Lara’s pizzas: praise of simplicity in the heart of Caserta

The world of pizza. Three words that for those who write about this wonderful round food can mean many things. It certainly describes a competitive, high-performance, rapidly growing work sector, in which we are getting used to amazing adventures between cornices, condiments and doughs. However, the real pizza world is also made up, fortunately, of small places, far from the great media heights, which offer real food without the need to necessarily be top of the class. To sing it with the Nuclear Tactical Penguins, paraphrasing locals who “in a world of Paul and John just want to be Ringo Starr”. And that the public, often swallowed up by big brands – big in terms of fame – does not look at it with the attention it would once have dedicated to it. In one of the alleys of Caserta there is a pizzeria just like that, which is right for us, managed by Francesco Gherardi, son of a family of entrepreneurs who moved away from the family business to make his dream come true. Open Gerhouse.

As the crow flies, this pizzeria is not far from Piazza Vanvitelli, one of the focal points of a city as small as a wedding favor, which for years has now become famous for the crucial importance it has assumed – and we return to the point above – in the world of pizza. The same place, managed with the same attention to quality and raw materials, in a less famous city, from this point of view, would certainly have emerged much earlier. This doesn’t take anything away from the experience itself. On the contrary. The place is small, but in summer you can enjoy a small outdoor space, which in an averagely hot city like Caserta is definitely a plus. The furniture is not of high design, but comfortable, clean and well thought out, modern, suitable for occupying the spaces of a welcoming pizzeria, which makes you feel at home. Also, give the writer a little joke, with the suit and not necessarily with the evening dress. Phrases and opinions to read without snobbery: there is room for everything and everyone. And it’s nice to go back to simplicity every now and then.

Simplicity that we also find in pizza. The Margherita (5 euros) is excellent, soft and melts on the palate, it is one of the best in the province, excluding the Olympus of the most famous names, certainly to be included in the best 15. Being in Caserta, you cannot miss the Carabiniera (6.50), which is the true typical recipe of the city, with San Marzano tomato, spicy salami, black Gaeta olives, oregano and basil. The Friariella (7.00) here is included in the menu of the most creative pizzas, but for us it remains a classic. Among the classics to try, you can definitely include fried foods, with crocchè and arancino (1.50 each) and classic montanara (2).

Among the most suitable for the season – hopefully – is about to arrive, there is certainly the Nostromo (8) with tuna fillets from Cetara, black olives from Gaeta (certainly the reference cultivar for the table in Campania), red onion from Tropea, yellow datterino tomatoes, smoked provola from Agerola. The provola gives the pizza an important full-bodied note, but this recipe would have been perfect, perhaps even a little lighter, with a good fiordilatte from the Lattari Mountains. Same small observation for the Ortolana (7), an excellent textbook revival of a recipe that has never been canonized, but which also lends itself very well to the needs of those who don’t eat meat.

All pizzas can be ordered even by half a meter, in the pan version, and accompanied with a beer or a wine, the references are few, very few, but they actually represent an important signal: they are all local labels, from native vines. The sign of a change that is no longer in progress, that of the arrival of wine in pizzerias, but has already irremediably occurred.

Gerhouse

Via Galileo Galilei 36 – Caserta

Tel. 376 0720821

v