The Great Pizza Showdown!! (March 5, Cont'd)

In my last post, we got serious about museums.  In this post, it's time to get serious about food (it's tough, but somebody's gotta do it!).  In Japan the previous month, we had a bit of Foodie Fun by eating and blogging our way through The Great Ramen Showdown!!.  We decided to maintain that spirit of friendly competition in Italy with an informal "Pizza-Off" between two of the most famous pizzerias in Naples: Di Matteo and Sorbillo.  

This was a totally un-sponsored, anonymous competition - we appointed ourselves as judges, and walked into both places as your average American/Singaporean tourists (this was a tough act for us, you know).  We ordered, ate, and reviewed.  The staff had no idea what we were up to - and my mangled Spantalian (Spanish-Italian) probably wasn't up to the task of explaining it, even if I wanted to.

The two pizzerias are just a block or two apart on Via dei Tribunali, but our stomachs weren't big enough to try them in rapid succession.  So we started with lunch at Di Matteo, which looks just like every other restaurant/shop front along the street, except for the crowd of anxious pizza-eaters, waiting to be seated or to get their take-away orders:

 

We were quickly spied by one of the waiters, who was Asian - and began speaking to Kee-Min in rapid-fire Japanese.  We dredged up the few Japanese words we remembered from our trip in early February to get the ethnicities sorted out, and just like that, Kee-Min made a friend.  [Proving, once again, that a smile, good humor, mixed languages, and a few hand gestures will get you everywhere.]  Our new waiter friend made sure that we got seated promptly, despite the restaurant's obvious popularity.

The dining area was actually much larger than we'd expected, extending to the side and up onto the second floor.  The setup was simple - cheap tables and chairs, plastic tablecloths, and house wine served in plastic cups.

We didn't actually get any photos of the wine, since Stanley pictures must be alcohol-free.

 The food offerings were also straightforward, and we ordered a margarita pizza to share (just 3-4 euros!).  About 15 minutes later, this arrived at our table:

NOM!  See Stanley at the top there?  Even he's trying to sneak a bite!!

Having already drooled over the pizzas that were being delivered to the surrounding tables, we were ready.  We dove in the moment our waiter put it down on the table.  In short order, we turned that into this:

I would be lying if I claimed that we didn't enjoy this pizza.  But I also cannot tell you that this was no question the best pizza we've ever eaten oh my goooooodnesssss.  Definitely can't do that.  This is what we noted:

1. The crust was very thin, with a thicker, grabbable crust on the perimeter.

2. The bottom especially had a slightly charred taste.

3. There was a modest amount of cheese. 

4. The sauce was very mellow - not sweet, not salty, not acidic.

5. But there was a lot of it - which made the center of the pizza very wet.  In fact, if you cut a traditional triangular slice, you wouldn't be able to pick it up because the center parts would flop and splat back onto the plate.  The entire center of the pizza had to be eaten with a fork and knife.  A spoon probably would have worked, too.

Pizza preferences are individual; turns out Kee-Min's and mine are pretty well aligned with each other, although ours may not match yours - and ours don't particular match Naples', either.  Our opinions of the aforementioned properties:

1. Fine.

2. Ehhh....OK - could take or leave.

3. Perfect!

4. Pretty much perfect.

5. Waaay too much sauce!

Regardless, we were glad we went.  Our experience at Di Matteo was fun, we were thankful to have found/gotten a table at such a pizza institution, and our tummies were full.  We headed off to the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli to burn off some calories.

We spent the entire afternoon there, and when we stumbled back out into the (fading) light of day, it was about 6 PM.  Our second pizza stop, Sorbillo, opened for dinner at 6:30.  We were just a short walk away, so we headed over and joined a mixed group of locals and tourists to wait for the doors to open.  

Sorbillo is to the left of the Enoteca (see the "ENO..." sign). 
See me and my pink jacket sitting on a planter, waiting for the doors to open?
(Next to the kegs...)

This time, we opted to get one pie each.  I chose mushroom:

Kee-Min ordered some meat-y thing, and when that wasn't available, he chose a different meat-y thing.  But they also didn't have the second meat-y choice, so I think he eventually had to settle for a third meat-y thing, although we couldn't quite figure out why.  In retrospect, we think that they already had a batch of the most popular pies just finishing up in the oven (based on the short time between when we ordered and when we got the pizza).  This is practical, but only for the most popular pizzas.  Maybe only the real Italians get to order whatever pizzas they want, and the tourists (or at least, the tourists who are there early) have their choices limited to whatever is just coming out of the oven?  We're still not sure. 

Now, what is terribly anti-climactic about this post is that...we can't declare a winner.  To be honest, the Sorbillo pizza wasn't all that different (to our taste buds) from the Di Matteo pizza.  We liked and disliked the same things about each: the flavors and ingredient were fresh and tasty, but the thin crust and excess sauce made the pizza soggy in the center. And we just don't prefer soggy pizza.  But pizza preferences are individual, and we'd still urge you to give one - or both - a try if you ever happen to find yourself on Via dei Tribunali in Naples.  These pizzas are a great way to fill up on some genuine Italian fare for a great price (3-4 euros for plain, 4-7 for toppings).

Unable to declare one pizza shop victorious over the other, I am forced, instead, to cop out and declare us as the winners of the day's pizza challenge.  We were, after all, the ones who got to enjoy not one, but two of Naples' most famous pizzerias, in the same day.  And with that, we rolled ourselves back to the hotel, fought with the internet for a little while, then admitted defeat and went to bed.  We had plans for a trip to Herculaneum the following day.  And that, my friends, is a post you won't want to miss!