Parking Lot Pizza

Akash Bindal

Photos: Clark Kovacs

Craving some of the finest Neapolitan style pizza in Hyde Park? Look no further than the back alleyway venue of the best local and underground pizzeria – Pizza Emilio! Last weekend, friends, family, and neighbors joined to meet the man behind Pizza Emilio on the edge of an oddly lit parking lot. Huddled in the cold, surrounding a blazing hot pizza oven, we listened to an eclectic mix of the 1990s hip-hop of 12 Inches of Snow, and the subtle hiss of propane flowing into the oven. Anticipation struck as we all stared at the rickety table holding our spread of ingredients, wondering what pizza we’d make first. Armed simply with a wooden peel and a pair of scissors, we hoped to combine the toppings I had picked up from Trader Joe’s with Pizza Emilio’s freshly prepared pizza essentials for a fun and filling night of pizza. The toppings included: mozzarella, basil, arugula, honey, sautéed mushrooms, sautéed peppers, and goat cheese. The dough was made using a “proprietary” formula including doppio 00 flour imported from Italy (a finer ground flour commonly used for pizza and pasta), mixed with water, salt, and yeast. The tomato sauce was simply made from crushed San Marzano tomatoes, salt, and olive oil.

With three balls of dough allotted for my use, I decided to start things off simple with a classic margherita pizza. I spread a a light helping of tomato sauce into a thin layer on the crust, which I then topped with a generous amount of mozzarella pearls and garnished with a few leaves of basil. After coaxing my pizza into the oven with the help of a trusty wooden peel, the pizza immediately started to take its final form. In just five minutes, the crust rose and became charred to perfection… and then promptly charred a little too much in some places. The final result featured a vibrant mix of melted cheese and bright red sauce, garnished with some more basil and olive oil for freshness. The margherita ended up tasting just as fresh and light as it looked, and the stable yet chewy crust folded up to hold the runny, flavorful sauce on top. To my surprise, the basil was a lot stronger than I thought.

Up next was the veggie pizza, consisting of the same sauce and mozzarella, but with the addition of sautéed mushrooms and peppers. Making this one had its touch and go moments as the middle of the pizza stuck to the oven base and made it tricky to turn around for even heating. The pizza ultimately turned out great in terms of flavor, though with a slightly different texture, consisting of chewy mushrooms and mostly soft peppers with a slight crunch to them.

Finally came the pizza I had been thinking about all weekend long. It was not the first of its type in the pizza community, but certainly the most fun and tasty of the ones we ended up making that night. Instead of mozzarella, we added chunks of softened goat cheese before putting the pizza in the oven to bake. As soon as it came out, we dressed it with some fresh arugula and lightly drizzled on some honey. Although it is not a typical pizza topping, the honey was much welcomed and I’d argue it is a necessary component to this pizza. The goat cheese brought a nice creaminess alongside some funk. The honey helped balance out this strong flavor by cutting through the goat cheese while adding some warmth to the flavor profile. The addition of the arugula helped keep the pizza from feeling too dense by helping to lighten and freshen it all up. The combination of these three ingredients was absolutely perfect.

By the end of the night, everyone had had a fantastic time listening to some great music, cracking jokes, and having some amazing pizza. The process of baking the pizza was also fun and wasn’t very time-consuming at all given the short cooking times with the high heat flame. I found the pizza to be surprisingly satiating despite being light and thin. In the near future, I hope to go back and try out some more interesting ideas – perhaps white sauce with mushrooms and caramelized onions? In the meantime, I’ll be keeping up with Pizza Emilio on Instagram @pizzaemiliohydepark.