DiMeo's: A father-son act in Andorra
You have to try the pizza at this place.
The city's pizza scene has been elevated of late, and you can credit the wood-fired ovens deployed at such spots as Osteria, Zavino, and Pizzeria Stella.
When American-raised Antimo DiMeo, 20, expressed interest in following his Neapolitan-born father, Pino, 43, in the pizza business, the son insisted that he wanted to cook in the old-country way. (Pino's parlors use conventional gas ovens.)
At Pizzeria DiMeo's, a BYOB that opened this month in Andorra Shopping Center (8500 Henry Ave., 215-621-6134), they not only installed a wood-fired oven, they are using bottled water from the Naples area in their dough. The dough, Pino DiMeo says, is made two days in advance to get a natural rise. They import mozzarella weekly and say they use fresh San Marzano tomatoes.
They are also using pricy Pasta di Gragnano from Giuseppe Afeltra, which they contend is the best dried pasta in the world. Dishes top out at $17.
I've yet to try the pasta, but the pizza holds its own against any of those newfangled downtown pies: airy crust that's slighty chewy at the center and wonderfully crispy along the edges.
They also spread Nutella on pizza dough, cut it into chunks, bake it, and top it with powered sugar for a tasty dessert.