To be filed under the header of: Things I could’ve told you months ago…
1. Hunt’s Ketchup will not fly at Kennywood.
2. The Pirates are not for real.
3. Antonio Brown’s Oakland honeymoon will end quickly.
4. One does not ever actually gotta regatta.
5. Pizzeria Davide will be very good.
The first four are, as the Germans would say selbstverstandlich — that is to say that they are self-evident and require no further explanation.
But in a year that has seen a raft of quality pizza shops open around Pittsburgh (and with more on the way), Pizzeria Davide, the Strip District pizzeria from DiAnoia’s Eatery chef and co-owner Dave Anoia, arguably had the highest expectations, and hence the most to lose, given his reputation in the local restaurant scene, and that it opened nearly a year later than originally anticipated.
Connected to the rear of their mothership restaurant on Penn Avenue in the Strip, it’s a completely different experience. There’s a walk-up/takeout window under a bright red awning next to green and white building exteriors — evoking the Italian flag — and picnic tables, a cheerful oasis on a sunny day when taken together amidst the looming old Strip warehouses. Beer, wine and cocktails are available.
Mr. Anoia touts the signature pizzas as “Old World” style — no reference to Naples, Rome or Palermo, but rather Lebanon, Pa., where he grew up on Pete’s Pizza. The pies are layered first with with sliced, sharp provolone, tangy red sauce and finished with basil, parmesan and oregano.
He takes that base and adds another hometown favorite, Lebanon sweet bologna, along with a fresh hot pepper relish to create an absolute must-try pie that envelops every bud on the tongue.
For the unfamiliar, Lebanon sweet bologna is a “slightly fermented, smoked beef” that “also beckons with a seductive scent, a little sour and a hint of sweet and smoke,” as Post-Gazette dining critic Melissa McCart recently wrote.
It looks like salami and when cooked up it takes on a nearly purple hue, and that funky mix of flavors is perfect with the aforementioned base pie, and is complemented by the aromatic heat of the pepper relish, the fragrant basil and a crispy thin crust with the perfect amount of singed black flakes.
We annihilated an entire pie ($25) and our group nearly arm-wrestled one another for the final piece.
Other highlights: The "Meatball Bomb," which is wrapped in mozzarella and pizza dough, sits in a pool of marinara and is topped with pesto. Bigger than a large man’s fist, when ruptured the bomb detonates with a garlicky meatball blended from pork, beef and veal. The recipe comes from the grandfather of Davide’s co-owner and Anoia’s wife, Aimee DiAndrea. Her grandfather was a cook during World War II and made the meatballs for Army brass.
I’ll be the first to concede that at least superficially, $14 for a cheesesteak sounds like the price 2 Chainz would pay for one on "Most Expensivest” … but man, was it good and the extra care and quality can justify the sticker shock. The house-baked buns are the delivery vessel for a gooey, griddled mix of chipped sirloin and ribeye, a house wiz made from American cheese, Velveeta and milk, and sweet caramelized onions.
The staff was consistently pleasant and, needless to say, they’re off to a fantastic start, but there is still room for some consistency.
On a separate visit, an old-style pie with hot sausage was fine, but not necessarily mind-blowing, as the sausage was surprisingly bland. Likewise, the fried dough balls with anchovies ($5) was disappointingly all dough and no ‘chovies. The dough was fine, but there was no real essence of anchovy flavor. The Panzerotti, an $8 fried calzone, sounds like the kind of thing that dreams are made of, but unfortunately was just OK and a total mess to eat, especially when sharing.
However, after a sun-soaked Sunday Funday in the Strip, a feast at Pizzeria Davide was the perfect salve to soak up some afternoon cocktails and enjoy one last bit of summer bliss before girding for the work week ahead.
Pizzeria Davide: 2551 Penn Ave. (rear), Strip District; 412-904-4139; https://www.pizzeriadavide.com/.
Dan Gigler: dgigler@post-gazette.com; Twitter @gigs412
First Published: August 15, 2019, 4:00 a.m.
