de Gustibus

Yesterday evening we'd been invited by Danilo for pizza at his latest venture, the de Gustibus pizzeria, which he opened a few weeks back. Again, hubby had to 'earn his keep' by taking some photos for Danilo to use on his website & Facebook. We'd texted Danilo in the morning to check what time he wanted us there to which his reply was, 'pomeriggio alla sette o sette mezzo' (pomeriggio being afternoon, this made us chuckle somewhat as to Danilo's concept of time; maybe that's why Italians are always late for everything). So we set off at about 7 & got stuck behind the slowest car ever, she refused to overtake the MAMIL ahead of her (Middle Aged Man In Lycra for those not 'in the know'). Luckily, she turned off for Castellabate and we were able to proceed at a more reasonable speed to our destination.

We've eaten at de Gustibus once before but the pizzaiuolo has changed since then. The last one was an Italian-American who made a fair pizza, but nothing spectacular. The new guy, Marco, is a huge Pugliese with flattened palms that have obviously been making pizza for years. Of course, when we arrived there was no sign of Danilo & no-one was expecting us so I shot into the car park to take some pics of the sunset, as it's always nice to view it from a different location and it really was quite dramatic as a storm was threatening too. By the time I walked back Danilo had arrived & indicated that Marco was going to be giving a pizza making class to some tourists who had obviously been asked to turn up specially for the evening. I made a quick exit as I am not the most domesticated of wives and the kitchen at Il Sogno is really hubby's domain (although I DO make a mean risotto).

Pizzas made, they were put in the oven for 90 seconds and no longer, in true Napolitano tradition, each one cooked to perfection. We ourselves opted to go for a plain & simple Margherita, which Marco produced in almost no time at all but it was probably the best one I've ever tasted. Washed down with a glass of Casa Bianco, it was savoured all the more because it was a 'freebie'. And to end the meal, we had a slice of Danilo & Maryda's son Matteo's chocolate cake from his birthday celebrations of the evening before (sorry, it got eaten as soon as it was placed in front of us, so no pic).

Yes, I know this isn't a Pizza Margherita either, but we were hungry!