CONVERGENCE JULY - AUGUST 2016

Food Indulgence
PIZZA ROCK
Pizza Rock offers gourmet pizzas in a variety of styles which
includes classic Italian and American pizzas, all cooked in one
of the restaurant's four different ovens, including Neapolitan,
Classic Italian, Classic American, Sicilian, Roman and are
Gluten-Free. Highlights include co-owner Tony Gemignani's
award-winning pizzas such as the Sicilian-style Burratina di
Margherita (Burrata cheese, cherry tomatoes tossed with basil,
extra virgin olive oil and balsamic reduction), which won the
Gold Cup Pizza Championships in Leece, Italy, Napoletanastyle
Margherita (San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella fior di
latte, basil, extra virgin olive oil and sea salt), which won the
World Pizza Cup Naples, Italy and Cal Italia (Asiago, Mozzarella,
imported Gorgonzola, sweet fig preserve, Prosciutto di Parma,
Parmigiano-Reggiano and balsamic reduction),
which won the Gold Medal in Food
Network Pizza Champions
Challenge. In addition, a
selection of pasta,
calzones, stromboli,
antipasti and
salads are offered,
all with a focus on
authentic Italian
ingredients and
organically-grown
produce at this Las
Vegas, USA, restaurant.
DRY
At Dry, pizza is the fundamental element of the 'Neapolitan'
school: small pizza, with end crust, appropriately thick and
the perfect balance between crunchiness and soft dough. It
is made from stone-ground flour, peeled tomatoes, handpicked
in Cerignola and Gennaro Fusco's fior di latte cheese from
Agerola. These controlled raw materials go through skilled
processing, using the indirect method for making the dough
with biga (pre-fermentation used in Italian baking), and the
right time for rising, which culminates in cooking the pizza
extremely quick in a wood-burning oven. For the 'Classic'
pizzas, Dry starts with the basics: the tri-coloured magherita
pizza which gets the red from the marinara sauce, green from
the basil and white from the buffalo
mozzarella cheese, leaving
the condiments served
separately which
include prosciutto,
24-month aged
Parma ham, tuna,
braised onions
and ham cooked
in a woodburning
oven.
The 'Chef's Pizzas'
are instantly made
up with a traditional
mark and small creative
touches. The outlet is
located in Milan, Italy.
GINO'S PEAR
TREE
A lovely little familyowned
Italian
restaurant — that's
what Gino's Pear
Tree is known for in
an English village of
Woodhouse Eaves
in Leicestershire,
England. The
establishment is
run by the third
generation of the
Albiniano family.
Brothers Riccardo,
Gianni and Marco said
as the business is kept
within the family, "...good
food and service is in the blood!" As for its pizzas,
they simply recreate the authentic flavours of a true Neapolitan
pizza. The restaurant uses a hand-built brick-wood-fired pizza
oven made by 'Artistica Salentino', Italy's oldest pizza oven
company, along with freshly imported tomatoes and flour, all
from Naples, Italy. The pizza dough is kept for 32 hours and
hand-stretched to order.
PEPE IN GRANI
A little off the beaten track of
Caiazzo, roughly an hour
away from pizza capital
— Naples, Italy, there's
a much-revered
pizzeria with a three
hour waiting time if
you wish to get a
table. That wait,
apparently is not an
issue at all, because by
the end of it, you will be
fully satisfied of having
savoured and indulged in pizzas
made by Franco Pepe. His pizzeria,
Pepe in Grani, serves immensely digestible,
masterfully crafted, thick-rimmed pizzas made from the best
locally-sourced ingredients available. The pizzas are "wireless"
as all prep work is done by hand with the dough worked in a
wooden cupboard and sourdough at room temperature. Top
choices include the Margherita sbagliata, Sfizio ai pomodori,
Alletterata which has tuna apart from quality buffalo mozzarella,
Sole nel piatto and Calzone con scarola riccia which has endives
and Cetara anchovies.
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