PizzAmore in Carlstadt serves a good pie, but don't sleep on this award-winning menu item
PizzAmore Italian Kitchen in Carlstadt is the sort of small pizza joint — intimate, friendly and with great food — that we all wish was just around the corner.
On two visits, it was readily apparent to me that owner/pizza maker John Speciale has a strong connection with his Carlstadt neighborhood. One patron proudly pointed to a youth baseball team photo hanging on the wall containing both Speciale and him. A couple popped their heads in just to say hi. And many came in for a slice, a pie or a meatball parm.
The decor
The dining area is small; there's one high-top table and a rectangular farm-style kitchen table surrounded by accoutrements that you'd normally find in a small, Italian, home kitchen. Speciale orchestrates behind a simple counter.
The shelves are lined with number 10-sized cans of tomatoes and cans of olive oil. The walls contain pictures of friends, family and a smattering of stars, including Little Steven Van Zandt.
The dough
It is a blend of General Mills high-gluten pizza flour, double‑zero Americana Caputo flour, yeast, water and salt, all of which Speciale allows to rise, punches down and then ferments overnight.
The next day the dough gets punched down once more before it goes into the oven. He takes these steps, he said, to make the crust of his traditional pie and his Sicilian-style dough light and flavorful.
The sauce
Speciale's tomato sauce is light and lovely — a mix of plum tomato and crushed tomatoes. Not overly reduced, when it comes out of the oven, it remains a bright red.
"I believe less is more," Speciale said, adding his sauce is made with just tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, onion and basil.
The cheese
Speciale uses a blend of Grande Mozzarella, pecorino Romano and a few other "secret" cheeses.
"People's tastes have changed," he said. "You remember the movie 'Do the Right Thing'? They were always asking for extra cheese."
Today people want thinner, crispier pies with a sensible as opposed to overwhelming amount of cheese, he said. Accordingly, Speciale's Sicilian and regular pies are a harmonious blend of sauce and cheese.
Don't forget to try the award-winning meatballs
Don't leave PizzAmore without first sampling the meatballs. Odds are Speciale will insist that you try some — for good reason. They are delicious, tender and flavor-packed.
I vowed to only eat a bit of the meatball he served me; I had other pizza joints to hit that evening. But I couldn't help it: I ended up eating it all. I now understand why for two years straight he took home Jersey Pizza Joints statewide meatball contest.
The bottom line 🍕🍕
My rating: Two slices, that is, excellent.
Go: 323 Broad St., Carlstadt 201-939-1254, orderitaliankitchenmenu.com
About this series
In My Big Year of Pizza, Matt Fagan is on a quest to rate as many of New Jersey's close to 3,000 pizza spots as possible and let readers know where they fit in the state's pizza pantheon. He's trying for two pizzerias per week from Salem to Sussex counties. That's about 10 per month.
Ratings are: 🍕🍕🍕 Exceptional (worthy of a pizza pilgrimage); 🍕🍕 Excellent (if you are in town, make a stop); and 🍕 Worth It (good if it's your neighborhood joint).
The idea for this big year of pizza comes from the 2011 movie "The Big Year," starring Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson. The difference is they were funny and, as amateur bird watchers, they searched for birds instead of pizza.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: PizzAmore in Carlstadt: A pizza spot both friendly and fabulous
