Review: BIGA Pizza and Beer - Bryn Mawr, PA

Note: BIGA closed on December 29, 2018. I'm hopeful that the owner will try again soon. Meanwhile, a new restuarant "Bodega" will occupy the space, but not offer pizza. See link in the comments section.

There's a lot of great restaurants on Philadelphia's storied Main Line, but this prosperous stretch of western suburbs hasn't fully participated in the pizza renaissance blossoming nationally. Other than a cluster of good pies in Wayne, such as Jules Thin Crust and an outpost of Anthony's Coal-Fired Pizza, Main Line pizza eaters have been stuck in the 90s.

BIGA opened in May of 2016, and quickly got onto the radar of local foodies when legendary Philly food critic Craig Laban wrote a review seven months later. On a Wednesday night in October, I visited with three others to try four different kinds of their 12" personal size Neapolitans.

From the outside, BIGA looks like a place that has been around forever; flat gray walls on an old boxy building. The interior, which seats about 40, has a cozy brick and wood decor that makes you instantly feel welcomed.

Owner Sean Weinberg cites Brooklyn's Roberta's and DC's 2Amys as inspirations for both the pizza and the decor, and those are both superb destinations.

Weinberg has a high end restaurant Alba in Malvern (at the Western-most end of the Main Line). Here, according to Laban, "he and chef Steve Fulmer have put a lot of energy into refining their dough (a 48-hour process that fosters complexity of flavor), a bright raw tomato sauce just touched with basil, and a series of toppings that range from traditional ('Margherita') to unconventional."

BIGA offers a nice selection of draft beers and over 80 kinds of bottled beer (though I can't understand why anyone would choose a bottle over draft beer). The Saint Benjamin Belgian Wit I had paired nicely with our pies, but there are plenty of more serious IPA style beers too.

Margherita with pepperoni

We shared as an appetizer of  the buttermilk-crusted fried cauliflower, served with an almond-thickened base of red pepper romesco sauce. It was as light as fried food can be, and the texture was perfect - delicate and soft inside without being wet or mushy. It was garnished with some nice pickled onions.

The Daytripper

Our four pizzas were:

• Margherita -  tomato sauce, basil, fresh mozzarella, olive oil; topped with pepperoni
• Classic Cheese -  tomato sauce, shredded mozzarella, Parmesan; topped with beer-braised onions
• Da Bomb - tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, soppressata, basil, Calabrian chilies
• Daytripper - mushrooms, roasted garlic bechamel, fontina, pecorino, scallion

"Da Bomb"

Like all good Neapolitans, these pies cook quickly in the high-heat wood-fired oven. 

The Classic Cheese

The Margherita is always the baseline to assess a pizzaiolo, even though we added the pepperoni to ours. The crust was perfect - ideal leopard spotting on the puffy cornicione, thin and chewy throughout, and no soggy spots anywhere. As with any great pizza, the crust was good enough to eat without any toppings.

"Da Bomb" slice

Tomato sauce on a pizza can be old-school long-cooked gravy style, or it can be applied to the pizza without any previous cooking, as it was here. I like both ways, but this style - fresh and vibrant - suited these Neapolitans perfectly. The cheese was excellent quality but kind of a role player to hold all the other ingredients together. The pepperoni was outstanding - large thin circles that curled and crisped even during the brief time spent in the oven.

Daytripper slice

After our meal, I asked the pizzaiolo about the pepperoni, and he told me it was made by DiGiacomo Brothers in nearby Conshohocken, PA.

Classic Cheese slice

The Da Bomb pizza had quite a bit in common with the Margherita, with an identical crust, sauce, and fresh mozzarella. The soppressata was not very different from the pepperoni on the Margherita, but what made this pie sing was the Calabrian chilies, applied judiciously in a way that gave it a very warm but not overpowering heat. It was a favorite of our group, an especially well-balanced pie.

We chose the Classic Cheese because one member of our party prefers standard aged mozzarella to the fresh variety (I do too, on any non-Neapolitan pie). He was intrigued by the beer-braised onions and ordered those as a topping. This pizza - in my view - is offered as a compromise to those who want their pizza to look and taste like the ordinary pies they ate before the pizza renaissance.

It certainly looked conventional, with that pale orange melange of cheese and sauce. However, those unremarkable toppings riding on this fantastic crust, enhanced by the beer-braised onions, made for a very satisfying pizza. Despite a big cheese payload, that Neapolitan crust was not overwhelmed, and like the other pies, the Classic Cheese was an ideal balance of flavors and textures.

The pie that most surprised me was the Daytripper. This white pie was just a flavor explosion; I'm not sure what kind of mushrooms were used, but they were bursting with umami, and it was doubled by the cheese blend, the garlic bechamel, and the liberal application of diced scallion.

Four pies, four winners. The crust here is wonderful; perhaps not better than Vetri or Capofitto in Philly, but you can talk about them all in the same sentence. What elevates BIGA above other Neapolitan pizzerias is how thoughtfully-chosen and well-balanced these pies are. A lot of failed pizzas result from unartful pairings of toppings that are good or great but not ideal on that particular pie. Clearly, there is enough culinary skill here to avoid any such miscues.

Ideal char underneath

I've stood in line for a lot of pizza - an hour at Frank Pepe, two hours for DiFara, three hours for Pizzeria Bianco. It's always gratifying to find great pizza where you can walk in, get seated and get a beer, and then place your order. 

We arrived around 5:30 and the place was nearly full by the time we left, but it seems you can get your fix of first-rate pie here with a minimum of hassle; you can even park at the broken (hence: free) parking meters on the side of the building.

Delicious mutant bubble

BIGA was a top-shelf experience; don't overlook this gem in the heart of Philly's Main Line.

Review: Napizza - San Diego, CA

In Rome, pizza is often made and sold "al taglio" - by the slice. A Roman style pizza is not a round pie cut into triangles, but an elongated oval/rectangle from which large slices are lopped off with a big knife, and then weighed to determine the price.

Old School slice (left) and La Lasagna slice (right)

I first experienced this kind of pizza at Forno Marco Rosciolo in Rome, and it set the standard for my expectations. That was in 2012, and I wondered why no one was making this kind of pizza in the USA. Fast forward to 2018, and it's much easier to find Roman style.

Napizza, San Diego

Philadelphia offers two authentic renditions in center city -  Alice (pronounced "Ah Lee Chay") is the first American branch of a major Italian chain, and Rione is a smaller BYOB that also offers remarkably genuine Roman pizza.

Some of the Al Taglio slices available

On visits to San Diego, I found solid Chicago deep-dish pizza at Berkeley, amazing New Haven style apizza at Basic, and ethereal modern twists on Neapolitan/American pies at Tribute Pizza. Beyond all those great choices, I found Napizza, a casual al taglio spot with four San Diego area locations for Roman style slices.

Bapo slice (left) and Truffle Porcini slice (right)

Much like the medium-thick and airy crusts on the slices at Alice and Rione, the dough at Napizza develops for 72 hours, giving these substantial slices a surprising lightness despite the crisp edges and chewy interior. Each slice is cut into two for serving, so with a dining partner I was able to sample four different slice varieties.

Bapo up close

The crust was identical on all four. It was uniformly crisp underneath, full of airy pockets, and chewy like good Italian bread in the middle. It was a bit more oily than other Roman slices, but mostly in a good way. The crust is the key component of every pizza no matter the style, and this crust is good enough to eat without any toppings.

Crispy undercarriage

We ordered four different slices:

• La Lasagna, topped with Bolognese sauce, fresh mozzarella, Parmigiano, and besciamella
• Bapo, featuring potato, bacon, fresh mozzarella, and fresh rosemary
• Old School, with house-made red sauce, fresh mozzarella, and pepperoni
• Truffle Porcini, made with porcini mushrooms, truffle pate, fresh mozzarella, and parsley

Old School slice

La Lasagna slice

Every slice was delectable in its own way, but my clear favorite was the Truffle Porcini for its rich combination of flavors. Truffles and the porcini mushrooms made this a umami explosion.  

Truffle Porcini slice

Likewise, fresh rosemary really pumped up the Bapo slice. Potatoes on pizza can become a wet and heavy mess if not executed properly, but this slice contained a judicious amount of diced/smashed potato. I'd like to have that slice topped with an egg as a perfect breakfast pizza.

Conventional gas ovens

The slices with red sauce had a more traditional pizza flavor, and could have passed for excellent slices of Sicilian style with a slightly thinner crust. We easily polished off all four slices; I could have eaten more. 

With Napizza, Berkeley, Basic, and Tribute Pizza, you can now add San Diego to the (growing) list of great pizza towns.

Review: Tribute Pizza - San Diego, CA

Visitors may not think of San Diego as a pizza destination, but two recent trips here have permitted me to find good, great, and amazing pizza.

In 2016, I found a small place that serves authentic Chicago style deep dish, by the slice, at Berkeley Pizza. I suppose there is no such thing as "San Diego style" pizza, so why not Chicago? The theme continued when I stopped in at Basic Pizza, and had a wonderful New Haven style apizza. Those two places alone put San Diego on the pizza map, but my latest visit here turned it up to 11.

Pizza geeks had been buzzing for a while about Tribute Pizza, where owner Matt Lyons fashions several kinds of pies in tribute to the world’s best pizzas, such as Apizza Scholls in Portland, Best Pizza in Brooklyn, Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, and a rotating variety of other regional favorites. 

Wood-fired oven at Tribute Pizza

Lyons says "We’re not looking to create exact replicas or take something and make it our own. We want to make something incredible as well as we can." I had been following Tribute on Facebook, drooling over pics of the pizzas and appetizers, and a visit here gave me the opportunity to visit the North Park pizzeria.

The Margherita

The large, open space is modern and comfortable, housed in a former U.S. Post Office. Wooden tables wrap around a large counter, behind which you can see the pizza prep and the large oven.

We visited on a Sunday night, and the place was nearly full. Happily, were were quickly seated and we had superb service the entire evening.

Underside of the Margherita

I regret that we did not order appetizers, but our group of five was able to try three different pizzas. As a baseline, we ordered a Neapolitan Margherita. We also opted for a pie modeled on Best Pizza in Brooklyn (which I have visited) that was constructed with fresh mozz, ricotta, wood roasted onions, parsley, and sesame seeds on the crust. 

The Brooklyn pie

Our final selection was Bronx inspired, the "Mushroom Whitestone" featuring fresh and aged mozz, garlicky wood roasted mushrooms, garlic confit, Calabrian chile, ricotta, and Pecorino. We also ordered some drafts from the excellent selection of beers on the menu. 

A Brooklyn slice

The Margherita came out first. I was immediately struck by the vitality of the red sauce. So simple yet so vibrant, the closest comparison I can make is the simple crust, sauce, and olive oil al taglio slice I had at Forno Marco Rosciolo, by the Campo di Fiore in Rome. The crust, too, was revelatory. Thin, crisp, and delicate. So light and so tasty, yet no soggy spots anywhere. No one in our party left any uneaten pizza bones.

Underside of the Brooklyn slice

Thrillist says, and we agree, that "the Margherita pie is the perfect benchmark to judge the quality of any given pizzeria. Here, it’s made with organic Bianco DiNapoli tomatoes, creamy fresh mozz, basil, and primo olive oil -- and serves as a fitting homage to its inspiration, Pizzeria Brandi in Naples." Lyons uses flour from Central Milling and his crust is more breadlike than other pizzas, in all the best ways.

The Bronx Mushroom Whitestone

The Brooklyn's Best pizza was also wonderful, and somehow the crust was even better with the addition of sesame seeds. All the ingredients were in harmony and balanced in both texture and flavor, even as I was missing that impeccable red sauce. The thin and crisp crust became puffy and bubbly at the edges, and these may be the most delectable corniciones of any pizza anywhere.

Underside of the Mushroom Whitestone

There was no drop in quality with the Mushroom Whitestone, which we enhanced with a prosciutto topping. While the Margherita pie was as completely authentic as you'll find anywhere in America, the other two pizzas seemed to start with that Margherita base and then morph into something more American; it's hard to think of a better Tribute than that. These pies are not replicas, but ground-breaking stuff that blends ancient methods with cutting edge pizza craft.

Gwen with a Bronx slice

It's important to note that, even after stuffing in the last few slices, we were persuaded to order dessert. I had the vanilla soft serve topped with olive oil and sea salt, and it was the perfect combo of creamy, cold, sweet, savory, and salty. How to make a fabulous meal even better, this was it.

I've eaten a lot of pizza and it's often tempting to say "this was the best X pizza ever."  I must say that you would be hard pressed to find better pizza anywhere. This stuff stands with the best pies I've had in NYC, Rome, New Haven, Trenton, Philly, and Chicago. As good as the sauce and other toppings are, it's the dough that makes a great pizza, and I could eat this stuff every day.

Soft serve with EVOO and sea salt

In writing about pizza and eating great pizza, the best experiences are talking with owners who have true passion for their craft. If you're watching Mozart in the Jungle on Amazon (if not, you should be), you know that the Maestro cherishes artists who play music "with the blood." By that he means that they play with feeling and passion. No amount of technical finesse can cover for a shortage of passion.

Jeff helps finish the last few slices

Some of the most inspirational pizza makers are Norma Knepp, who made such wonderful boardwalk and Detroit style pies in her tiny shop in a farmer's market, and the wonderful folks at Elio G's, where making Old Forge style pizza is a long family tradition. We had the chance to chat with Matt Lyons at the end of our meal, and he told us about his time making pies in Nairobi and what inspired his approach and how his team plays "with the blood."

"With the blood"

This was one of the top pizza experiences not just in San Diego, but anywhere. Don't miss it if you're in town, just a 12 minute drive from the Gaslamp district. Magical stuff.

Review: John's Pizza - Frazer (Malvern) PA

In October 2018, Philadelphia Magazine published an article specifying "30 Cheesesteaks to Eat Before You Die" and it included John's Pizza in Frazer PA as one of the best in the Philly metropolitan area:

It's got a huge dining room, a long counter, a vintage Pac-Man arcade cabinet in the corner, and signed pictures on the wall from Paul Anka, the Supersuckers, Kenny Rogers and Mr. Tony Danza. Know what they call that 'round these parts? Bona fides, man. This place has been around the block and back again, looks like it hasn't redecorated since 1981, and turns out a solid roster of 'steaks on crispy bread. The only option here is with onions or without, but if you need anything more than that, you're too bougie for John's anyway.

John's occupies a large rectangle building on Route 30, a particularly dreary stretch between Malvern and Exton with lots of dog kennels, sundry automotive services, a U-Haul store, a bowling alley, and a dive bar. 

Other than the tilted letters on the sign out by the road, there is nothing visually interesting to draw you into John's Pizza. In fact, I've driven by it frequently for nine years in my search for authentic pizza and never imagined it would be more than another mom-n-pop place slinging Sysco-sourced generic floppy cheesey pizzas.

A few years back, I conducted an extensive cheesesteak survey in Philly with a good friend, so I was excited to try this local entry endorsed by Philly Magazine. We stopped by for cheesesteaks and they were excellent, good chopped steak on a lovely fresh chewy roll with grilled onions and American cheese. Folks in this region of Chester County now have at least two great options for cheesesteaks, John's Pizza and The Pepper Mill in West Chester.

That might have been the end of the story, but we saw a nearby couple order a pizza. It looked great! Thin crust, clearly not generic Sysco stuff, and a deep red sauce with plenty of cheese. We vowed to return soon for the pizza, and we did.

Celeb photos from Philly TV newsmen of the past

In addition to the furnishings noted in the magazine article, we noted a group of photos of Philly TV news celebrities, going all the way back to the legendary Jim O'Brien, on air from 1970 through 1983 (trivia note: his daughter, Peri Gilpin, played Roz Doyle on Fraser). There are also framed newspaper clippings of special events at John's Pizza in the wake of the Phillies' 1980 World Series victory.

Our 16" sausage pizza

The staff at John's is casual and very friendly. Our server let me know that all the dough is house made, and that on a sausage pizza, the sausage is applied in raw chunks, as it should be.

We ordered a large (16") pizza with sausage; all of the pizza prices are modest by modern standards. Like most pizzerias, there are fountain sodas as well as a cooler of various soft drinks.

The pizza arrived and that golden-edged thin crust looked beautiful. The red sauce was a vibrant color, but we noticed it was applied in great abundance, resulting in a swirly pool of sauce and melted cheese on top. Without careful lifting on the first slice, you'd be at risk of the sauce and cheese sliding off.

This was less troublesome than it first appeared, because as the pie cooled a bit, the sauce and cheese congealed a bit and had better crust adhesion. I did eat the first bite of each slice with a knife and fork, but the rest was easily consumed without the bad habit of folding.

Despite the sea of red sauce, the crust was uniformly thin and crisp - no soggy spots anywhere. It sported really good char underneath and had a good bready flavor. 

Nice char under the hood

The red sauce, it seems, was so plentiful because it was the star of this pizza. Deeply flavored, both rich and sweet, it reminded me of the pizza at another local old-school pizzeria, Franzone's of Bridgeport. In fact, our pizza at Franzone's was also awash in a flow of wonderful sweet red sauce. In my review of Franzone's, I dubbed it "pizza soup."

Saucy pie from Franzone's

There was plenty of cheese here, but the cheese was largely a role player. The sausage turned out to be a perfect choice, because it was good quality genuine Italian sausage with ideal browning as it cooked on the pie. All told, each bite was delectable and surprisingly balanced, given the volume of red sauce.

Chris, one of the owners, making cheesesteaks (from facebook.com/JohnsPizza610.647.4297)

Our server told us that some customers ask for "light sauce" and I will certainly try one that way. John's Pizza is old school in all the right ways. You can't go wrong with the award-winning cheesesteak or the old-school thin-crust pizza at John's. We'll be back often for both.