“Pizzeria Ortica” is hip and happening and the latest addition to the Anton Boulevard shops just east of the Westin South Coast Plaza, in the space formerly occupied by “Turner New Zealand” — a name that I didn’t understand when it was here and still don’t now that it isn’t.
But first, in the interest of full disclosure, I have to reveal my pizza prejudices.
Former New Yorkers like me spend their lives, however short or long, in search of New York-style pizza. It’s one of those things we think about, we dream about, we can hardly think of anything else.
But here is the irony about New Yorkers and all our whining about pizza. A New York pizza isn’t a world-class pizza at all. It’s a simplified, cheesed up, overly-oiled version of Neapolitan pizza — thin crust, as it should be, but covered with 2 1/2 pounds of mozzarella, a half pound of pepperoni and enough olive oil to lubricate a Big Block 454 in a 1970 Corvette.
I love it, gotta have it, never leave New York without it and by the way, if you’re looking for the best slice in Manhattan, go to Sacco Pizza on Ninth Avenue and 54th Street. It is a religious experience, but you can never, ever tell your cardiologist you went there. OK, fine, but if New York pizza is not the gold standard, what is?
If you truly want to find where pizza royalty resides, you go to Naples — the world capital of pizza. It is not a coincidence that the first pizzerias that you would recognize as such only opened in Naples centuries ago.
“Pizzeria Brandi” supposedly opened in 1780 and is still in business today, believe it or not. I first went there when I was 16 years old, which was a frighteningly long time ago, but I can still taste it and savor it, and the crust … the crust, I’m sorry …I can’t do this right now.
