Pizza in our times... how our tastes and combos developed over the ages

IT seems strange that the first pizza establishment in these islands is widely thought to have opened in 1965, just before the late Peter Boizot started Pizza Express in London.

Monica Sheridan, the doyenne of television chefs in the early years of Telefís Éireann, was writing about pizza in 1956 but only as something that was ‘frightfully fashionable all over Europe,’ by which she meant the Continent.

In fact, there’s evidence that pizza was served at the late lamented Coffee Inn on South Anne Street as far back as 1962. I’m indebted to that wonderful website, comeheretome.com, for this nugget of information. According to a commentator on the site, ‘you could have any topping, provided it included mozzarella and anchovies.’ A long-gone establishment on Dawson Street was offering pizza in January 1965, just before Peter Boizot imported his pizza oven from Italy to Soho.

Paolo Tullio’s dad, Dionisio, opened what was described at the time as the ‘ONLY Spaghetti House and Pizzeria’ in July 1967; it was called The Honey Bee and had a chef from Naples by the name of Forte.

Anyway, continuing my quest for good pizza, I repaired to BO.CO with two of my daughters, both students, and found it in what had been an old boozer just opposite the neo-classical splendour of DIT on Bolton Street.

It’s very much a bar with a pleasingly simple, almost Spartan feel; the booths, divided by wire mesh, put us in mind of the cages in Marsh’s Library where 18th-century readers were locked in case they nicked the precious tomes. But in a good way.

We started by sharing sizzling skillets of prawns with chilli (fine, but pretty ordinary) and chicken wings in a spicy sauce, nicely charred from their time in the pizza oven. These were memorably good and the spicing here, in general, not just in this dish, was admirably robust. Oh, and the blue cheese dip was one of the best.

I have a minor gripe about our otherwise excellent pizzas and it’s perhaps a personal one. The tomato element in a pizza, I believe, needs to be cooked for some time in order to release its natural sugars. I know that some pizzerias add actual sugar to their tomato sauce and this is an abomination; it’s also not necessary if the sauce is cooked properly before being applied.

The proprietor, Colm, told me that their policy is not to cook down their tomato sauce and while this works, for me, with certain combinations, I think it can come across as too aggressive in others. However, this is just one element of a pizza, of course.

And, as I say, the pizzas are dead sound.

My one had ricotta, fennel sausage, shaved red onion and fresh chilli (there’s an enthusiasm for good spice here) and it worked well: a certain richness from the cheese, a charred note to the onion, heat from the chilli and a freshness to the tomato sauce that I normally would abjure. But it worked.

Another came with black pudding, goat’s cheese, prosciutto and rocket, all drizzled with the honey-like but tart apple syrup from Highbank Orchards near Kikenny. This was quite a symphony, cleverly judged, indulgent. I thought of the great Bernadette O’Shea, who invented black pudding pizza way back in her Sligo restaurant, as I tasted this.

I’ve kept the best until last, a blast of flavours and textures described thus: ‘roasted garlic oil, mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, bresaola, rocket, herby salsa verde’ but no tomato sauce. Was this why I liked it best? No, there was more to it than that.

A wickedly desirable ‘mess’ made with whipped cream, smashed key lime pie and meringue was simply seductive. And the Bean & Goose chocolate selection, presented like a cheese board (even down to the water biscuits) was both witty and rather wonderful.

With a couple of cocktails (€9 and €10) and a glass of wine each, our bill came to a very reasonable €121 for three very wellfed people.

WINE CHOICE

In addition to lots of beers and cocktails (and it’s very much that kind of place), there’s a selection of six wines from Winelab. A decent French Sauvignon is €6.50 a glass, €17 for a carafe and €25 for a bottle; and there’s a chunky Argentinian Malbec, organic for €7.50, €19 and €27 respectively.

SMART MONEY

Good pizzas priced between €12 and €15. What’s not to like?

AND ANOTHER THING

They do an excellent Negroni sbagliato (i.e. topped up with prosecco) for a tenner.