When I got to Mexico City in 1990, you couldn't find a good pizza for love or money. The dough was mushy, the sauce tasted conspicuously like catsup, and the cheese like soap. Things have changed. I cannot keep up with all the excellent pizzas in the D.F. today. The ones depicted here are all within a stone's throw of my apartment (depending how good your arm is, and how heavy a stone).
That luscious thin crust pizza above was made with arugula, mushrooms and onion in the brick oven at Zazá, on Calle Pachuca between Avenida Veracruz and Agustín Melgar in the Condesa.
This is a mushroom pizza from El Guachito, on Calle Sinaloa between Acapulco and Sonora in Roma Norte. It's an Argentine style pizza, with a thicker crust. The cheese was sublimely crunchy on the edges.
It's a tiny spot, with a few sidewalk tables, perfect for a sunny afternoon.
An arugula and proscuitto pizza at the Osteria 8, on Calle Sinaloa between Calles Veracruz and Tampico, Roma Norte. Also of the thin crust version.
Osteria 8 also has a few outdoor tables, and offers a variety of salads, pastas and main courses. It's a lovely place, an under-the-radar neighborhood gem. I'll write more about it at a later date.
I suppose the closest thing to the authentic, Neapolitan thin crust pizza you can find in Mexico City is at Il Vecchio Forno, on calle Veracruz between Sinaloa and Durango in Roma Norte. This is their pizza Ortolano, with a variety of vegetables.
The owner is an authentic Neapolitan named Luigi, whose restaurant La Casa di Italia (a block away, on Calle Agustín Melgar in the Condesa) has been popular since the early 1990s. That's him standing outside Il Vecchio Forno, talking with his hands to one of the patrons.
When I first conceived of this post, I wanted to call it something like "Pizza Wars," and comparatively pit these places against each other. But there is no war going on. Apparently, cooks in Mexico City discovered a gaping maw in its culinary offerings and is answering to a great need, of excellent (and reasonably priced) pizza. I am delighted there is such an abundance of it.
