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And the winner is ...

Pepe Nero emerges as Prague's pizza champ

By Dave Faries
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
February 27th, 2008 issue

VLADIMÍR WEISS/THE PRAGUE POST
Pepe Nero's chef Antonio de Filippo shows his wares.
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JAN PŘEROVSKÝ/The Prague Post
Delivering a pizza at New Town's finalist, Marzano.
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And then there were four.
Last week, we chronicled rounds one and two of this year’s pizza tournament, a single-elimination battle in which 16 hand-picked restaurants vie for championship honors.
The rules, to briefly recap, are simple: Participants know nothing of the event. We visit them anonymously and grade pies based on preset categories using a scale of 1 to 5. Those accumulating the most points in each round advance, the others drop out.
Because judging is based on only one pizza in each round, a bad moment can ruin even the best restaurant’s chances — regrettable, but such is the nature of tournament play. And surprises sometimes occur as we work from 16 to eight to the last four contenders.
Well, three anyway.
In a tournament first, Pulcino managed to forfeit its shot at the finals. We dropped by at 8 p.m. on a Tuesday — well within the usual dinner-rush period — and found the doors open, but no one available in the kitchen. The chef, it seems, had stowed his apron for the night and skedaddled home.
Too bad, for the little place turns out consistently (and surprisingly) good pizzas: cracker-thin crust, decent toppings, sauces blazed with herbs. Simple pies, certainly, served in a room so casual that gym clothes would be in order, yet worth a look.
Pulcino’s departure left Jerry’s alone to fend against the big boys. The curious Řepy diner, however, never really stood a chance.
Jerry’s specializes in unassuming pizzas, the kind once prepared by mom-and-pop neighborhood joints in 1960s America — the days before restaurants invested in wood-burning ovens and the word “gourmet” appeared on menus. On this occasion, a young staff member scorched the crust just enough to add bitter notes to the experience.
So, as expected, Marzano and Pepe Nero coasted into the finals, the former by showing off a meaty quattro pizza of beef, chicken breast, pepperoni and ham. Pepe Nero countered with a beautiful example of pepperoni. Densely flavored meat starts as if slumbering, but quickly flickers to life. The peppery heat never swallows up the taste of ham, however. This allows the smoky, sweet and hot combination to balance good mozzarella and a pulpy tomato sauce.
The decider
Despite sharing similar advantages — location, slick interior and the cash to purchase high-quality ingredients — the finalists rely on distinctly different philosophies.
Pepe Nero draws an Italian crowd, thanks to native ownership and a flair for authenticity, which includes a chef imported for the purpose of tossing pizza. Marzano, on the other hand, is part of an English chain. It trains locals to bake and cheat a bit when it comes to the presentation of traditional pies.
Both, however, rolled through earlier rounds by serving well-constructed, beautifully balanced pies.
So, for the last visit, we decided to select a random pizza and add one element. This little rebellion from the established recipe would measure the restaurants’ willingness to adjust herbs, spices and other ingredients in order to cope with whatever extra item we tossed on.
Or so we thought.
Neither place balked. Marzano’s “sloppy Guiseppe” and Pepe Nero’s carabinieri easily shrugged off minor alterations. So the championship round became a battle of crusts, cheese, seasoning — the basics.
Both threw relatively thick, beautifully baked dough and reasonable cheese. Marzano’s kitchen muted the natural tartness of its sauce with a noticeable helping of herbs, while Pepe Nero sought complexity, building up and down from roughly pureed tomato and earthen flavors up to the bright, spearmint snap of basil. From this, hand-torn olives and rich pepperoni roamed in bursts.
Enough for a victory? Well, the spicy beef on Marzano’s creation presented a warm, gritty, nutmeg background. But a tad too much salt crept into the mix at Marzano. And the kitchen faltered when it came to the set-up, shorting the pizza of red onions and green bell pepper.
The result: After four rounds and 35 pizzas, Pepe Nero emerged on top, champions of the 2008 tournament — by our measure, the best pizza in Prague.
There’s a price to pay at this Old Town Italian hangout, mind you. Pizzas cost a little more than the city’s norm. And if it came down to a tie-breaker, the staff’s habit of attending to folks from the homeland first would have propelled Marzano’s tamed staff into the winner’s circle.
Ifs and buts … they only count in the post-game wrap-up.

Dave Faries can be reached at dfaries@praguepost.com


Other articles in Night & Day (27/02/2008):

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