The Fearless Foodie

By Scott Heiner

Neapolitan Pizza

Several years ago, when we lived in San Antonio, a friend recommended a restaurant serving a marvelous new food item: Neapolitan Pizza.  The name of the place was “Dough,” and I was doubtful--what kind of name was that?  Also, this was pizza, I’d already been there, done that; what more could be interesting about pizza?  My friend insisted that this is indeed something unique so Sharon and I went, curious to see what the excitement was all about.  When we arrived, we learned that they had just been visited by the Food Network show, “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.”  That was a good sign.

The pizzas we had there were very simple with just a few fresh ingredients.   We were delighted with their fresh taste and texture.  When we went a second time, the “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” episode that featured Dough had aired and the place was packed; we had to wait almost an hour to be served.

Later, I learned that Naples, Italy is the birthplace of pizza, several hundred years ago.  However, over the years the pizza we’re familiar with in America deviated from the authentic version.  It seems there has recently been a resurgence of the original pizza to the USA.  In order to serve pizza called “Neapolitan,” a restaurant must be certified by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (VPN).

This style of pizza is prepared with simple and fresh ingredients: a basic dough kneaded by hand, raw tomatoes, fresh basil, and virgin olive oil. No fancy toppings allowed.  The certification strictly requires highly-refined flour, raw San Marzano tomatoes and the mozzarella cheese made fresh daily from water buffalo milk.  The pizza must be baked in a special wood-fired oven burning at about 900 degrees Fahrenheit.  At that temperature, pizzas cook in 60-90 seconds.  You can only get these ovens from Italy.

I thought the name of that San Antonio restaurant, “Dough,” was kind of goofy.  It turns out that it was named after the owner, Doug Horn, shortened to “DougH.”  Whether a sophisticated or silly name, I was a believer.

That was quite a while ago, and since Neapolitan Pizzerias are somewhat rare, I kind of forgot about this amazing variety of pizza until recently.  About 6 weeks ago, Sharon and I visited Vernal and dropped by an old high school classmate, Jody Smith, who had recently opened a Neapolitan Pizza restaurant there.  Jody and his wife Jannine treated us to another meal of Neapolitan Pizza.  Again, we were blown away with the quality and flavor of the food, and with my experience revived, I decided this would be the subject of my next column.

About 5 years ago, Jody and his family visited New York City and by chance visited a pizza restaurant that served authentic Neapolitan pizza.  Jody was enthralled with this new-found cuisine and wanted more.  He hired the award-winning head pizza maker from that New York restaurant, imported a wood-fired pizza oven from Italy and opened his own restaurant named “Antica Forma,” which means “The Old Form,” or “ancient recipe.”

Antica Forma in Vernal was an immediate success and in 2018, Jody imported another oven and opened a second location in Moab.  Jody is now looking to open a third location; I’m trying to convince him to choose Logan, or even Garden City.