Settebello: Neapolitan Pizza, Nutella Pizza + Italian Condoms!

By Jonathan Gold Wed., Oct. 12 2011 at 6:00 AM

F. Friesema

Jonagold apples

What's the Italian equivalent of barbecue? Neapolitan pizza, I'm betting. Because proper Neapolitan pizza, fashioned from Caputo tipo 00 flour imported from Naples, crushed tomatoes from San Marzano and cheese from the finest buffalos, is a man's game through and through, a seemingly simple food that rewards incredibly expensive equipment, pyromaniac OCD and a set of rules, the Vera Pizza Napoletana specifications, whose rigidity might dismay even the Taliban.

Settebello is the newest of many new Neapolitan-pizza specialists in town, a branch of a small chain headquartered near Las Vegas, a bright, gleaming dining room in the Playhouse District of Pasadena, dominated by a huge, fire-spitting dome. And from the big dome, heated to nearly 1,000 degrees, comes an almost infinite succession of hand-thrown pies, stretchy but paper-thin, freckled with charred spots, glistening with minimal applications of tomato sauce, basil and cheese; sausage, fennel and cream; or mushrooms, pancetta and toasty pine nuts -- crisped off in about 90 seconds in the incredible heat.

As in Italian pizza parlors, the non-pizza dishes are authentically lousy, prosciutto wrapped like fiberglass around arugula and goat cheese; caprese salad made with pink supermarket tomatoes; or, you know, just a salad. And as at most Neapolitan-style pizzerias, you are told that some things are forbidden, although there are worse things in life than being denied pepperoni, and while you're told that you have to cut your own pizza at the table, they'll slice it for you if you happen to be nervous around sharp objects.

Do the owners know that Settebello is the most popular brand of Italian condoms? They must. Nutella pizza for dessert.

Location Info

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Settebello

625 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA

Category: Restaurant

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First Bite, Jonathan Gold, Settebello

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theidahodad

I wonder if the condom reference is a nod to the owner's past as a trojan.

Nick in Palm Springs

If the Pasadena location is true to the quality of the Settebello in Henderson, NV, you'll be getting an excellent example of Napoletana-style pizza, something that used to be quite difficult to find in the U.S. until recently. Now it seems that everyone with a wood fired oven is pumping out the stuff (which is a good thing for pizza addicts such as myself), but you have to give Settebello respect for having brought the concept to the sagebrush-filled western deserts about seven years ago (I believe the original is in Salt Lake City) when a lot more money would have been made by opening a Papa John's. It's too bad Antica Pizzeria in the Marina didn't get the same level of respect, with its owner keeping true to how pizzas are made in Napoli before most of the chefs at the hot new spots in town were born (sadly, Antica closed recently). But Gold is right about the side dishes. Even in Italy, the holy places like Da Michele concentrate on just a few types of pizza and little else, an acknowledgment of where their strengths really lie. The fact that Settebello is a destination primarily for pizza is certainly not a knock, just the truth. You now know to go there, skip the rest of menu, and fire off your pizza order upon arrival. That's excellent information. Enjoy.

What a lame ass revue!

Lug

You are a complete moron This review is amatuer hour.

valleygirl

So, Mr. Gold, did you review a pizzeria, or a porn shop? Why the condom reference? Where is the review of the pizza, the establishment, the service? Shame on your editor for allowing this to be published. Go play with your condoms....

S. Britchky

Nutella with bananas for dessert, yes, but under the Neapolitan pizza-STD laws, you don't need condoms if it's just Nutella.

By the way, there's an Italian pizza parlor here -- Pizzeria Ortica -- where "the non-pizza dishes are authentically" great, not lousy. Just to mention a few dishes, try the polipo e patate (perfectly charred octopus with potatoes and celery), carciofi alla Romana (brilliantly braised artichokes nine times out of ten), or pappardelle al sugo d’agnello (lamb ragù and tangy sheep's-milk ricotta served with pappardelle pasta luxuriously cooked -- like all their pasta -- one-nano-tick past what you've been taught is al dente). I probably haven't had a pizza at Pizzeria Ortica in more than six months -- a dozen visits.