Dozzino: Neapolitan in Hoboken

Om Nomz Hero Note to Self: Be selfish, do not save pizza for others later

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about food in Hoboken is red sauce Italian and booze food: fried or covered in cheese or both. Yet, the thought of a carefully constructed Neapolitan pie is something that you would not expect to find here but like most of my food-ventures, I am humbly proved wrong on what I come to expect. Just a few blocks down from the best mozzarella ever, is Dozzino that is still a fairly new place that opened about two years ago.

I visited Dozzino and had an early dinner there and sat in the front/bar (I do not believe they have a liquor license) which was minimal and spacious and had a single flat screen that had the end of the Rutgers game going on, making any New Joosey native comfortable. Plus we beat Pitt somehow so that is always a plus. I decided to go full on fatty and order two pies, I got the La Pizza, which is basically a Margherita pie, tomatoes, mozzarella, basil and the Dino, which was tomatoes mozzarella and Mortadella. Interesting enough, they have a FAQ /glossary that go through all their ingredients and what there are which is nice for people that are not food nerdy like me and knows the difference between a grana pandano and a regginao. Proudly toting sourcing mozzarella from Lioni Latticini and meats from Salumeria Biellese, I was excited to try their pies. Pizza after the Jump!

La Pizza

First up was the La Pizza. On first impressions and looks the pie had artfully distributed leaves of basil and a nice cornicione (I am pulling out the fancy pants words now! For the non-nerds its fancy word for crust layer) that had the distinct leopard char that you look for on a Neapolitan pie. However, on a quick up skirt shot, though there was a fair amount of char on the bottom, it was pale and blonde, and reminded me of the St. Paulie’s Girl. The pie was thicker, doughier, and sturdy than other Neapolitan pies I have encountered. Although there was a good distribution of mozzarella over the pie, could have used more sauce, the tomatoes ended up being like an aftertaste and barely came through.

The Dino

The Dino fared better in taste and I liked, placing the Mortadella onto the pie after coming out of the oven, releases some of that fatty porky goodness from the Mortadella onto the pie, imparting a meaty bite. The pie also suffered from a blonde undercarriage and though the tasty Mortadella was the star of this pie clearly, the tomatoes were again, an afterthought in this pie if it can even be recognized as being an ingredient in the pie at all. Both pies were solid; however on a comparison to the pies from Nomad in Hopewell, Motorino or Forcella, the pies are just fall a notch short from these places. The dough though fine, does not have that distinct yeasty, bite that I look for in this style of pies, though they had a decent char on each pie; it is not enough to create that magical taste of great dough combined with an inferno wood oven.

Up Skirt- nice char but still pale

However, the place is not to be written off, the pies are still carefully crafted and prime ingredients are sourced and used for every pie. The place is a great neighborhood addition and you will have a good meal here. They also boast on making a good espresso which they due fully deserve and rivals any hipster barista and taste even better because they lack the pretentious attitude.

Dozzino

534 Adams Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030

dozzino.com/