I'm old enough to admit I was there when pizza was first introduced in Manila.They called it a pie but it wasn't a dessert.
They said it was a meal, but it had no rice, so people didn't think it was filling enough.
It was made out of flour and had cheese and salami but it was not a sandwich.
People thought it was fast food. But it wasn't fast enough.
Since then, I've had the pleasure of enjoying pizza in different incarnations beyond the Shakey's and Pizza Hut experience. And rather than focusing on what pizza is not, I've come face to face with what pizza should be.
In Naples, the reputed birthplace of pizza, purists consider only two kinds of pizza to be authentic: Pizza Margherita and Pizza Marinara. There are very specific rules that dictate what should go into a Pizza Margherita: virgin olive oil, tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella and fresh basil. It should be kneaded by hand and baked in a wood-fired oven. And the crust is saggy, not firm nor crisp like the popular thin crust that I've come to like.
Needless to say, I enjoyed Neapolitan pizza immensely, but that's not really conclusive. Like the lady told me at the wine store in Toronto, when I asked for a particular cabernet that we enjoyed on the cruise, "Honey, everything tastes good on a cruise."
So when my buddy told me about a pizza place with a wood-fired oven that was just opened by a Neapolitan family here in Toronto, I expected only the best. It's called Pizzeria Libretto and it's on the west end of Toronto, on the fringes of Little Italy and Little Portugal.
I went there with my cousin and her family and Pizzeria Libretto was exactly the way my buddy described: a little neighborhood restaurant that was packed with customers. Fortunately, we only waited 20 minutes and were seated near the open kitchen where we could see everything prepared.
We chose a wine from the list that was described as 'pizza friendly' and proved later on to be so. It was a merlot from the Primitivo winery that was medium-bodied with a light bouquet and a hint of blueberries.
For appetizers, we ordered calamari, an arugula and formaggi salad, plus a small order of meatballs for my godson. There were three large meatballs and my godson got to enjoy only one of them. The rest were gobbled up by us grown-ups because they turned out to be incredibly good.
Finally, when the pizzas arrived, I have to say they were no foodstylist's dream. They were asymmetric, charred at the edges, and true to Neapolitan tradition, had a saggy crust. But after one bite, I felt transported back to Naples. All that was missing was a view of the sea and the topless sunbathers on the beach.
