First Stop-Pizzeria Bruno

http://pizzeriabrunosd.com/

Well, we decided on Pizzeria Bruno in Normal Heights for tonight's pizza quest.  Lovely little establishment in Normal Heights on Park near El Cajon Blvd.  The first thing I noticed after walking in the front door was the large man behind the counter wearing a Detroit Red Wings cap and the authentic brick oven directly behind him.  He was working hard whipping up pizzas as the orders came in from the waiters.   The Red Wings cap was not a good sign when one is looking for New Haven style apizza pie!   But the fact that he was large was a testament to the prospects that the pizza must be pretty darned good.

We sat down and were greeted by our friendly waiter.  We ordered a couple of glasses of Stella on tap.  I walked over to the counter where the large man was making pizzas and asked if I could take a picture of his oven.  All of a sudden he and I recognized each other.  Turns out he is the owner, Pete Lutz.  Pete and I used to play hockey in the San Diego senior league over a decade ago.  He was a great goalie.  He made some amazing saves that still amaze me when I recall them.  For a big man, he could move quickly.

Pete told me that he opened the restaurant a year ago.  He's married to a girl from Naples and the brick oven was bought in Naples and shipped over.  The restaurant won the "Frugal Fork" award which is, I'm told, unheard of for a pizza restaurant.

We decided on 2 pizzas(for 3 of us).  All the pizzas on the menu are one size, 12".  My wife ordered the Campania which comes with tomato sauce, fennel sausage, mozzarella cheese, cremini mushrooms and roasted onions.  I ordered a Margherita.  It was the closest thing I could order to a Mootz/Muutz(Mozzeralla) or cheese pie.  In addition to the basic cheese and sauce it had olive oil and basil.

The Campania was served first.  It looked great, smelled great, tasted wonderful.  Great sauce.  Perfect amount of cheese.  A little light on the sausage.  But we could tell the moment it was served that as good as it looked and tasted, it was not what we were looking or hoping for.  It fell short of our expectations when it came to the texture and feel of the crust.  It was wet, even soggy.  Not the crispy slightly burnt crust we would have liked.  The crust was doughy and chewy. Most of all, it lacked "foldability".  A bit disappointing.  Don't get me wrong.  It was one of the best pizzas I've ever had in San Diego and I would easily recommend this to friends.  It's just that it fell short of the New Haven style Apizza we are searching for.

For now, I place Pizzeria Bruno at number 2 behind Bronx Pizza for my favorite San Diego Pizza.

Next week we will head for Urbn Pizza to see if they can meet the crust test.