Updated again for last night. With some friends, we popped into Marzano’s on Park Boulevard in Oakland’s Glen Park neighborhood.
All I can say is wow, were really impressed and this place moves way up on my list. Unfortunately the place is a little dark so my iPhone pics came out too dark to post but here we go.
We walked in and Jeff and I grabbed 2 seats at the bar for the girls while we waited for our table. Traci and I immediately recognize the bar manager/bartender from Cesar in Oakland as well. So we catch up, chat, order a bottle of Vermentino and ask what pizza and entrees we should not miss. He suggests a pizza and the wood-fire braised pork shoulder. At that point our table is ready.
Started with “summer string bean & heirloom tomato salad” (shaved grana padano, chile-rosemary roasted almonds, sicilian olive oil and sea salt). This was simple but amazingly flavorful with the almonds acting as croutons (a stroke of genius), the tomatoes perfectly ripe and there seemed to be a hint of sweetness coming from the olive oil. The white and green string beans, crisp and yummy. Very good start to the evening.
Next up comes the “wood-fire braised pork shoulder” in a stew of snap peas, tomato, chile, garlic and salsa…holy cow, while the pork shoulder was terrific the beans were awesome. It seems they were poached in the salsa and just soaked it all up while retaining some crispness…they could have made a whole dish out of the snap peas. And I love pork!!!
Now for the pizzas…the reason we were there. The first, which was recommended by Alex, was the “Quatro Formaggi” with mozzarella, fontina, pecorino, grana padano, crimini mushrooms, truffle oil and sage. This was amazing. The crust was thin and nicely charred with a little crispness and nice chewiness. I like. The pizza was awesome with somewhat firm mozzarella, earthiness from the mushroom and truffle oil, then the sage…this was a 96/100 if using the wine scale.
The second pizza was the “Calabrian” with roasted gypsy peppers, mozzarella, tomato, marjoram, calabrian chile and Calabrian sausage. The flavors on this were terrific - perfectly spicy without being hot, the gypsy peppers adding a nice sweetness. The knock on this was the ingredients overwhelmed the crust a little bit leaving it a little wetter than the Quatro but still very tasty. 92/100
I also sent a glass of each of the 99 La Vieille Julienne Reserve CdP and 02 Alban Reva to Alex who enjoyed both immensely…out the door with tax and tip, bottle of wine and one corkage for $30ish per person.
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