No pizza for you!



Pizza Spontini!! This place came highly recommended to us by our friends Ilaria and Francesco. We have walked by it a few times since moving here and everytime it was alway packed with a line out the door, so we thought we would try it. After all, it seemed that the locals liked it- surely we would? They say it’s the best pizza in Milano, so we thought we could judge for ourselves. Josh and I went there a few weeks ago for the first time, and despite the long line, we were able to get a table right away. The hosts at the pizzeria are very much like the “Soup Nazi”- when you’re done, they come over yelling “Andiamo! Andiamo!” (Let’s go! Let’s go!). Basically, you get kicked out of your table when you’re done. There is no time for lingering after eating pizza at Spontini! You have to eat the pizza and abide by their rules. Otherwise it may be a situation where you hear “No pizza per tu!” (No pizza for you!)

We went back to Spontini this weekend with Josh’s uncle Craig. He was in town for the weekend after a business trip to Switzerland, so we decided to take him to the place with the best pizza in Milan (well… so they say). We thought we were going to get kicked out at first…but pulled things together just in time. In spite of our best efforts to understand the fast Italian that the host was speaking, we failed to understand that with only three people, you sit at a two top- not a four top table. We thought he said to sit at the four top… within seconds of maneuvering to the table, the host was yelling at us that only groups of four or more could sit at a four top- not three! What he was originally trying to tell us was to wait in the corner for a minute until the next table opens. With my nicest smile I looked at him and said “no capisco” (I don’t understand) and he quickly realized that our Italian is not very good. I thought if I could be like Kramer with the Soup Nazi and befriend him, we would get a table quicker and be able to eat our pizza in peace. We quickly found out that Pizzeria Spontini has a “Pizza Nazi”!!




Our server at Spontini (not the one
with the opinion of Obama though)

 

We also realized how open one of the servers was with his opnions when we were there. He asked us where we were from and we told him Minnesota, USA. The first thing he said was “Obama!” (this is the first thing anyone says here when you say you are from the U.S.). Then he proceeded to say he didn’t like Obama, and that he was “shit”! People here have very strong opinions about him and they always want to share it with you. The server said it with a little laugh though, so I think he was trying to ruffle some feathers more than anything. Of course, Josh appreciated this since he is such an instigator himself J

 




The wood fire oven



The pizza at Spontini is soooo good! No wonder it was voted by the residents of Milan as the best pizza in the city! It is amazing deep dish pizza with lots of gooey cheese. We thought we tasted a little bit of fish in there, but couldn’t decide if it was our imagination or not. As it turns out, we were right! They use a wood fire oven to bake the pizza and the ingredients include cows milk cheese, oregano, Emilia tomato pulp, a thick soft crust yet crisp at the bottom, and anchovies. There is only one type of pizza, and the only option you have is to order a small or large. And of course, you have to have a beer! I would highly recommend stopping by Pizzeria Spontini when in Milan, just be sure not to upset the Pizza Nazi!



The monster deep dish pans