A food writer for SFGate.com says the Margherita pizza at Laura Meyer’s new restaurant, Pizzeria da Laura in Berkeley, California, is one of the best she’s ever had.
Meyer, an alumnus of Tony’s Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco, opened her first eatery on March 23, with a line of customers waiting outside to try the internationally acclaimed pizzaiola’s fare, SFGate writer Madeline Wellls reported.
Wells brought along a colleague for pizzas and salads, including the Marge (mozzarella, grated Parmigiano/Reggiano, basil and EVOO) and the Ray J (mozz, thin and thick pepperoni, basil, stracciatella, fermented honey and shaved Parmesan), plus a Caesar salad.
Related: Laura Meyer’s recipe for the Peach Pie
“The Caesar surprised me with its chunks of garlicky fresh focaccia rather than crunchy croutons, but I was a fan,” Wells wrote. “The grandma-style Margherita—a crispy, cheesy pizza with a spongy texture in the middle—was one of the best Margheritas I’ve ever had. I’m mostly vegetarian so I can’t speak for the Ray J, but my colleague deemed it delicious and well-seasoned.”
Meyer was the first woman and the first American to win a competition at the World Pizza Championship (WPC), held annually in Parma, Italy. Meyer won the pan pizza division in 2013 with her pie called La Regina, which features mozz, soppressata, prosciutto, arugula, shaved Parmigiano Reggiano and olive oil, and appears on the Pizzeria da Laura menu.
When she was announced as the WPC pan pizza champ, confusion arose right away due to gender differences in the Italian words for “winner,” Meyer told SFGate. “There was an assumption that it was a man, and when they looked at my name, they had to retract that.”
“No one knew who I was,” Meyer continued. “And aside from the few people who were sitting at my table who knew me, when I tell you it was crickets, it was crickets.”
Today, women are taking more of a leading role in the pizza industry, as evidenced by the Women In Pizza movement and the celebration of Women’s Pizza Month this March on social media. Meyer told SFGate that she has noticed that shift and welcomes it. “There’s a lot of women in the pizza business that just haven’t really been recognized,” she said. She added that “men have been more vocal for a long period of time…whereas I think now more women are demanding attention.”
In a 2016 profile of Meyer, Eater.com described Meyer, who was still head chef/pizzaiola for Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, as “the pizzaiola [who is] changing the face of pizza,” adding that “the San Franciscan has achieved more at the age of 27 than most pizzaiolos [accomplish] in their entire lifetime.”
Now she has another achievement under her belt with the opening of Pizzeria da Laura—and there will likely be many more to come.