Brigantessa introduces fun pizza shapes to menu
Chef Joe Cicala at Brigantessa sure knows his pizza.
While the restaurant, which opened in October, has a menu that includes Southern Italian dishes in general, pizza is one of the main focuses. Cicala is introducing new, playful pizza shapes to the establishment with a secret menu only for customers that are in the know about these new specialty dishes.
Cicala holds his pizzas to the standards of the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, or True Neapolitan Pizza Association. These new shapes adhere to the rules from the association and bring some added fun to the Brigantessa menu.
Check out this video of the pizzas:
According to PhillyMag, those shapes include:
- La Conchiglia (The Shell), an herb-dusted crust that is baked without toppings and allowed to rise like a pita, then cut open and served brimming with clams steamed in white wine with garlic, parsley and red pepper flakes
- Il Meravigliao (The Marvel), a half-calzone, half-pizza pie that is stuffed with sheep’s milk ricotta and topped in thirds with buffalo mozzarella and basil, roasted mushrooms and olives
- Calzone, a classic calzone stuffed with sheep’s milk ricotta and sliced salame felino
- Pizza Fritta (Fried Pizza), pizza dough that is folded in half, stuffed with sheep’s milk ricotta and sage, then flash-fried, served with a generous pour of bagna cauda, a creamy anchovy-garlic-parsley sauce
- Il Cannolo, a cannoli-shaped pie that is wrapped around a hearty filling of house-made pork sausage, roasted mushrooms and smoked mozzarella
- Pizza Tranchetto (Log Pizza), a white pizza that is topped with buffalo mozzarella and sheep’s milk ricotta, then rolled into a stuffed baton and baked, served topped with a simple salad of mixed chicory greens and shaved 24-month-old prosciutto, sprinkled generously with grated pecorino
- La Montanara (The Mountaineer), a traditional Neapolitan pie prepared on a crust that is flash-fried, then topped like a traditional margherita and baked off
- Vesuvio, representing the famous volcano that buried Pompeii, a pizza that is topped with a central dome of fior di latte cheese then enclosed beneath a second crust, topped with tomato sauce to evoke lava and served flaming tableside thanks to a generous pour of grappa and a match.
Will you be trying these new pizzas from Brigantessa?
