Pizza News
Best Pizza in New Jersey Satisfies NY Times and Asbury Park Press
January 20th, 2010
Two months after reinventing their entire pizza menu, Undici Restaurant in Rumson is winning over the hearts and stomachs of pizza lovers throughout NJ. Undici set out to make the Best Pizza in NJ, and now customers and food critics say they have done just that.
Undici’s new pizza is true, authentic Pizza Napoletana, a rarity in most parts of NJ. According to Undici’s owner, Victor Rallo, it’s what goes into the pizza that really counts. While most Pizzeria’s in NJ use canned tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella, Undici’s Pizza Napoletana strictly uses ingredients imported directly from Italy. Those ingredients are:
“Bufala Mozzarella has ‘the magic’ other mozzarella cheeses don’t,” says Rallo. While regular mozzarella is made with cow’s milk, Bufala or Buffalo, Mozzarella is made with milk from Italian water buffalo. “The milk from water buffalo is creamier, and melts in your mouth,” explains Rallo.
Another distinguishing ingredient in Undici’s Pizza Napoletana are the San Marzano tomatoes. Used by tops chefs around the world for their thicker flesh, fewer seeds, and stronger taste, San Marzano tomatoes are widely considered to make the best sauce in the world. Pizza lovers can learn more about the ingredients used in New Jersey’s Best Pizza by visiting: http://www.pizzanj.net/ingredients/san-marzano-tomatoes/
Customers and members of the press agree; this is the Best Pizza in NJ. The NY Times said the pizza is “terrific” and “you can hardly go wrong with combinations like arugula, grape tomatoes, mozzarella, and more of that prosciutto.” The Asbury Park Press raved that Undici’s Pizza Napoletana “can satisfy even the harshest pizza critics of NJ.”
New Jersey’s best pizza is made unlike any other pizza. The oven is heated with wood only, no gas or coal. Different types of wood are used for their varying burning properties, which can withstand heats of 700 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature used to cook Pizza Napoletana.
Margherita Pizza
Famed Pizza Guru, Anthony Mangieri served as Undici’s exclusive Pizza Consultant and helped the staff adjust to making pizza in the extreme temperature of the wood burning oven. “You can’t make, in my opinion, the same flavor with coal or with gas,” says Mangieri. “There’s nothing beautiful about it. The heat from a coal oven is not gentle. It’s very dry, it’s very overpowering. With wood, the oven reaches temperatures of 700 degrees Fahrenheit.”
According to Rallo, it was no small change fine tuning the formula for his new pizza. “We started on a Monday and it was almost a disaster, but we quickly learned from our mistakes and were back at it on Tuesday. After about two weeks and 500 pizzas, we were ready to make the change and were confident everyone would appreciate our new authentic Pizza Napoletana.”
Undici’s new pizza menu now consists of five Naples style pizza choices; Originale, Bianco, Margherita, Filetti and Arugula e Prosciutto. More information about each pizza is available at http://www.pizzanj.net/
About Undici Taverna Rustica
Undici Restaurant is an authentic Tuscan style Italian restaurant in Rumson NJ, designed with ancient stone, wood, tile and plaster. The restaurant features Tuscan cuisine in an intimate and classic setting. The restaurant is located on West River Road.
