Review: Nonna Trattoria - Cusco, Peru

Need more evidence that we're living in a Pizza Renaissance? More than 12,000 feet above sea level in Peru is the city of Cusco, which was the hub of the Inca civilization 2500 years ago. 

Cassandra, Mike, Tom, and our guide Efrain. See the Inca stone walls!

The same indigenous people who built Machu Picchu used their advanced stoneworking skills to construct buildings that are still intact today; many buildings in Cusco have Inca walls in their ground levels. 

Exterior shot, again the Inca walls

In this relatively remote and high altitude place, our tour group set out for pizza and found a trattoria offering Neapolitan style pies!

Nonna Trattoria is near the center of Cusco, and like so many other buildings (including the Marriott hotel), it is built on Inca walls, visible from both the interior and exterior. Inside, it's a cozy place with two dining areas. 

We sat at a table where we could watch the pizzaiolo making the pies. We ordered some local Peruvian beers and ordered a variety of personal size Neapolitan pizzas, steering clear of some options that were overloaded with toppings.

Inca wall pattern on the beer glass

A local Cusco dark beer

Perhaps it was an adjustment to baking Neapolitan pizzas at high altitude, but the pie man did something I've never seen - he did a parbake on the crust alone, then removed the crust to add toppings before the finishing bake. 

Underside of the crust

It was a slow process, because the small wood-fired oven could make just one pizza at a time and we had a big group.

Jody and Jamshid

Because it was late and we were very hungry after a day of vigorous hiking, we inhaled the pizzas. The pies were nicely baked and tasty, with some good fresh toppings and some interesting chorizo on one one pizza. 

There were no fundamental flaws in these pies; the flavors were in balance, there were no wet spots or soggy crust areas. By Italian or American standards, though, the pizzas were pretty pedestrian. There was no puffy cornicione or leopard spotting to the crust. In fact, the crust was what you might expect from a frozen Neapolitan or the best frozen pizzas you can get at Trader Joe's.

Cheri, Debra, Ken, Pat, Flora, Senthil

If you're in Cusco and craving pizza, it's a solid choice. Good savory flavors riding on an adequate crust, it filled our bellies and the service was great, all in a building where Incas once ruled.