In a city quickly overflowing with brick ovens and Neapolitan pies, it is safe to say that Andrea Dal Monte, chef owner of brand new Park Slope pizza spot Campo de’ Fiori, is swimming against the current.
In place of the omnipresent Naples-style pizza, he serves the less fussy Roman slice — and an electric Baker’s Pride stands in for brick.
“We’re living in the 20th century — why do we need to cut down trees to produce fire?” quipped Dal Monte, a former manager at Del Posto. “Everyone can make a great pizza in a brick oven. To make good pizza in an electric oven, you need really good dough.”
Dal Monte explained that the secret to his pie is the crust, a secret recipe 15 years in the works. Unlike pies of the puffy, bubbly Neapolitan pedigree, Roman pie is often rectangular, with a thinner, crispier crust.
At Campo de’ Fiori, the crust is crunchy on the bottom and moist on top, while the pizza itself — by the pie or slice — is sprinkled liberally with typical Roman toppings such as bacon, tomato, onion and pecorino (the amatriciana, $3 per slice). The restaurant also dishes up a variety of charcuterie and cheese, all imported from Italy.
Dal Monte’s electric oven pizza is certainly delicious, but it did lack a certain smoky taste that comes from superheated bricks. But no matter, the pizza tasted exactly as it should: perfectly reminiscent of grabbing a late night snack in Rome.
Campo de’ Fiori [187 Fifth Ave. at Berkeley Place in Park Slope, (347) 763-0933]
