Ambrogio 15 – Simply Defining Pizza

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Ambrogio 15 Simply Defining Pizza
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• Pizza.  For some, its the gourmet thing they
  docomparing pies in all their iterations
  crust thickness, sauce, cheese quantity, meat
  quality.  For me, its what I order from the
  nearest delivery joint on a Friday night after a
  long week or, better yet, a Sunday night when Im
  conserving energy for the upcoming seven day
  grind.  Or, at least, it used to be.  Ambrogio 15
  in Pacific Beach, a newly opened authentic
  Milanese pizza experience has ruinederrr,
  changed all that for me.

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• I kind of liked not having to think about pizza.
   Throw all the fixins on, deliver it to my house
  with a little retained warmth in 30 45 minutes
  its a formula that has kept me happily eating
  my guilty, non-gourmet pleasure for many years
  comfortable and ignorant in my little pizza cone
  of all that is common and easy.

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• Now, though, Ive tasted the real thing.  Or,
  at least, someones very different version of the
  same ol thing and it has become the definition
  of the entire genre for me.  As much as I wish it
  werent so, henceforth every time I take a bite
  of pizza it will be against the mental backdrop
  of Ambrogio 15s version with a paper thin crust,
  lighter than a cracker with an almost similar
  texture minus the dry, crumbly factor.  Topped
  with an exact proportion of each, flavorful,
  bursting ingredient, the combination entices a
  frenzied nosh to preclude any potential loss of
  rich, savory, flavor enjoying momentum.

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• Visions of a pie full of steaming, herbally
  intensified meats swam through my orbs when I
  spied the Hannibal Lechter pizza with spicy
  Calabrian salame, Italian sausage and imported
  porchetta on the menu.  Fluffy Unicorn wanted
  something on the lighter side, so we did a half
  and half pizza with her half containing the
  burrata and prosciutto.  It was bound to be a
  concoction of David and Goliath proportions, with
  two servers needed to carry my hefty, meat-laden,
  oil-secreting, manly half of the pizza as Fluffy
  Unicorns cute, little, delicate half tagged
  along under near weightless conditions.

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• And, then it arrived Surely some mistake had
  been made here.  Wheres the beef? I wanted to
  scream!  How can a half and half pizza, with my
  half supposing to be nuthin but meat and hers
  nuthin but cheese look sobalanced?
• And then came the first bite.  Rapidly followed
  by a second.

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• Quickly succeeded by two-fisted grabbing of
  multiple slices.  Instead of a mouthful of
  overwhelming ingredients, the pizza presented as
  a light, open faced flavor bomb, with each small
  morsel of meat, thinly spread, tangy sauce and
  creamy, flavor balancing cheese taking turns
  dancing around on the tongue, tango style, from
  corner to corner with dips, twirls and
  arabesque-like highlights tantalizing, teasing
  and ultimately satisfying pizza sensing nodes
  that I didnt realize I owned.
• Oh, pizza, how comfortable you used to be.  Now
  what am I gonna do on those lazy nights?  Dammit.

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Heres the Rundown on Ambrogio 15

• Location/Ambience/Service Ambrogio 15 is a few
  blocks from the coast in Pacific Beach.  Parking
  is plentiful on the street, but theres a small
  parking lot in front of the restaurant, too.
   Its an effectively designed, casual space that
  overflows onto a front open patio and has enough
  character to keep you interested for whatever
  amount of time you may decide to linger.  Service
  was friendly and knowledgeable with a lot of
  Italian accented speech helping the experience
  feel socontinental.

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• Cuisine/Cost We started with a charcuterie and
  cheese platter which is available in differing
  hand selected amounts and iterations.  Almost all
  of Ambrosio 15s ingredients are imported for
  authenticity, from the flour in the pizza dough
  to the cured meats and cheesesand it shows.
   Flavor rich, silkily textured prosciuttos and
  salames are served that share only cosmetic
  similarities to more common varieties that I now
  understand are thrice removed cousins from the
  real thing.   Cheeses melt on the tongue with an
  exponential increase in flavor as the solid to
  cream factor rises.

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• And, the wines they deserve a special mention
  of their own.  The three different versions of
  Apulian, Tuscan and Sicilian reds I tried
  virtually leapt out of the glass at me, each
  almost a meal in its own right, with
  approachable, bright, sharp and fruity flavors
  accented by an edge of exotic aromas.  I can
  easily imagine whiling away an afternoon or two
  here, enjoying some light bites and quaffing any
  of their imported bottles.

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• And, then theres the pizza light, looking like
  an undernourished version of American versions,
  but with crispy texture, bright flavors and
  satisfying notes that make a 15? pie taste like a
  world record portion.  Almost all of the pizza
  options on the menu fall in the 10 20 range
  with a single 15? pizza, surprisingly, enough to
  feed two hungry foodies to full satisfaction.
   Some of the best wine Ive tasted recently
  weighs in at the hard to believe range of 20-30
  per bottle or 5-9 per glass, allowing a truly
  enlightened pizza and wine experience to fall in
  the ever so affordable category of 15 25 per
  person.  Enjoy, and, cheers, my friends!

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