I had the pleasure of trying Anthony's pizza made in the new oven. I can now say that his pizza is definitely much better than it has ever been. In the past there have been a number of things that made his pizza different than a standard neapolitan.
1, his crust could be tough
2. the crust could be overcooked
3, he tended to use too much olive oil
4, he tended to over proof his dough a bit giving the pizza too much of a sour flavor.
5, the pizza was in the oven for 2 or more minutes (facilitating numbers 1 and 2).
I can definitely say that all of these factors have been corrected, and I think he produced what even Marco would consider to be a very authentic product. From what I can remember it was exactly like what I had at my favorite spot in naples, warts and all. I personally think most neapolitan pizza uses too thin of a sauce (not Il Pizzaiolo, though!), and tend to have a bit too soft of a texture throughout (I like that inside, but want a tiny bit of crisp on the outer shell).
Now I think that UPN and Il Pizzaiolo are at a tie for the best two neapolitan style pizzerias in the US. Where UPN gets a down grade for the (too thin by my standards yet authentic) sauce, he makes up for it by using wild yeast to leaven his dough. I highly recommend that any pizza enthusiast try either UPN or Il Pizzaiolo to sample what I feel is the same quality pizza that is made in Naples Italy. The bonus at Il Pizzaiolo is that the pizza is less than half the price of UPN!
