On a recent visit to North Jersey to visit friends, we went out to a casual, unassuming Friday night dinner in the NYC suburbs. The destination was S. Egidio, a small Italian bistro in downtown Ridgewood that seats 30-40. There are no reservations, the wait was approx. one hour on this Friday night. I did not know what I was getting myself into, assuming this wait was just typical for 8PM on a Friday night in early March. However, one of their specialty pies is totally worth the 60-90 minutes it takes to get a table. (Disclaimer: We did not wait there physically for over an hour. We called ahead and gave a name. No tables will be held on a busy night but they seem loyal to first-come first-serve).
S. Egidio appeared on nj.com’s “On the Rise” amongst their NJ Pizza Power Rankings. This is definitely saying something considering the vast number of pizza shops in all of New Jersey. It did not crack their list of Top 25 pizzerias just yet but this may be simply due to the fact that S. Egidio only opened in 2014. The chef and wood-fire oven both hail from Naples. The authenticity of the pizzas are legit, at least with the simplicity of the ingredients. The different creations the menu offers never deviate too far from authentic Southern Italian ingredients. There are some unique ingredients (shaved truffle and chile infused honey to name a few) that add some wonderful character to the pies. That’s about it. The menu also offers a variety of appetizers and housemate pasta dishes. We opted to share a few of each.
The Polpo E Patate was our appetizer of choice. Until this point I never know the harmony that exists between chilled marinated octopus and rosemary potato. The flavors work well together but they were also mutually exclusive. We shared their potato gnocchi with basil pesto, pine nuts, permigiano and pecorino. This gnocchi was an absolute homerun. Super soft and creamy, the texture was more reminiscent of ricotta derived gnocchi. The pesto was very simple and complimented the gnocchi well.
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| Gnocchi with basil pesto |
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| Octopus, rosemary potato |
The Fiamma pie was how we kicked off the meal. San marzano tomatoes, spicy soppressata, for di latte added some meat and depth to the pizza. However, the chile honey stole the show. Imagine the sweetness and earthiness of honey complemented by some heat in the aftertaste. Nothing overwhelming, just a perfect blend of sweetness, heat and saltiness from the soppressata. Our second pie choice was the Carciofotta, a very unique, rich pizza with artichoke creme, for di latte, pancetta, fresh egg and shaved black truffle. This was one of the more unique pizzas I’ve tasted. Any truffle (especially truffle oil which is quickly becoming my nemesis) can overpower the flavor of anything that would otherwise be delicious. However, the artichoke and the pancetta balance out each slice perfectly. You experience some truffle flavor initially, but that gives way to the saltiness from pancetta and artichoke. The egg and cheese provide body and depth to the toppings. More interestingly, the egg was composed of a batter rather than a typical fried egg.
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| Fiamma |
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| Carciofotta |
The topping options are numerous and most any can satisfy any authentic pizza craving. The show stealer, however, was the crust. It was thin with enough firmness to support the toppings. It was a perfect amount of chewiness/doughiness without tasting undercooked. There was some flakiness to the outer crust without being particularly crispy. This crust was hands-down the best I’ve ever had with a pizza. This is saying something; we’ve visit a decent number of famous Philadelphia gourmet pizza restaurants and not one could match the quality, texture or taste of this crust. In fact, the overall experience at S. Egidio would easily beat out any of the stops on our Pizza Challenge from last year. The crust, ingredients and creativity are what big-name Napoli-inspired places like Pizzeria Vetri and Osteria attempted but so far have ultimately failed to accomplish. Therefore, I beg to ask the question: Is North Jersey and the New York City suburbs just that far ahead in their quality and expectations of standard gourmet pizza or is S. Egidio just that good? Regardless, I must tip my hat to Rocco at the restaurant, you better make that Top 25 in May.
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