Gioia Pizza

Dorothy and I were looking for a pleasant lunch in the neighborhood and decided to try the San Francisco outpost of Gioia Pizzeria on Polk Street, which has been getting rave reviews. The Scoutmob lunch discount didn't hurt, either.

The menu isn't extensive, but it has a wide enough range for varied tastes.

We didn't have to ask for extra plates to share.

We started with the antipasti salad. This is so much tastier than a plate of separate ingredients.

Antipasti Salad

Our pizza wasn't spinning at the table, but the stand elevated it and kept it from crowding us at the small table. It was a little salty, but the cheese was evenly distributed and there was just the right amount of sauce.

14"Cheese Pizza

Our server was friendly and attentive. He was already heading for the plates when I asked for clean ones for our pizza.

We probably wouldn't get the pizza again, but the salad was excellent, as was the service. Have you tried Gioia? What did you think of this restaurant?

Bring on the Mootz @ Mozzeria

Update 2022: Mozzeria has currently closed their brick and mortar (we miss you!), but you can still visit their food truck! Check out their schedule https://mozzeria.com/menu-foodtruck/ and eat on the hoof. 

Welcome to Mozzeria! They first wowed us with their offering at last year's Street Food Festival (an amazing La Mia Oca Burrata ), and we finally made it to the resto to eat our way down their menu. Mozzeria is a smallish cool, clean and quiet place to grab a thoughtful well-made dinner. J.K. and I were waiting outside at 5:30 on a Wednesday evening when they opened so we got a table, even without a reservation. Phew!
Mozzeria has wine and an array of non-alcoholic drinks. So I opted to get a Pink Lemonade with Thyme to start the meal. It was pink and delicious, just see for yourselves.While waiting for our food to arrive, we perused the art and decor (and fellow diners).

Housemade Pink Lemonade with Thyme

Party of one? Welcome!

Money trees!

Original Art.

Old School, New School Pizza Tools.

 We were doubly lucky since Mozzeria has a $20 3-course special menu available on Wednesday nights. This includes your choice of an appetizer, a pizza and a dessert. How could Tea Time resist this deal? We didn't! We chose one $20 dinner and then opted to order a second appetizer and a pasta main dish. Somehow we also ended up with two desserts!

If you've been a faithful reader, you won't be surprised that we got the Fava Leaf Salad as one of our appetizers. It's got so much going for it, just in the name! Salad (we love it!) and Fava Leaves–my chance to introduce J.K. to these flavorful and luscious greens. This salad takes it up a notch, as you can see we had to leave two photos in our post just so you can get a look at all the goodies hiding in this creative presentation.We also got the Mozzeria Bar, which is a slab of Mozzarella in a golden, crunchy deep fried shell with Pomodoro sauce and basil. This happily paired with our healthy salad and we were in appetizer heaven. Our new motto at Tea Time is "Can't go wrong with fried cheese!"

Avacado schmear, fava greens, pink grapefruit

Goat cheese, toasted nuts, thin sliced beets!

Oooey, Gooey yummy Cheese.

Mootz with red sauce.

We chose the Pizza Margherita for our $20 dinner entree. This is foldable pizza, the kind with the wood-burning oven crisp crust and the perfectly light toppings of red sauce and cheese. It's a big size, but with a thin crust that makes it not too overwhelming on the carb front. The Pea Agnolotti  pasta dish was right up our alley as well, featuring white beans, plump two bite raviolis, crispy pancetta, basil and fresh tomatoes. Our server poured a rich broth over our pasta dish tableside.

We're going back to try the Duck Pizza, but we started with the classic Margherita for our first visit.

Pea Agnolotti-- a new to us pasta dish with broth.

As for dessert, we picked the Bombolini which are simply the best doughnuts ever. Our dessert plate came with a schmear of dark rich chocolate and little clouds of whipped cream to contrast these hot sugary delights. This was the dessert which we chose for the $20 meal (fava salad/pizza/bombolini). Then, somehow, J. K. and I ordered a second dessert. Really, we didn't mean to! But luck and chance brought us the Mozzeria Brownie. Which isn't just a brownie! This dessert dish features a plethora of ingredients to mix and match. Caramelized banana, vanilla ice cream, a slightly spicy brownie, fruity sauce, whipped cream and nuts!

Bombolini -- lemon  / cinnamon / chocolate anglaise

This dessert is just labeled "Brownie" on the menu, but it's so much more!

The staff and chefs at Mozzeria are friendly and fun. Overall each dish was presented in a thoughtful and lovely fashion, in addition to being quite tasty. Their webpage suggests you make a reservation, and while Tea Time got lucky with a table, if you want to eat there on a weekend, make sure to get your name on the list!

Our Pizzaiolo Poses With The Oven

Fold your pizza, it's the polite thing to do.

After all that food (especially the two desserts) we decided to walk most of the way home. On the way, we saw many interesting sights, including a (literally) handicapped parking meter and a fancifully decorated car.

San Francisco is an awesome place to live (and eat). You never know what you'll find around the corner. It took us a while to find Mozzeria, but they certainly lived up to our memories of the SF Street Food Festival* dish they had on offer at last year's event. Let's hope they choose to participate again! But even if they don't J.K. and I are already planning our next trip to the Mission to get some more Mozzeria!

*Hey,  if you're ready for a day of eating, let us know! We'll be there... walking up and chowing down all day at the food festival on the 17th of August. Make sure to get your passport to flavortown!


Update:

We finally made it back to Mozzeria, this time for lunch, and our long-awaited duck pizza. We started with salad, of course. Specifically their Kale Salad featuring:  squash / blue cheese / pumpkin seed / grapefruit and dressing schmears on the side. They make everything picture perfect at this resto!

Our work of art salad, delicious and beautiful!

This is a cheese-less pizza, served with hoisin sauce and greens on the side. If you add the veggies, folding your slice is a must, to keep them from falling off. We were delighted to find Mozzeria open for lunch! Their pizza is a perfect meal for an hour lunch break, since it's hot out of the oven in just a few minutes. It's an awesome deal as they're currently knocking down the price of your pizzas, some are only $10 each. So don't worry about a reservation for dinner when you can choose your seat for lunch!

Duck Pizza!

Gussied-Up Slice

You need a red sauce? I'll give you a red sauce.

Happy Month of Hearts and Candy everyone! You may be looking for something to make for the Imzadi in your life, or you may be hosting a party. Everyone loves an excuse to party! I was in a bit of a quandary about this what to get/do for/buy/find/make/idk/what the hell/thisisallcommercialismanyway erm, Holiday. I had an idea about something to buy, but it was shot down. I certainly don't want to have a Homer and the monkey card experience.

Homer: "Don't worry, honey. I've got something really special planned for Valentine's Day."

Marge: "It's not that monkey card I found in the car, is it?"

Homer: (flash back to Homer looking at the Monkey card and thinking Marge will LOVE it because he Loves it.)

Homer: "Wouldn't you like to know!"

Yikes.

I decided on something that can't fail. Food. Even though Dan is not remotely a foodie, there are things he likes to eat. Such as pizza rolls. He gave them up (unprompted!) since they are full of scary unpronounceable not-really food products. So I will finally make him some. Well, they are semi-homemade. I am going to share the part I am making from scratch, which is the tomato sauce. This sauce can also be used as a chili base, or spoon a ladle full over pasta and garnish with cheese. It's a quick one (compared to a sauce simmered all day), it takes about an hour all told. This is a great recipe for your repertoire if you say,

 "I don't know how to cook". *side bar*

Whenever I hear that statement, I feel the Seven Stages of Grief for the speaker.

1.shock and denial

2. pain and guilt

3.anger and bargaining

4. depression

5. working through

Hopefully our conversation leads to both 6. and 7 for us. Acceptance and Hope.

How can you not cook anything? What do you eat? That seems impossible!  I feel terrible that you don't get to eat food made with your own hands! Really?! You cannot cook AT ALL? How about a sandwich? Okay, well Toast that cheese sandwich and you're cooking. A Grilled Cheese Dude! Oh man, that really sucks that you burn bread. Okay, well, have you tried an easy tomato sauce recipe? How about this one! Really, it's simple. Very hard to burn, well okay, not hard to burn, but easy to leave the burned part In the pan and just eat the good stuff. Yes, YES, I would be Happy to come over and help you make it. Phew.

So much emotion inspired by what we eat!*

My XL pizza pocket. I have been cutting off pieces for lunch this week.

If you'd like to make and freeze your own pizza rolls, you can cheat like I did and buy premade pizza dough from the store (TJ's). I'm making 3 kinds, pepperoni/cheese, plain cheese and plain pepperoni. Of course they will all feature the red sauce (recipe below). I am making lots, so we can eat some now and I can freeze some for him to take home. If you have questions about how I assembled the rolls or anything else please make a comment below. You'll have lots of extra sauce, unless you're making chili. I purchased more pizza dough and made Large pizza pockets as well (see above).  Plus I also have 2 small jars in the fridge, so if I want pasta later this week I'm set.

Simple and Pretty Quick Tomato Sauce
Ingredients
Two largish carrots
1 largish yellow onion
10 sticks of celery
10 mushrooms
1 t each salt/pepper (t= teaspoon)
1 T Italian seasoning (T= tablespoon)
4 medium vine tomatoes or 6 Romas
1 large can of tomato paste (16 or 18oz)
olive oil
2 cups of water (or broth)

I used a mini chopper to create a uniform mess of all the veggies.This will speed up the blending later- you want a tomato sauce, so you're hiding the other flavorful mirepoix inside. If you want it to be chunky, chop the veg by hand. Brown the veggies with salt/pepper/Italian seasonings. Once the excess moisture is gone (add olive oil or water if the mix gets too stickin' on the bottom of the pan before the mirepoix is cooked) add your fresh tomatoes and tomato paste. Taste it. Add more seasoning if you want. Also, add garlic to the veg mix if you like it--which I do, it just doesn't like me. D'oh. Add more water or broth if you want it to be thin or if it gets too bubbly while it's simmering. If you feel like it's Too watery, keep the lid off and turn up the heat while stirring until some water goes away. Let it simmer (that's low heat people) for a little bit if you have time, but really it's ready to eat/use right away. Bon Appetit!

Ready to blitz in the mini chopper.

Blitzed and ready to cook down.

My flavors, add chili powder instead of Italian for chili.

Fresh tomatoes if available+paste.

Immersion blend at the end, add water/broth as needed.

*btw, this recipe is actually VEGAN. So go have your little freak out if you need to... otherwise sit down and enjoy your veggies!

Whole Foods Pizza - in honor of National Cheese Pizza Day

What can I say? It was getting late, I was hungry, and I had a coupon. I usually get my slices at Napoli on Polk, but I was closer to the Pac Heights Whole Foods and I had a BOGO from Chinook Book, so I gave it a try. I took my slices home to reheat, as they would have cooled off on the way, so that may have made somewhat of a difference.

My first choice was the white pizza. It had a cottage cheese (I think) base, with rounds of mozzarella on top of slices of tomato on top of basil leaves, so it was more of a Caprese. Later I discovered the third round of mootz stuck to the bottom of the foil separating the two slices (see naked tomato in picture). The crust was thin, but nowhere near crisp.

 The cheese slice didn't look very enticing, but I didn't want two of the same thing. I know I can't expect every pizza to be a stunning experience, but this was more of a soggy-crusted melted cheese experience. You can check out some great cheese pizza experiences at Serious Eats in honor of National Cheese Pizza Day.

I grew up in New Haven, CT, where pizza is taken as seriously as religion. Or maybe it is a religion. Arguments between the advocates of the various pizzerias can get pretty heated. The restaurants themselves don't have a problem with each other, but their customers are fiercely—and sometimes combatively—loyal.

My family almost always went to Sally's on Wooster Street, with an occasional visit to Pepe's or The Spot. The last time my childhood friend and I went to New Haven, though, we hit town at 9:00 on a Saturday night. Wanting to eat, not stand in line for two hours, we went to Ernie's in Westville. Immediate seating and New Haven pizza. We were happy.

In the future, I will go further afield to Napoli, which makes an old-fashioned New York street window pizza, or Victor's, which serves a very crispy crusted pie. Both also have a full menu of Italian specialties. Check out Scoutmob, LevelUp, GoPago and Chinook Book (requires buying the coupon book in advance, though) if you want to sign up and get deals for food and restaurants around San Francisco without having to buy a deal in advance!

J.K.