'A livella in Turin, review: the pizzeria that should dare

Video: 'A livella in Turin, review: the pizzeria that should dare

2023 Author: Cody Thornton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 19:13

'A Level they reported it to me among the best pizzerias from Turin, or in any case among those to try, and then a sunny and cold day like only here, I started towards Corso Belgio, just outside the center. What I didn't know is that I was about to review a new opening: the place has just changed management, and only keeps the name of the old one; staff and owners have moved here from Balangero, a village half lost in the Lanzo valleys. Here's what we found, and how we found ourselves - considering that margin of uncertainty and benefit of the doubt that is always to be granted to a debut.

'At the level or The new Europe? The format

Scrolling through the Facebook page of the town's pizzeria, you can see a certain propensity for research, both on doughs and on toppings. Of course there is a vague naïve air, because we are in 2020, things like buckwheat and spirulina algae are no longer avant-garde but mainstream, if not even rearguard in the case of charcoal. Just as the name was a little naive and fintomodern: The new Europe is so much 90s and Fabrizio Frizzi - who then today in the era of retro-mania, could well be a winning choice.

It is therefore clear that the justified ambition was to make the leap into the big city: but for a series of factors, it seemed to me that the transit is still in progress. For example: the name, I understand the fear of not confusing the local clientele, but why not change it? (On the receipt there is the new one, both on the Facebook page, but then there is also another page, new, with the old name. In short, it gets a bit confusing.)

Ambience and service

The pizzeria 'A livella is in corso Belgio, one of those Turin perspectives that frame the hill of Superga with the basilica on the top. The place is refurbished, modern, neither patinated nor rustic, above all devoid of those Neapolitan alley trimmings that characterize many pizzerias Bellanapoli, Capri and similar pezzottate. The only reference to the prince of laughter - moreover 'A livella is not the most laughing of his works - is a giant photo of Totò in a circle on a wall (in another circle, to say, a Vespa).

Nice big, there will be a hundred seats, plus other tables in the outdoor area, which is one of those well protected, winter-proof. The service is prompt and polite, it is true that there were few at lunchtime.

The 'A level menu

The menu, intended as a physical or digital medium where foods are indicated, is one of those things that appear to be linked to another era. The hard leather cover, the pages tucked into plastic bags, make it so '900 that they induce less amazement than tenderness. The physical menu, then, in times of coronavirus is a real rarity.

The menu, in the sense of proposed food, is among the things in the middle of the ford: it opens with appetizers, mostly fish, very eighties / nineties. The doughs follow: in addition to the basic one (made with a type 1 flour) there are 9 others, from multigrain to hemp, from turmeric and curry to aromatic herbs. Ten dough ten, are we kidding?

The pizzas: 8 focaccias, 3 calzones, 55 (fifty-five) pizzas, and 8 contemporaries. Here too, too much grace: especially in the face of a variety and originality that seem to be lacking - but which in reality, and it's worse if you think about it, are only drowned by quantity. Another speech for the contemporaries, with more than a few ideas that tease (but also with some naive / retro slips, get the Poseidon: mussels, salmon, cream, shrimp, grilled zucchini, seafood salad, shrimp basket in cocktail sauce and soy. Nothing more?). The idea, even looking at the photos of the old village pizzeria, is that they missed some gourmet proposals on the street, and above all that they did not want to abandon any of the classic or pseudo-classic pizzas. Margherita for 6 euros, marinara for 5, the rest up to 12 (the Poseidon for 15).

The menu of dishes does not deserve particular mention, if not for the hilarious division between "first without cream" and "first with cream", I did not believe it. Sweets ("own production") equally divided between pledges to be paid in Naples and local tradition. Obvious and generic drinking card.

The pizzas and desserts

Undecided whether to test the classics or investigate creativity, I opt for a compromise. I stay on the basic for the dough, I sift through the contemporary options well. I choose Zuccotta, not so much for the seasonal ingredient as for the salame di turgia, a local sausage made with fresh and spreadable pasta, such as the more famous Bra sausage. But Zuccotto cannot be done, they tell me, without specifying the reason better. I head to Between land and river (one precedes it also for names), attracted by the slightly tamarri combinations. After a few minutes, I am informed that there is no yellow tomato, is the red one okay? Okay - but not great.

And the appearance is truly tamarra, with the super salmon slices covering almost everything, and the soy sauce with the usual pattern. The dough has nothing of the Neapolitan: existing cornice but not at all pronounced, uniform cooking, light biscuit underneath (the effect is that of a prolonged cooking at medium-low temperature: it could be desired, as also a consequence of the fact that it is lunch and there are few customers). When cut, the base is a couple of millimeters thick: unlike most pizzas made in this way, however, the leavening and internal cooking are perfect.

The topping is dominated by salmon, the soy sauce seems to double the salty / umami of the fish, the cherry tomatoes are a bit on their own, the rocket pesto remains between the anonymous and the sweetish. Yet, miraculously, all this produces a very tasty result: at the limits of pork, ok, at the limits of tamarro, but not beyond. The ingredients - which are many but do not produce that often annoying and more instagrammable than edible tower effect - blend together perfectly, bringing back to the palate a pinwheel of all 5 flavors wrapped in a palm of fat, but without stewing until last bite. And the cornice, looked at first with an air of satisfaction, is excellent for collecting some fallen seasoning.

Some Piedmontese or generic sweets look beautiful, but I still don't know that I am no longer at La Livella, and therefore I pay a pledge in Naples: since the zeppola does not have a beautiful face, I take the baba. And I'm wrong because, beyond the incongruous dusting of sugar, the pasta is tough, too wet on one side and too dry on the other.

Opinion

The bill is over 20 euros, it is true that I took a top pizza but I only drank a water, and no treats except dessert: but we are in line with the medium-high range in Turin, obviously twenty is the new normal In this area. Digestion is fine.

'A livella is a pizzeria with good potential that discounts a bit of indecision in the choices. For the moment it is an abundant sufficiency, but there is ample room for improvement, and the pizza chefs have all the credentials: just dare.