#3 - Pizza di Salsiccia e Friarielli at Fuoco Pizzeria Napoletana

Last Saturday, with nothing to do, I ventured out to the Bruery to try some of the newer beers they had on tap and while there, checked my map of OC Weekly's 100 Favorite Dishes and stumbled upon Fuoco Pizzeria Napoletana. Tucked away on Harbor, I missed it the first time by. I circled back around and, despite being a Saturday night, I was able to find parking in back. Entering through the lesser-used side entrance, I was greeted by a host stand in the middle of the restaurant (odd), a large brick oven, and a small bar where I sat down and was promptly greeted by the bartender / one of the owners (I think).

I knew what I was going to get, so we just got down to it when he came over to take my order. It was to be the Pizza di Salsiccia e Fiarielli. He asked if I've ever had rapini before (I have a few times) - in fact just the week prior I had made some to top a pulled pork sandwich - and then I asked which beer would pair well with the pizza. He recommended something darker (Arrogant Bastard), but after seeing they had about 5 different Italian beers stocked, I opted for the darkest they had - a Bock Chiara 5 Luppoli (a poor choice - the beer was bland and tasted old).

The pizza was delivered in a surprisingly quick manner after ordering - which I guess I should have expected from a neapolitan pizza joint. The pizza was delivered with the usual pepper flakes, but this time the bartender said that the pizza would greatly benefit from a liberal application of flakes. So I happily obliged. I will put them on any pizza if offered up, so when told to do so, I added quite a few shakes to each slice.

Regarding the "slice" - the pizza comes whole - not sliced at all. A week or two ago, my parents visited a neapolitan pizza place (can't recall which one), and there they were told to eat the pizza with a fork and knife - not by slicing it and picking it up. I didn't remember this piece of advice while I was at Fuoco, and the other patrons around me were going the "cut your slice and pick it up" route, so I followed suit.

Right off the bat, the pizza looked great. Little lumps of mozzarella, ample sausage (though oddly enough, it appears that they've changed their sausage since OC Weekly visited - mine were sausage crumbles while OC Weekly had sausage slices), and the rapini, oh, the rapini. It added a perfect bitterness to complement the heat of the pepper flakes and the absence of tomato sauce (olive oil is used as a "sauce"). The sausage was tasty, though tough to keep in place on the pizza itself.

Overall, the pizza was quite good. I'm eagerly anticipating a return visit to try something different, maybe a bit more traditional. I do like a good tomato sauce on my pizza (or BBQ when the stomach demands some chicken), so I might tend to choose a different pizza in the future. In all, I really enjoyed my visit. Prices weren't outrageous, and with the prodding of others, I did finish the whole pizza (it was tough, but doable). The owners were discussing possible expansion plans (I believe they will be one year old this weekend) and I do hope they expand closer to my work as they were discussing (Irvine area). If they do, I'll be visiting many more times. As it stands, next time I hit up Bootlegger's Brewery (just down the street a few blocks), my go-to pizza option will be Fuoco. Quick, attentive service and some awesome pizza add up to a winning recipe. (woo, restaurant review pun!)

P.S. They do have some good beer in bottles outside of the generic Italian beers. Racer 5 is always a good option and it seems they rotate through them.