aixcentric

Who has the most Aix-citing pizza in Aix? writes Susan Gish.

                                                         Let us know your favorite in the comments!

“Who has the best pizza in Aix?” I get asked this often.
“Chez Gish”, I always answer.
My Sam is an excellent home cook. He makes his own pizza dough with Italian pizza flour and a KitchenAid. I bring home fresh toppings from the marché and he creates. His pizzas are the best! I can’t eat pizza out anymore as I am so spoiled. (Nor can I eat burgers out or tarte tatin or cassoulet, or…or…) The pizza crusts at many restaurants taste like cardboard to me.

That being said, we like the pizza at Da Vito and have gone back numerous times. Mostly, Sam gets pizza and I get pasta, but this time I actually ordered a pizza…the Borgia (13€). It is what I call a ‘salad pizza’, topped with roquette lettuce after it comes out of the oven. It also had jambon on it, which is something you do not really get in the US; a pizza with ham on it. Here in France it seems that the only meat that is used on pizza is some sort of ham. (I wish someone would use magret de canard fumé et séché for example!) And also here, most pizzas have a tomato sauce base. I prefer a white pizza, but it comes with too many rich cheeses and nothing else. Speaking of cheese, this was described to have mozzarella fior di latte cheese on it and mushrooms, neither of which I tasted but it was still really good. I wanted it to be cheesier but honestly maybe I ordered incorrectly. The roquette won me over. But most importantly, the crust was crisp with some black underneath and blistering around the edges!

We couldn’t read the description on the board for the plat du jour Sam had (16.90€), except for the word boulettes (meatballs). It looked like a round calzone, though the crust was thinner and puffier than a calzone. It was stuffed with meatballs, cheese and sauce.  The sauce had a San Marzano tomato taste to it and was nicely subtle.

For dessert we split a trio di canneloni. All with sweet ricotta, one with walnuts, one with strawberry coulis and one with pistoles de chocolat. (7€).

Okay, here’s a funny story about us and wine at Da Vito.
The first time we ate there it was hot outside. Sam ordered a nice bottle of rosé and asked for ice cubes. The waiter looked at us, raised his shoulders in that wonderful French way and said, “Bof. Monsieur. Ce n’est pas une piscine pour glaçons!” (This wine is not a swimming pool for ice cubes). Ha! A great line! We completely stole that from him and use it every time we are with friends who ask for ice cubes in their good rosé. Now cheap rosé, that’s another story!

(For those of you reading this that haven’t been to Provence, yes, everyone has ice cubes in their rosé here, especially in the hot weather. I can just hear our wine friends from the US reading this going, “Susan, no! What has living in Provence done to you? Putting ice cubes in your wine!”)

Da Vito offers bottles of wine, but nothing by the glass…and will happily cork it up for you to take with you if you don’t finish. I ordered a Silvestri Castelli Romani Italian white for 17€. A blend of Malvasia and Trebbiano. Simple, relatively dry and drinkable.

We arrived on a Friday night at 7:30 without a reservation. They gave us a table and asked that we be out by 8:30 which wasn’t a problem. Others that came after us were turned away, so you might want to reserve. A person came in for take out while we were there which is a good idea if you live close enough.

Details: there are 2 locations, this one is Trattoria Pizzeria Da Vito at 8 rue Boulegon 0 892 31 14 18 – and there is also Il Forno Da Vito, at the top of the Cours Mirabeau, 2 rue Tournefort – opposite Segond. 09 82 39 59 29.
Both are open Tuesday – Saturday lunches and dinners.

Susan & Sam Gish

Donc. Who do you think has the best pizza in Aix? Comment below!