CSL Insider: The Ultimate Pizza Crawl in Omaha. Check out the top pizza picks in the city.
Pitch Pizzeria
“It’s 1000 degrees, and there is no room for error. You have to keep things moving in there. You know there’s a sweet spot that has to be developed, it puts a char on the crust which gives it a bit of flavour,” says Willy Thiesen proudly referring to the charcoal heated oven, the crowning glory at Pitch Pizzeria.
The man behind Godfather’s Pizza, opened Pitch in 2009 to rave reviews. My favourite is the shrooms pizza topped with roasted mushrooms, succulent oven roasted tomatoes, tangy Grana Padano cheese a drizzle of earthy truffle oil and herbaceous thyme cream. No errors in sight.
La Casa Pizzaria
Family owned and operated, Joe Patane started La Casa Pizzaria in 1953 after the war when soldiers were coming back talking about the pizza they had eaten in New York. Today, La Casa pizzeria is still run by Patane’s grandchildren. “My grandfather travelled around tasting pizzas and eventually came home and worked on his own recipe. Nothing with the pizza has changed,” says grandson Joel Hahn. When my steaming hot margherita pizza arrives, a short, pastry-like crust gives way to tangy Romano cheese and herbaceous tomato basil sauce.
Frank’s Pizzeria
It’s lunchtime and there are a slew of hungry businessmen feasting on slices of pizza inside the straight- out-of-New-York pizzeria in Linden Market, Omaha. With a wafer thin crust topped with a well seasoned, herb-rich marinara, fresh mozzarella and basil leaves it is easy to taste this pizza’s provenance. Brooklyn native Joe D’Elia has been in the pizza business since he was 16, and his father Frank started the business in 2003. This is New York style Italian pizza done to perfection.
This article first appeared in the Spring 2015 issue of City Style and Living. Want more food?