Until yesterday, Casale and Pizzavolante had been running neck and neck comfortably ahead of the rest of the pack, but now there's been a late surge from Piola and Andiamo and it's all close to even. There's only two days remaining to cast your vote for the Best Pizza in Miami over on the right hand column. (Sorry, there's no category for "No Miami pizza can possibly compare to any New York pizza, even one scraped up off the sidewalk after three days festering in the sun").
Piola?! Andiamo?! WTH? Feels like the polls are rigged. If Casale or PV don't win, I'll feel like I participated in the Iranian election. Time for some street protests.
ReplyDeleteCan I vote for Steve's or Eastside on skell quotient alone?
ReplyDeleteI tried Casale for the 3rd time today and gave the Sagaponack a 2nd chance. It sucked. Potatoes dont crisp, over-sauced, runny. I also had the scallop crudo which was pre-made and plated and had been stored in the fridge. It was very bland with the only flavor being from the oil and some lemon. Made me twice as pissed off that Burger & Beer Joint doesnt open till 5p.
ReplyDeleteI just finished an eggplant marino from Anthony's. Good stuff. Still surprised they didn't fare better with the crawl crowd.
ReplyDeleteBlind - we made a return visit to Casale this weekend too. We had nice accompaniments to a mozzarella plate (broccoli rabe, an interesting eggplant pesto) but the smoked mozzarella our server recommended (over a fiore de latte I was inclined towards) was underwhelming. Artichokes a la giudea (Jewish style) were baby artichokes cut in half crosswise and seemed braised, rather than pressed down "face-first" and pan-fried. The Catalana pizza we got was not as good as the one we got on pizza crawl - good, but lacking the same crispness of crust.
ReplyDeleteChow - I've enjoyed Anthony's on prior visits too, they just didn't have a good showing when we visited. Big group, busy night at the restaurant, not the best pizzas I've had there.
Which further confirms one of my "lessons learned" - it is not easy to make consistently great pizza.
The title of Best Pizza is certainly not in this group of nominees. Danny's vote for Steves is as good as anyones.Frod is right on, it is day to day
ReplyDeleteIm sorry but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I just dont like the pizza at Casale. Yesterday's pie was the 2nd runny, oversauced pie I've had there and the cheese was lost in the sauce. It tasted like sauce and anchovies, thats it. On our Crawl, the only one that really stood out to me as a great pizza was the funghetto and the next time I got that one it sucked. Big time.
ReplyDeleteLook, on paper the pizzas at Casale sound awesome. It just doesnt come together in the final product for me though. I liked the mozzarella plate I tried there and the accompaniments but the scallop crudo was almost insulting to eat for $14. Im 99% positive that yesterday was my last visit to Casale. It just doesnt do it for me. Great crust, yes. No way that pie is better than Spris though. Sorry.