- Posted by JonnyMangia - 11/25/2007
##EDITOR'S NOTE - For a more current take on Zero Otto Nove, please check out this post.

The Cousins Gavone Strike a Pose After Inhaling 5 Pies and a Calzone.
The call came in at about 7:30 pm, Tuesday night.
"Mangia"?
It was my cousin Stephan.
"Yeah, what's up man?
"We're at Roberto's new place on Arthur Ave. It's the best pizza I have ever tasted."
I rolled my eyes.
"Best you've ever tasted?"
"Without a doubt".
Strong words, and this kid's been to Italy a few times so he's no pizza dummy. Plus, he had my Uncle James, aka "Don Pizza" with him, who was echoing the sentiments that the pies were excellent.
"You're serious. It's the best pie you've tasted?"
"In the States, no doubt about it."
I stroked my chin, furrowed the brow, and decided there was only one thing to do...
"I'll see you there tomorrow for lunch".
Margherita Pizza- The crust was insanely brilliant. Flecked with blisters from the
burning wood, hot, yet soft and doughy, but the tomatoes and cheese were lacking in flavor.
The Buzz
There has been alot of buzz-building about Zero Otto Nove, Roberto's Paciullo's new trattoria on Arthur Ave. The word on the street was that once Roberto opened this place, he was going to do pizza the RIGHT WAY...meaning, the way the masters do it in Napoli.
He started by installing a wood-burning oven, imported a Neapolitan pizziaolo to tend the hearth, and promised to only use the native ingredients of Neapolitan pizza-making such as San Marzano tomatoes and imported mozzarella, just to insure sure things were done in the fashion of the old-world masters.

Pizza Nutella - ordered to satiate Stevie Gavone's sweet tooth,
I was able to sample one slice of it and it was tasty. If you like your chocolate, run with it.
So the next day, I met up with the Stephan, his brother Jimmy (who was with me on my virgin experience at Da Michele in Napoli back in December of 2000) and Don Pizza. The menu was full of meat dishes, salads and other dishes, but we were here for one thing - pizza. There was a decent selection of pies to choose from including ones on the more eclectic side that offered toppings such as butternut squash, broccoli di rape and others. We decided to stick to the fundamental pies and in typical gavone fashion, we ordered 5 of them and one calzone.
- (2) Margherita - basil, San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella di bufala
- Napolitano - San Marzano tomatoes, basil, oregano
- Capriciossa - mozzarella di bufala, cappicola, olives, porcini mushroom, San Marzano tomatoes
- Nutella - Nutella chocolate and sugar powder smeared over the hot pizza crust. Stephen insisted on this one to cap off the meal.
I wanted to tell you that Roberto hit the home run, that I had finally found a reasonable facsimile of a Neapolitan pie in the heart of the Bronx. Alas, I have mixed feelings about my experience here and that is
undoubtedly due to the pedigree that Roberto has created for himself
with his other restaurant, "Robertos", which is regarded as one of the best Italian restaurants in NYC.

Slice of Pizza Napolitano - we ordered this to get the unblemished
taste of the tomatoes. It provided further evidence that the tomatoes
need to be changed.
I came in expecting that if anyone could nail the pizza-making artistry of the Neapolitans on these shores, it would be Roberto. And to be quite honest, he almost got there, because his crust his otherworldly (more on this below). However, there were several problems that emanated from the toppings that adversely affected the pizza:
- The San Marzano tomatoes were a disappointment as they completely lacked flavor
- The mozzarrella do bufala was flaccid, lacking any of the creaminess and
tartness that it is known for
- The basil was put in too early and was allowed to burn on some of the pies
The other toppings, such as the myriad of ingredients on the capriciossa pie were quite tasty, but they aren't going to make up for the lack of flavor from the tomatoes and cheese which are going to be far more important in driving the fundamentals of a pie.
The Crust: Bravo Roberto!
If Roberto got anything right, he nailed what I deem to be the most difficult aspect of Neapolitan pizza-making to replicate- the crust. As more and more gourmet pizza shops open up, touting that their pies are made in the Neapolitan style, there always seems to be a marketing hook about what they imported from Naples to replicate the quality. Listen, you can import all of the water, yeast, tomatoes, salt, dough, plumbing fixtures, wood, ovens or 100
Neapolitan pizza men with pencil-thin mustaches from old Napoli , I have yet to taste a pizza on these shores that can touch the crust, be it taste-wise, or texture-wise, created at the holy duet of Neapolitan pizzerias - Da Michele and Trianon.
However, Roberto has come closest.

Jimmy's Vegetable Calzone - The dough was light as a feather.
The crust, as you can tell in some of the pictures is a beautiful dichotomy of a hot, blackened, blistered dough that is at the same time, soft and pliable. I call this style "morbido", which means "soft" in Italian. My test, is that when you can fold the crust and it doesn't crack you have achieved the state "morbido" , which is an intrinsic characteristic of Neapolitan pizza-making. If you can attain this, you are a pizza-making Jedi as this has only been attained by a select few (at least that my taste buds recognize).
Bottom Line: Zero Otto Nove has great potential. If he just changes up his selection of tomatoes and cheese and pushes them in line with the standard he has set for the
crust, Roberto will be heralded as one of the few to sniff the rarefied air of the Neapolitan masters.

Pizza Capriciossa - The crust was as delicious as the margherita but started to have
trouble supporting the myriad of toppings.
Zero Otto Nove
2357 Arthur Ave.
Bronx NY 10458
718-220-9597
TUES-SUN
Credit cards accepted