Pizza plain, pizza fancy

Nation's Restaurant News, Feb 3, 1997 by Pamela Parseghian

If you think the only way to expand pizza sales is to sprinkle on creative and expensive toppings, think again. Many chefs and restaurateurs of Italian eateries report that the classic margherita pizza sells better than out-of-the-ordinary, pies. "Cheese pizza is like vanilla ice cream -- Always the No. 1 ice-cream flavor," says John Nye, corporate chef of the Cucina! Cucina! chain based in Bellevue, Wash.

But no matter how you slice it, variety boosts repeat business. A pizza of the day sells well in Pasadena, Calif., at Parkway Grill, where about 70 percent of the diners are regulars. And the Grill's divided pizza, which features three sections of different toppings, is a stellar seller. "What's nice about the three-section pizza is a lot of people will order it to share as an appetizer," general manager John O'Neill explains.

While the Grill changes the section toppings a couple times a year, the dish has endured for more than a decade. Currently, the thirds are Black Forest ham with Japanese eggplant and hoisin sauce; portobello mushrooms with grilled tomato and roasted onion; and a finial section of caramelized Asian pears with Stilton cheese and spiced pecans. The three-section pie, which is "long-egg shaped" and cut in six slices, sells for $12.75. It is a close cousin to the currently stylish quattro stagioni, a classic Italian pizza topped with four items in separate sections that is featured at Osteria del Circo and Naples 45 in New York City and throughout the New England-based Berrucci's chain.

Bertucci's version of the quattro stagioni includes roasted artichoke hearts. mushrooms. green peppers and prosciutto, $8.25 small/$13.25 large.

Operators say the quartered pizza is a hit because Americans like most everything "their way."

But divided pizza is no pie-in-the-sky solution. It can have operational drawbacks when the toppings become complicated and varied.

Bertucci's corporate chef, Rosario DelNero, says the chain receives many requests for half-and-half pizzas, but the mix-and-match approach can get out of hand when the choices go beyond two.

Most of Bertucci's pizzas are more intricate than what you find at the comer pizzeria, where sprinkling pepperoni on a few slices is a simple task. One of Bertucci's newest pizzas includes grilled chicken with marinated broccoli, lemon-pepper cream sauce and mozzarella, $8.25/13.25.

Creating divided pizzas to order "is not something we promote," says Naples' chef. John Imbriolo, although they will fill requests within reason. Due to the volume that we do, it does make it somewhat difficult" to execute, especially compared with Naples, best-seller -- a classic margherita pie, $9.95/$23.50.

Regardless of the general love for the margherita and ease-of-preparation factor. offering the unusual helps draw in cravers of exotic tastes.

New York City's hip SoHo Grand Hotel, for example, opened with potato. fennel and asparagus pizza, $12, in the Canal House restaurant. Currently, the restaurant tops an organic-flour crust with Japanese eggplant, fennel and smoked mozzarella, $12, according to head manager Suzanne DiPiro.

Ambrosia on Huntington in Boston intrigues guests with rabbit and pecorino piled on a crust, $12. They also offer knockwurst and onion pizza, $9, and eggplant with lobster., $16. Ambrosia's recent special pizza paired wilted arugula and duck confit served over Asian tomato sauce with smoked mozzarella, $16.

The restaurant's chef-owner, Anthony Ambrose, has tossed together buckwheat crust with blackened ostrich that was flavored with Indonesian spices and smoked mozzarella, $12.

And to stay in the same vein as the restaurant's Provencal-French and Japanese influences, Ambrose tops Asian tomato sauce with sesame oil and sashimi, $12. "Pizza is one of those generic foods that everyone has a love for and an interest in," he says. "As far as customizmg the presentation, it is endless -- from rustic to elegant."

His most expensive pizza, at $25, is 10 inches of crust covered with a smear of chive-mashed potato and osetra caviar.

Back in New York, chef Frank DeCarlo takes an earthy approach with a pizza strewn with roasted root vegetables, caramelized onions, goat cheese and herbs, $8.

And in Chicago at Rivers, Lawrence London prepares apple butter-barbecue chicken pizza with grilled red onion and smoked Gouda, $5.95.

Still, chicken is the most popular topping at California Pizza Kitchen, according to spokeswoman Sarah Goldsmith. CPK's best-seller is barbecue chicken, which has anchored the pizza menu since the chain opened in

The 80-unit chain's newest offering is chicken kung pao pizza, with roasted peanuts, scallions, hot kung pao sauce and chicken breast.

Goldsmith attributes the attraction of chicken to its familiarity and affordability and patrons, health concerns.

David Sonzogni, corporate chef of Dallas-based Lombardi's, observes regional pizza preferences. "It is amazing what people like in different regions." Sonzogni says.