.

Besides its rustic Italian interior, Undici owner, Victor Rallo, has a classic Italian centerpiece, a wood burning brick oven. Italian brick pizza ovens are a staple in Italy, where they are able to run almost a hundred degrees hotter than Undici’s, which runs at 700-800 degrees. Compared to commercial gas ovens that run at 500 or 550 degrees, the brick oven provides a whole other measure of heat and the slightest hint of smoky flavor.

In order to make the classic Naples-style pizza, Undici must keep the fire burning at the right temperature, no easy task. Since there’s no thermostat, Undici chefs have another way of testing the temperature. If the oven is too hot the pizza gets burnt and if it is too cold the pizza doesn’t properly rise or obtain the proper color.

“Getting the top heat and the bottom heat proper is a process that took 2,000 pizzas to get it right on this oven,” Rallo said.

Pizza all Napoletana NJ

Rallo is able to bring the type of pizza you would find while roaming the Italian countryside in Naples, the home of pizza, to your dinner plate at his Undici Restaurant. Undici successfully brings authentic Naples-style pizza, one of the best things you can eat, across the Atlantic. Undici pizza are circular pies that are inspired by one of the two popular types of pizza found in Italy, the ‘old-fashioned pizza Italia.’

Using only ‘la materiale prima’ or the best materials and ingredients for making Undici pizzas, Rallo sets the bar high. Classic San Marzano pureed plum tomato sauce, imported Buffalo Mozzarella, fresh basil, Italian flour, proscuitta di Parma, arugula, pecorino Romano cheese, and every other ingredient is picked because of its freshness and flavor.

Undici’s Italian pizza flour, perfect for cooking at high temperatures, is not bromated or bleached and contains no preservatives, caramel malt for color, or rising agents. The imported Buffalo mozzarella melts well in high heat and remains sharper and softer than other cheeses, perfect for the best pizza in New Jersey.

“A proper pizza is in a sense gourmet,” Rallo said. “It’s simple, but it’s gourmet.” Undici Restaurant makes pizza an art, just like it has been in Italy for centuries. Rallo successfully ups the quality of pizzas in America by making them truly Italian at heart.

To view Undici’s Italian inspired menu visit http://www.undicirestaurant.com/

The recent Asbury Park Press article “Local Pizza Makers Toss Up Tips for Making the Perfect Pie” featuring Victor Rallo and his authentic Pizza Napoletana at Undici confirms what our taste buds have known all along: Undici Taverna Rustica makes the Best Pizza in New Jersey.

The hand selected Italian imported ingredients, the all wood burning oven, and the uncompromising quest to make the best is what makes the Pizza Napoletana at Undici Taverna Rustica the Best Pizza in New Jersey. Owner Victor Rallo, with the help of Undici’s pizza consultant Anthony Mangieri made hundreds of this authentic Pizza Napoletana before getting New Jersey’s best pizza just right. Mangieri recently re-opened his famous NYC pizzeria Una Pizza Napoletana on the West Coast in San Fransisco, but not before helping Rallo perfect the pizza at Undici.

Victor and the now famous pizza were recently featured in the Asbury Park Press, talking about how to make the perfect pie. But this isn’t the first time the Asbury Park Press have given its readers a taste (and a peek inside) of Undici’s Pizza Napoletana. The Asbury Park Press has raved about Undici’s pizza, having claimed the pizza “can satisfy even the harshest pizza critics of NJ,” in past articles. And the pizzas at Undici have only gotten better with time, much like it’s extensive all-Italian wine selection (the largest in the state), but that’s a story for different time.

You can read the reviews of some very satisfied pizza-goers on the Reviews page, on Yelp, or just stop by and taste what everyone is talking about.

[LINK to the full article on APP.com] http://www.app.com/article/20100922/LIFE01/9220301/Local-pizza-makers-toss-up-tips-for-making-the-perfect-pie