I came across some interesting theorizing attributed to Sam Sifton about “Pizza Cognition Theory”…the theory that the first pizza you encounter as a child forms your concept of what pizza is. This is supposedly the pizza by which you hold all other pizzas to as a standard. If this were true, I would think all pizza should be greasy, slabs of cheese and mass produced dough accompanied by ski ball, video games, soda and animatronic animals. Thankfully the pizza cognition theory is not entirely true, as evidenced by the true pizza perfection I have found since my early days at Chuck E. Cheese birthday parties.Like people everywhere, I adore pizza. Folding a thin New York slice in a paper plate and eating it on the sidewalk at 12 AM is a delight. Swooning over a fork and knife California pizza topped in seasonal arugula, prosciutto and peaches brings tears of joy. My true pizza love admittedly is with traditional wood-fired Italy style pizza.
Maybe pizza cognition theory just took hold for me a little later on. At 19, I had the fortune of going to the Italian peninsula to study, where pizza is everywhere and nothing like its gooey, topping laden American cousins. True Italian pizza is about a good flour dough, not over worked and flattened thinly (thicker bread known as foccacia is treated almost as an entirely different category of eating). The shape is mostly an imperfect round circle, though I remember a few squares. Some are done with tomato sauce, others only cheese, but no Italian pizza is ever smothered in either. They are fired in brick ovens, where the crust quickly heats up and forms delicious bubbles of charred goodness from the heat. Pizza in Italy is ordered as a primo piatto (first course, often in place of pasta), and it is served in a size suitable for one person to eat the entire thing.
With only few minor California twists, this uncomplicated Old World style is what you will find at Pizzeria Delfina. Like the Delfina mothership next door that serves up regional Italian cuisine, Pizzeria Delfina brings authentic Italy to 18th and Valencia Streets in the San Francisco Mission. There is no toping list and no extravagance, the choices are like any trattoria menu, Quattro Formaggi, Salciccia, Fungi, etc.
On my most recent visit we ordered the Panna and “Clam Pie.” The Panna embodied simplicity, consisting of tomato sauce, cream, basil and shaved parmigiano. A variation of the typical Italian Frutti di Mare (seafood) pizza, the “Clam Pie” presented delicious cherrystone clams with tomato, oregano, pecorino, and hot peppers for kick. Both were quite good and crispy, with perfect bubbled char from the oven. Restraint with all ingredients was excercised, emphasizing all their flavors as opposed to overwhelming your tastebuds with a greasy, salty overload.
Pizzeria Delifina comes closer to my ideal pizza perfecto than most others. In short, it is the simple ingredients united on a crust charred in fire that make this kind of pizza my favorite.
