Travel Italy in taste
Sicily, Naples, Milan and spots between: Any way you slice it, pizzas at Clearwater's Cafe Milano offer geography at its most flavorful.
By CHRIS SHERMAN
Published August 18, 2005
CLEARWATER - The knives on the tables were a good sign. They were short, husky Italian blades like Bowie knives, the kind I'd laugh at in a steak house.
No steaks here, just pizza. And in an odd flip of logic, that made sense. At Cafe Milano, a new pizzeria that puts a premium on old ways and authenticity, the pizza would be a crisp, primal crust, burned by the fire, fresh from the brick oven. And it was.
Not impossible to cut, but strong, sharp steel made the work quick and easy. A pizza-cutting wheel might have rolled happily across it in the kitchen, but a good knife at the table seemed a better salute to a true pizza.
Pizza is elemental. In its most homogenized commercial form, it is hot and gooey and messily dares you to eat with your hands. The dough is sloppy, laden with melting cheese and a rainbow of pork products.
Cafe Milano aims for truly rustic and authentic flavors. The pizza's texture feels and tastes of hard brick and wood fire; its crispness and char are shaped unevenly by human fingers and real flame.
Toppings combine imaginative ingredients with strong and genuine Italian tastes. Capers, big slices of eggplant and artichokes aim for regional themes more distinct than a Bacon-Double Cheese Aloha special.
Cafe Milano is half of an odd venture to put Italian fashion into Clearwater's downtown revitalization. On one side of a handsomely renovated old building is a classic pizzeria, all tile and murals, run by Ugo Moi; on the other is Bellisima, a complete day spa and salon with body wraps, massages and pedicure stations, run by his partner.
Though Moi is Milanese, he gives the 20-some pizzas provincial aromas, from the Naples classic of tomato, basil and mozzarella to a wurtzel pie from the far north, mit bratwurst.
The Sicilian was a solid round of flavors familiar to traditional pizza hounds, with sausage, olives and oregano. Sadly, the most appealing to me, a pizza topped with true Italian mushrooms, including small chiodini and sleek porcini, had already been rejected by local diners as unfamiliar and too expensive (at $11.95, I don't think so). Too bad, but not surprising.
Moi had not yet given up on his personal kitchen sink combo, the Ugo: Gorgonzola, prosciutto, capers, anchovies and an egg yolk. You know I had to reward that one with my patronage, and those strong flavors all came together happily. So did the yolk, although it did make the center of the pie, and the points of the slices, clumsily limp.
A seafood pizza came with two large whole shrimp, more than a dozen bay scallops and a bit of crab meat - perhaps more cheese and seafood than Italians would put together, but I was thinking it would look better with a few Cedar Key clams.
Milano's genuine accent is promising. Other pizzas are topped with roasted red peppers, ricotta and feta. Desserts, from gelato to gorgeous pastries, are shipped in from Italy, and there's a classic colazione (breakfast) of cappuccino and croissant.
Yet some of the authenticity is mere promises. The antipasto plate does include pungent tallegio, the silky, air-cured beef bresaola, fat-spiked mortadella and cooked prosciutto, but the more expensive, classic prosciutto crudo is missing and, at $14.99, it should be there.
Panini also need revision. The alpino, which combines those rarest delicacies, bresaola and tallegio, with pesto, goat cheese and asiago, does it so slimly on a small bun that the tastes don't add up to an $8 sandwich.
But there's no quibble on the pizzas you can get for that price, fresh, crisp and full of true Italian spirit. Service is Italian, too, a bit disorganized so far, but proud, friendly and amazingly quick with the pizza.
That has been enough to build a big crowd of fans in two months. I'll have another slice.
-- Chris Sherman dines anonymously and unannounced. The St. Petersburg Times pays for all expenses. A restaurant's advertising has nothing to do with selection for a review or the assessment of its quality. Sherman can be reached at 727 893-8585 or sherman@sptimes.com
CAFE MILANO105 N Fort Harrison Ave., Clearwater
(727) 444-4504
Hours: 11 a.m. to midnight Monday through Saturday
Reservations: No
Details: Credit cards accepted, no smoking allowed, takeout available
Prices: $6.95 to $15