Tony's Pizza Napoletana - San Francisco

Best: Calamari

1570 Stockton St, San Francisco CA
(415) 835-9888
Parking: limited street parking
http://www.tonyspizzanapoletana.com/

Last Visited: June 19, 2011

Food: 4 to 5 stars
Atmosphere: 3 to 4 stars
Service: 4 stars
Price: $$ to $$$

I went to Tony's after seeing the restaurant featured in Sunset Magazine's top 10 pizzeria's in the Bay Area.  Plus, I've watched Tony Gemignani on Food Network enough to know his name and that he's won a lot of awards - 9 times in fact as World Pizza Champion.

It turned out that I had timed my visit with the North Beach Festival, and that brought in a huge crowd to Tony's.  Fortunately, I avoided the hour long wait by finding a coveted seat at the bar.  The menu can seem a bit overwhelming initially - pastas, pizza, and calzones.  There are several different types of pizza available - and mostly, they differ by cooking style - Classic American is a 550 degree gas oven.  Pizza Romana is a long thin pizza cooked in a 700 degree electric oven.  Sicilian Style is cooked in a 550 Degree gas oven and Coal Fired is cooked at 1000 degree.  Tony's is known for the 73 margherita pizzas that he makes daily - no more, no less.  Sadly, they had run out of those about an hour before our arrival, but the bartender recommended another margherita pizza to us which he said tastes the same and even he couldn't tell the difference between the two.

We started with bread and dipping oil.  The bread was crusty on the outside and soft on the inside.  I really enjoyed that perfect texture and moist quality of the bread - not oily, not soggy, just moist.   Extra virgin olive oil, EVOO with sweet picante peppers, and EVOO with minced garlic - these three were great accompaniments to the delicious bread.

- Calamari Fritti - Available traditional or calabrese (spicy) style, this calamari is beautiful.  I would give it five stars. Served with two lemon wedges and aioli, the batter is so light and yet, it's flavorful and crunchy.  Over the years, I've had a lot of calamari, and this was by far, one of the best.  Beautifully golden, the calamari was cooked just perfectly - still tender.  The amount is plentiful and can easily serve three to four people.  Delicious!  $11

- Pizza Margherita - The pizza crust is just a firm on the outside and super soft on the inside.  Rolled thin, it still held up to the toppings without getting moist on the bottom, but if you held a piece in the air, it won't stand by itself.  The San Marzano tomato sauce is sweet and balanced with sea salt, fresh basil, fresh mozarella chunks, and extra virgin olive oil.  The combination is so fresh and light, that I managed to eat three slices even after the calamari.  Slightly burnt in random areas on the bottom, you have to like a smoky flavor.  Otherwise, you might find it overwhelms the pizza.  If you like your pizza to be more on the saucy side, you'll enjoy this a lot.  I give it four stars for the sauce, cheese, and complex flavors from simple ingredients. $16 ($19 if you purchase one of the 73 made daily)

The bartender was super friendly and kept refilling our glasses.  The atmosphere is really classic with darker wood.  It's an elegant setting, but during a festival day, it was a lot louder than I would expect it to be on another day.  I also really like the Ed Hardy design made special for Tony on their pizza boxes. 

While parking can be a bit troublesome here, I would gladly come to Tony's to try out some of their other pizzas and calzones, which they offer both baked or deep fried.  Had it not been for the slight burnt crust of the pizza, I would have given them a solid five stars.  Tony's left a very good impression on me.  I look forward to trying them again some time.  Yummy!