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Travel Italy in taste
Sicily, Naples, Milan and spots between: Any way you
slice it, pizzas at Clearwater's Cafe Milano offer geography
at its most flavorful.
By CHRIS SHERMAN,
Times Food Critic
Published August 18, 2005
 |
|
[Times photo: Scott
Keeler] |
At Clearwater’s Cafe Milano, a Sicilian pizza
emerges bubbling hot from the oven.
|
 |
 |
|
Ugo
Moi, owner and chef of Cafe Milano, offers more than 20
varieties of pizza; there’s even one named for its
creator.
|
CLEARWATER - The knives on the tables were a good sign.
They were short, husky Italian blades like Bowie knives, the
kind I'd laugh at in a steak house.
No steaks here, just pizza. And in an odd flip of logic,
that made sense. At Cafe Milano, a new pizzeria that puts a
premium on old ways and authenticity, the pizza would be a
crisp, primal crust, burned by the fire, fresh from the brick
oven. And it was.
Not impossible to cut, but strong, sharp steel made the
work quick and easy. A pizza-cutting wheel might have rolled
happily across it in the kitchen, but a good knife at the
table seemed a better salute to a true pizza.
Pizza is elemental. In its most homogenized commercial
form, it is hot and gooey and messily dares you to eat with
your hands. The dough is sloppy, laden with melting cheese and
a rainbow of pork products.
Cafe Milano aims for truly rustic and authentic flavors.
The pizza's texture feels and tastes of hard brick and wood
fire; its crispness and char are shaped unevenly by human
fingers and real flame.
Toppings combine imaginative ingredients with strong and
genuine Italian tastes. Capers, big slices of eggplant and
artichokes aim for regional themes more distinct than a
Bacon-Double Cheese Aloha special.
Cafe Milano is half of an odd venture to put Italian
fashion into Clearwater's downtown revitalization. On one side
of a handsomely renovated old building is a classic pizzeria,
all tile and murals, run by Ugo Moi; on the other is
Bellisima, a complete day spa and salon with body wraps,
massages and pedicure stations, run by his partner.
Though Moi is Milanese, he gives the 20-some pizzas
provincial aromas, from the Naples classic of tomato, basil
and mozzarella to a wurtzel pie from the far north, mit
bratwurst.
The Sicilian was a solid round of flavors familiar to
traditional pizza hounds, with sausage, olives and oregano.
Sadly, the most appealing to me, a pizza topped with true
Italian mushrooms, including small chiodini and sleek porcini,
had already been rejected by local diners as unfamiliar and
too expensive (at $11.95, I don't think so). Too bad, but not
surprising.
Moi had not yet given up on his personal kitchen sink
combo, the Ugo: Gorgonzola, prosciutto, capers, anchovies and
an egg yolk. You know I had to reward that one with my
patronage, and those strong flavors all came together happily.
So did the yolk, although it did make the center of the pie,
and the points of the slices, clumsily limp.
A seafood pizza came with two large whole shrimp, more than
a dozen bay scallops and a bit of crab meat - perhaps more
cheese and seafood than Italians would put together, but I was
thinking it would look better with a few Cedar Key clams.
Milano's genuine accent is promising. Other pizzas are
topped with roasted red peppers, ricotta and feta. Desserts,
from gelato to gorgeous pastries, are shipped in from Italy,
and there's a classic colazione (breakfast) of cappuccino and
croissant.
Yet some of the authenticity is mere promises. The
antipasto plate does include pungent tallegio, the silky,
air-cured beef bresaola, fat-spiked mortadella and cooked
prosciutto, but the more expensive, classic prosciutto crudo
is missing and, at $14.99, it should be there.
Panini also need revision. The alpino, which combines those
rarest delicacies, bresaola and tallegio, with pesto, goat
cheese and asiago, does it so slimly on a small bun that the
tastes don't add up to an $8 sandwich.
But there's no quibble on the pizzas you can get for that
price, fresh, crisp and full of true Italian spirit. Service
is Italian, too, a bit disorganized so far, but proud,
friendly and amazingly quick with the pizza.
That has been enough to build a big crowd of fans in two
months. I'll have another slice.
-- Chris Sherman dines anonymously and unannounced. The St.
Petersburg Times pays for all expenses. A restaurant's
advertising has nothing to do with selection for a review or
the assessment of its quality. Sherman can be reached at 727
893-8585 or sherman@sptimes.com
CAFE
MILANO
105 N Fort Harrison Ave., Clearwater
(727) 444-4504
Hours: 11 a.m. to midnight Monday through Saturday
Reservations: No
Details: Credit cards accepted, no smoking allowed, takeout
available
Prices: $6.95 to $15
[Last modified
August 17, 2005, 12:53:06]
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