According to a travel article from suntimes.com “Steamy tomato sauce flowed off pizza pies like lava from Mount Vesuvius. The cow-milk cheese at L’Antica Pizzeria Da Michele carried a nurturing flavor. The crust was as thin as a wedding veil.”Â
“Hey, I’m not the first person to equate Neapolitan pizza with a love affair. Pizzeria Da Michele in Naples is regarded as the best pizza spot in the world. Elizabeth Gilbert said so in her best-seller Eat, Pray, Love (Penguin, $15). Gilbert broke up with someone and then traveled to southern Italy, India and Bali. She had a bite of Da Michele pizza and wound up describing her perfect rebound guy: “Thin, doughy, strong, gummy, yummy, chewy, salty pizza paradise,” said the story. “As a wanderlusted Chicagoan I had to try this pizza. And Riccardo Muti, the new music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, is from Naples. He likes pizza, too. Da Michele is a storefront operation with twin dining rooms. The restaurant seats only 64 at small marble tables. Lines can run as long as two hours. I waited about 45 minutes on a midday Saturday. The hectic atmosphere of Da Michele reminded me of Mario’s Restaurant in the Bronx or La Scarola, my favorite tiny Italian restaurant in Chicago. There are two basic pie options at Da Michele: margherita (mozzarella, basil, tomato sauce) and marinara (tomato, garlic and oregano, no cheese). Neapolitans don’t believe in jazzing up their pizzas with unnecessary ingredients.”
