As the founder of the 16-store Mister O1 Extraordinary Pizza chain in Florida and Texas, Renato Viola is a busy man. But if you order a certain pizza, he’ll deliver it personally.
More to the point, he’ll prepare and bake it right there in your home kitchen. He’ll even bring cognac and champagne.
There’s just one catch: The pizza will run you about €8,300 (or $9,072). And it only serves two people.
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It’s called the Louis XIII, and on his personal website, Viola claims it’s the world’s most expensive pizza.
Mind you, an online keyword search for “world’s most expensive pizza” will take you down one luxuriously appointed rabbit hole after another. According to Guinness World Records, Industry Kitchen in New York holds the official record for the most expensive pizza that’s commercially available. Certified by Guinness in 2017, it features dough made with imported black squid ink, Stilton blue cheese, Hudson Valley foie gras, French Perigord truffles, Platinum Ossetra caviar from the Caspian Sea, 1.5 ounces of Almas Caviar 700 and 24-carat gold leaves. According to Guinness World Records, it sold for $2,700 in 2017, although Industry Kitchen doesn’t list the current price on its website.
Pizzas like that, of course, are not made for ordinary plebes like us. Nor is the Louis XIII. Did we mention it’s less than 8” in diameter?
No wonder Viola’s website notes that the Italy-born chef designed the pie “for a select few.”
When an order for the Louis XIII is placed, a three-person team—Viola himself, a sommelier and a chef—comes to the customer’s house with all the ingredients, including Viola’s 72-hour fermented dough and organic DOP buffalo mozzarella.
The toppings include three types of rare, top-of-the-line caviar: Oscietra Royal Prestige, described as “very sweet with a faint nutty aroma”; Caviar Kaspia Oscietra Royal Classic from the Iranian coast; and the super-rare Beluga Caviar Kaspa from the Caspian Sea, touted as “unique and visually very different from other caviars.”
So that has to be worth a couple extra bucks, right? Then pile on the wild-caught Red Acciaroli prawns from Cilento, Italy, plus juicy Squilla Mantis shrimp and Palinurus Elephas lobster from the Mediterranean, and you’re living the good life—unless you’re on Death Row and requested the Louis XIII as your last meal.
Oh, we almost forgot the paper-thin flakes of pink salt from Australia’s Murray River.
Finally, you’ll want to wash it down with something other than a Diet Coke. So how about a glass of Remy Martin Cognac Louis XIII and Champagne Krug Clos du Mesnil 1995? Viola’s sommelier will be happy to oblige.
Most of us will just have to settle for one of Viola’s famous pies from Mister O1, including his star-shaped pizzas like the Star Luca (ricotta cheese, mozzarella, spicy salami Calabrese and basil) or the Star Carlos (ricotta, mozza, chorizo sausage, tomatoes, arugula, avocado, Parmesan and a jalapeño sauce). At Mister O1’s South Beach location, those pizzas sell for a perfectly reasonable $19.99—and they’re the most expensive items on the menu.
Plus $2.99 for a Diet Coke. Or, for one buck more, why not splurge and go for the apple juice? Live a little!
