Neapolitan pizza at Mario Batali's Tarry Lodge in Westport, CT

[DannyG]

I had my first real Neapolitan pizza at Mario Batali's Tarry Lodge in Westport, CT last night. I now know why this style of pizza has people building WFO's in their back yards. Their WFO is out in the open where you can watch the whole process. I didn't put a stop watch on it, but the pizza cooked in a little over a minute. It was so tender with just the perfect amount of chew and great taste. I'm obviously not an aficionado of this style so I don't know where it would fall on the neapolitan scale of greatness, but it was good enough to be addictive. Price was only $11 for a margherita which for Westport is a fantastic price. We also had a side of fresh pasta that was equally impressive. This is the second Terry Lodge with the first one in Port Chester, NY. They take reservations which I would recommend because the place gets jammed.  http://tarrylodge.com/

[Ev]

Unusual to see such even browning on a wfo pizza rather than traditional leoparding. Looks really good to me!

[TXCraig1]

From the cheese and tomatoes, it doesn't look like it was in the oven very long. Plenty of char on the bottom too; must have been pretty hot. Same day dough?

[JConk007]

Craig I am going with you same day, and not 100% Caputo. Vesta ish Probably some other goodies in there as well I see a slight gum line in center ? I would eat it for sure!

[Jackie Tran]

Definitely a same day dough with commercial or CY.  Hard to say on the flour though.  I would guess if they are shooting for NP, then caputo pizzeria flour.  Hot oven but tall ceiling or baked further from the coals without rolling flames over head?  Just guessing tho...

[scott123]

Vesta ish

That was my thought as well, although, imo, not as appealing as Vesta.

Something is definitely off here regarding the bake time and the even browning. Either this is a lot longer than a minute or Mario is messing with the Neapolitan recipe and/or using a non traditional oven. The only way I could see you getting that evenness of color is either with oil (maybe painted/sprayed on the rim) or some additional convection in their WFO.

[DannyG]

I did a quick google search and found these two images of their oven. It's hard to tell the height inside as there is a facade that goes straight to the ceiling. The restaurant is just off exit 17 on i95 should a more experienced pizza maker want to check it out.

[scott123]

Is that an M for 'Mario?' (Batali, not Acunto )

I pulled up a video of what I think is one of their pizza guys making a pizza (it could be a helper messing around after hours)

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT63JDsSEMM&amp;feature=related" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT63JDsSEMM&amp;feature=related</a>

He's tossing the dough and, from the video, the pizza goes in at 3:25 and, at the 5:06 point when the video ends, the pizzas are still in the oven.

Here's another Tarry Lodge pizza maker:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quUOmZEalgM&amp;feature=related" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quUOmZEalgM&amp;feature=related</a>

who's also tossing.  I'm also seeing what I'm practically positive is a cooked sauce.

With the tossing of the dough, I'm thinking this must be lower hydration (maybe mid low 50s?). Lower hydration + 2 minute bake might translate into even browning.

This is probably delicious pizza and maybe these videos aren't truly representative of their process, but the Neapolitan branding for what is most definitely not a Neapolitan pizza rubs me the wrong way.

[JConk007]

Scott The M is for Mugniani Ovens, Not Stefano but they do make a nice oven. All refactory conc. kits no brick. You can see it in video along with the andiron they use to help with  the fire. The 2 nd video with the slap and a few tosses ? lower hydration for sure. Is a recent video of New Starita NY location - Don Antonio ( thru roberto) says to treat the dough like your wife, with a gentle touch and never slap! and  toss no way !!
Pizza looks good but not as good good as Craig or John D !

[widespreadpizza]

There is a place nearby me that has the same or a similar oven.  They are ul listed,  and that is the only reason he didn't end up with literally craigs acunto.   The town would not allow it.  As the owner has told me,  he hates his oven,  very unbalanced,  hot spots etc.  The dome is far too high.  He has used the ovens at Amano and Keste as his comparisons.  Not saying you cant make a great pizza in it,  but I think they do NY a lot better,  like a 3+ minute bake,  everthing just slowed down.  -Marc

[TXCraig1]

There is a place nearby me that has the same or a similar oven.  They are ul listed,  and that is the only reason he didn't end up with literally craigs acunto.   The town would not allow it. 

It is clear that it was meant to be my oven.      I've lost count of how many times I've heard of how someone else ALMOST ended up with my oven. 

CL

[thezaman]

 that is a v for the manufacture that mugnaini imports the ovens from.there pizza maker came in 10th at the world pizza championships last year. that is a pretty good showing.

[thezaman]

ya, Craig i know who should have ended up with your oven

[shuboyje]

I think I was partially beat to the punch.  It is a V for Valoriani. 

There is a VPN place here that has one, and I have had a pretty decent 60 second pie out of it, but the poor guy working the oven was fighting it the entire time to get that bake time.  It was dead when I was there, no way he could have given each pie the same treatment if it wasn't.  Not shockingly I just heard today from a local food distributor that this place is not doing well.... 

[RobynB]

I live less than an hour from Mugnaini, and there are a ton of restaurants around here and in the surrounding area that have them.  When we were shopping ovens, we attended one of Mugnaini's WFO classes where they teach you to fire an oven and make pizza.  Including that experience, I have only had one even remotely decent pizza out of a Mugnaini/Valoriani oven (and the decent pizza WASN'T at Mugnaini).  Near as I can tell, their ovens are the kiss of death to good pizza.  Sorry if I'm offending anyone, it's just my opinion/experience, and yes I know that the oven is only a small part of the whole picture.  That pizza shown by the original poster on this thread looks REALLY GOOD for coming from a Mugnaini oven    I know a couple people that have them but they are NOT using them to make Neapolitan pizza, they're using them at much lower temps, as does Mugnaini in their classes. 

[andreguidon]

valoriani now makes a oven for neapolitan pizza.
http://www.woodfireovens.net/verace-series-140/
the valoriani website is out... ill post the link latter.

[shuboyje]

I'd be really curious to see what exactly that oven is doing with it's heat recovery system, but regardless whatever it is doing is going on under the floor.  The issue I've seen with these ovens is lacking top heat probably from a tall dome.  Wonder if they addressed that too.

I also find it very odd to see VPN seemingly endorsing this oven when no traditional ovens carry such endorsement that I know of.  I'm pretty sure Marco even posted here about trying to get oven specs added to the original VPN requirements without success.

[BrickStoneOven]

Mugnaini's are not built for Neapolitan temps. They have the hardest time keeping temps and they have an even harder time getting past 750F-775F unless you are dumping truck loads of wood in there. Like others have said they are built more towards lower temp NY style, not the blistering temps of Neapolitan.

[TXCraig1]

Mugnaini's are not built for Neapolitan temps. They have the hardest time keeping temps and they have an even harder time getting past 750F-775F unless you have dumping truck loads of wood in there. Like others have said they are built more towards lower temp NY style, not the blistering temps of Neapolitan.

I have a friend who had one, and I would say this describes the oven as I remember it.