Everyone swears by the pizza from Da Pietro restaurant as “the best in the Czech Republic”. For a long time, it was an excuse for foodies to take a trip to Pilsen, and now it has opened a branch in Prague’s Belehradská street. It has been full since the first evening.
Da Pietro’s journey began exactly ten years ago, in December 2013, Petr Soukal opened an Italian grocery store in Pilsen.
“I enjoyed Italy and thought about what I would do. I wanted something of my own, so I chose to import raw materials from Italy. I went to Valtellina in Lombardy, where I was in the mountains and I was interested in their products, wines, cheeses, sausages,” recalls Soukal.
He always made a round of suppliers and returned back to the Czech Republic. He gradually expanded his circle to other regions.
“After two years, my friend Martin Mečír and I started toying with the idea of changing the shop into a pizzeria, but we didn’t know anything about it,” he adds.
They went to Naples, visited pizzerias and got excited about the style of pizza there. And they decided to be the first in Pilsen to make Neapolitan pizza in the traditional way.
“We met a man who makes ovens. He introduced us to Luigi Castaldo, to whom I went to learn pizza. I came back with a full supply of ingredients including the oven. Luigi and I became friends, he took me through his world and introduced individual suppliers, which is not quite standard,” explains Soukal about the beginnings.
Luigi Castaldo also helped with the launch of Da Pietro in Pilsen in 2016. Two years later, they were already thinking about opening a pizzeria in Prague and were looking for space, which ultimately took quite a long time. They found a suitable place just before covid, which complicated and prolonged the reconstruction and the whole process.
Petr Soukal
“We put everything into it physically, mentally and financially,” sums up Soukal. In the meantime, they cut another smaller project next to the pizzeria in Pilsen.
They opened Da Pietro Grill, a space conceived as a chef’s table, where they prepare burgers and aged steaks in their own way and adhere to their own philosophy of origin and quality of ingredients. This is absolutely key for Da Pietro’s businesses.
“We were looking for our way without having any experience in gastro. From the beginning, we wanted to bring the raw materials ourselves so that we had exactly what we wanted. We wanted to know the people behind the products and see how they are created, even if it is complicated to put together logistically,” explains Soukal.
Therefore, they have chosen the most complicated route and import directly from twenty suppliers of raw materials and seventeen winemakers instead of using distributors.
They know everyone personally, so you can taste, for example, famous pistachios from Sicily from Bronte, salami from black pigs from a small butcher’s shop near Naples, buffalo mozzarella from a legendary producer, parmesan from an organic cheese factory in Modena, or even natural wines for which Soukal super cool
In time, they are also going to make Italian sausages from Czech meat, as they learned in Calabria.
The basic building block of Da Pietro is logically Neapolitan pizza, typical with its higher edge and fluffy dough.
“In the beginning, I made the dough by hand in wooden bowls according to the old tradition, as I learned it. We gradually improved everything, I completed a lot of courses focused only on the preparation of the dough,” adds Soukal.
At Da Pietro they mix different types of flour and use modern techniques. “It takes 48 hours for the dough to be usable at all,” Soukal explains a bit of alchemy and the scientific approach of preparing dough with higher hydration, which, thanks to the long fermentation, has a significantly better taste, is supple and easier to digest.
In addition to the notorious types such as marinara, margherita or diavola, the menu also includes special pizzas that change every six months. You can try pizza with mortadella di Bologna and pistachios from Bronte or with apples, pancetta and twelve-year-old balsamic La Cà dal Nôn.
And if you are a lover of truffles, then the choice must fall on the Tartufata pizza with truffle salsa, fior di latte mozzarella, 36-month aged parmesan cream, grated marinated egg yolk and slices of Umbrian black truffle.
It’s no wonder that half a kilo of truffles disappear in a week at Da Pietro in Prague, this is simply a truffle fantasy.
Neapolitan street food, a trio of fried appetizers, is also a local specialty.
Crocche, potato croquette with provola cheese and 24-month parmesan cheese, Arancino, in which they received a great saffron risotto milanese including steamed ossobuc or the Neapolitan specialty Frittatina prepared from bucatini pasta with Neapolitan ragout, béchamel, cheese and fried in a light batter.
At the end, there is tiramisu or another Italian delicacy, baba al rum, a sponge soaked in a rum bath with chantilly cream with the distinct pistachio taste of these nuts from Bronte and lemon peel from Sorrento, which refreshes the sweet dessert beautifully.
“We didn’t know what to expect at the opening, and rather thought that the start would be slower, but it was actually full from the first evening. We feel an even greater responsibility to maintain quality,” reports Soukal.
We met at the pizzeria at lunch time and most of the tables were full, from groups of friends to families with children to businessmen in suits, this is a place for everyone. And you don’t just have to go to Pilsen to see him.
2023-12-16 19:04:49
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