Pizza Fradiavolo

This place opened three months ago beside my favorite watering hole in Cebu called the Tap Room on Maria Luisa St. in Cebu. On the forefront of this restaurant is Gaetano Sansone who has a rather long list of pizzas and pastas at very reasonable prices. Some of his fifteen-inch pizzas go for less than three hundred pesos.

Another feature of this place is a wine sale shelf. They have 500 peso bottles of wine at any given time and I was able to spy on some very good finds such as a Sally’s Paddock which is a four grape blend from Victoria Australia, Santa Rita Carmenere Reserva, Eikendal Stellenbosch Unwooded Chardonnay, Croix Lalande to name a few.

The two evenings I did go there I had the Sally’s Paddlock which is very good value and is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Shiraz, and Merlot. It gave a lot of red and dark forest fruits and I guess it was on sale because of the slight damage it had on the labels knowing this wine retails at about more than one thousand pesos.

Although it does not come from a rustic wood burning oven, pizza takes center stage in this restaurant. The delicate, thin crust with tiny bubbles has a delicious toasty flavor and a nice chewy after-bite to it. The pizza is characteristically very Italian in style, balancing the ingredients with minimal cheese and toppings in contrast to the superfluous American style. Our pizza Margherita came out with a masterful crust with a chewy end. It had chuncky bits of Tomato Possatto Cheese but I would have wanted a little more basil.

The pizza Fra Diavolo with a topping of grilled eggplant, pepperoni, tomato, and cheese was as enjoyable with that noble and signature crust Gaetano has his staff do.

Other items we tried was a simple but very fresh Insalata Caprese of sliced beefsteak, tomatoes with olive oil, herbs, some very fresh greens served with freshly baked flat bread.

On a second visit we gave the pasta fresca another try because the first time, the fresh pasta seemed cut in small pieces because it tended to be brittle. Being a lover of pasta fresca, the fetuccine with Ragu Bolognese is recommendable. Just insist that you get your pasta in the correct length and you get rich tasting homemade noodles with your meat sauce. Another fresh pasta of the day that Gaetano had us try was the gnocchi in a sinful white sauce. I do believe I would come back and try this wonderfully rich sauce and have it even if he doesn’t have the gnocchi. Perhaps I could ask for another pasta but the sauce which is basically a parmesan base is truly a simple and sinful pleasure to indulge in when one has the cravings for a decadent salsa Bianca.

Pizzeria Michaelangelo is a new player in the Cebu scene and from the looks of it, if Gaetano and his mentor Chef Robert Lilja play their cards right and firm up their menu, they just might have a new star in their hands….

You can email me at chefgenegonzalez@yahoo.com

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