Quick Bites: Strange Pizza

With the proliferation of Italian restaurants in Coral Gables, it’s no surprise there also exists a plethora of pizza. In our search for the best, we often stumble upon particularly bizarre iterations — from Nutella used for sauce to dough made from hemp and chia seeds. Here are some of the strangest in the Gables.

Unruffled Truffle

With an Italian four-cheese blend, Americana Kitchen’s Truffle Pizza ($28) substitutes the usual tomato sauce base with lemon truffle honey. Topped with frisée, a slightly bitter, curly-leaved lettuce, the pizza is an offbeat mix of sweet, acidic, and savory. The truffle flavoring is light, almost an after-taste to the sweet honey, but the cheese blend brings home the classic taste. Each bite has a complex flavor profile ranging from sweet to bitter to salty.

Americana Kitchen
2950 Coconut Grove Drive
Loews Coral Gables Hotel
americanakitchen.com

Healthy Pies

At Gables Juice Bar and Muscle Pizza, the ‘za is made with unusual ingredients — whole wheat flour, flaxseed, quinoa, oatmeal, brown sugar Stevia, chia, and hemp protein. The result is, surprisingly, almost indistinguishable from a regular slice. Flavor-wise, the only difference is a subtle earthiness; texture-wise, no difference. And you can eat it without feeling guilty — though we tried the pepperoni ($11.50). They offer veggie, Hawaiian, BBQ chicken, and two specialty pizzas (black olives with mushrooms, and turkey picadillo with cheese).

Gables Juice Bar and Muscle Pizza
230 Almeria Ave.
gablesjuicebar.com

Dorito Dust

If you’ve ever put potato chips in a sandwich, you’ll love the Picante Pizza ($18.95) at CRAFT, which combines mozzarella and cheddar cheese with jalapeños, onions… and Doritos. Yep — the flavored, triangular tortilla chips. It sort of feels like you’re eating nachos in pizza-form, with the broken-up chips providing a bit of crunch. Perhaps even more interesting is the condiment it’s served with, a pink beet sauce that you can slather on the crust to add a little savory flavoring.

CRAFT
127 Giralda Plaza
craftbar.com.ar/en

Fired Up

The only thing more intriguing than a carbonara pizza is one that’s quite literally on fire. At 450 Gradi the Pizza Carbonara ($27 — or $49 if you want 24-carat gold flakes on it) refutes the usual tomato base standard in favor of a truffle cream sauce base with mozzarella, pork cheek, egg yolk, basil, and truffles. The entire thing is then literally lit on fire table-side, giving the truffles a nice, blackened edge, and making the flavor sing. Come just for the presentation.

450 Gradi
130 Miracle Mile
450gradipizzerias.com

Dessert ‘Za

What’s better than pizza for lunch or dinner? Well, obviously, pizza for dessert. Nutella lovers will rejoice at this clever concoction from Don Favio’s Pizza Gourmet on Miracle Mile. The fast-casual joint now offers up a Nutella Pizza ($10.99 for a 12-inch or $16.99 for a 16-inch) that’s covered in M&Ms and dusted with powdered sugar. The base? Nutella. Only Nutella. And oh, yeah, there’s a little bit of bread crust underneath. After all, ice cream for dessert is so last year.

Don Favio’s Pizza Gourmet
70 Miracle Mile
donfaviospizzagourmet.com