Which came first: The pizza or the bread? A trip out to Anchorage to visit the excellent MozzaPi might recalibrate your thinking on this not-so-simple question.
After all, if you’ve been eating pizza in Louisville over the past generation, you may be excused for thinking that pizza is all about the toppings. That’s the way Derby City pizzerias roll at such iconic local pizzerias as Impellizzeri’s, Clifton’s and Wick’s, where the signature pie is piled high with such goodies as sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, bacon, and more. Crust? Nah. It’s just a vehicle for the goods.
But travel to Italy, particularly to sunny Naples where pizza was born, and you’ll find a completely different approach. Serious Neapolitan pizza is about the bread, not the tomatoes and cheese. We’re talking about crusty, chewy, firm Italian bread rolled out paper-thin, topped only lightly with fine ingredients, then set next to a searing wood fire just long enough to sizzle the toppings and mark that crusty bread with dark, sweet charred blisters.
Head East through suburban Anchorage, and just a hundred yards or so after LaGrange Road crosses the tracks on the way to Crestwood, you’ll spot MozzaPi’s new brick building that looks like an oversize barn.
The room is large, with offbeat decor touches including a couple of giant chairs and a 12-foot grandfather clock, big multi-paned windows and oversize doors that can swing open in good weather to reveal a pretty patio.
MozzaPi’s house salads are exceptional. (They’re $9 for a dinner salad, $3 for a side.) A mix of baby spinach and field greens was carefully assembled, every leaf crisp and clean, tossed with cucumber chunks, halved grape tomatoes and carrot shreds, they’re dressed with a tastebud-tingling grainy mustard vinaigrette and finished with thin slivers of Parmigiano.
We couldn’t resist coming back for a morning visit, and ate all the pastries. An oversize blueberry muffin ($3) was featherlight but gained texture from its outer grain; the baked exterior added pleasant crunch. A thick, rectangular cheese danish ($3.50) was made the old-fashioned way, built on a laminate dough formed from hundreds of paper-thin layers. A pear-ginger scone ($3.50) put a different light on the whole idea of scones with its rich, textured whole-wheat base, a twist that makes extra sugar unnecessary.
With a large soy latte ($6) and fresh, strong coffee, breakfast came to $25 plus tip. We also lugged home a big bag loaded with a big, crusty red-wheat sourdough loaf ($8), a bag of cold-smoked country-style yellow grits ($6). It’s a long ride out to MozzaPi from our city quarters, but it’s worth it. We’ll be back often.
MozzaPi Pizza
12102 La Grange Road
494-7012
mozzapi.com
twitter.com/mozzapi
instagram.com/mozzapi
Noise level: Not too loud for conversation.
Accessibility: The entrance and restrooms appear accessible to wheelchair users.