Best Pizza In The Dorf - Part 2 Da Noi

Next up in the Best Pizza in the 'dorf - Da Noi. It's been off and on my rotation over the years. There was a multi-year break due to a bad service incident (that led to several of my friends skipping on their parts of the check -- possibly unknown to the staff), but I had to give it a shot. Helped by Scott, I went back once more into the fray.

What We Ordered: After some deliberation on the menu, I passed on the house-named Da Noi (kind of forgot the ingredients -- that's how boring it was) to go for the awesomely-named Blöde Ziegen (fresh goat cheese, rucola, shaved parmesan and red onions):

Scott opted for the Inferno (salami and legitimately spicy pepperoncinis):

So, how was it? From the bottom up...


Crust: 7 - It was a middle-of-the-road, slightly chewy, slightly crispy crust. Good, but nothing amazing. On a related note, I've realized how hard it will be to discuss crusts in detail each week. Oof.

Sauce: 5 - Very tough to rate -- they opted for a just a light brushing of sauce. It gave the crust a nice whang, but it was very understated. Which is better than just bland (I'm looking at you, Su Nuraghe).

Toppings: 8 - The fresh goat cheese won the day here, with the spicy pepperoncinis getting an assist. It was creamy, but juuuust a bit goaty (in a good way)! The red onions and rucola were both fresh with enough of a bite, but the salami was the typical meh salami.

Cheese: 5 - Not great, not bad. Since I bumped the toppings for the goat cheese, I'm going solely on the "normal" cheese. And, this being the 'dorf, it's fing gouda. Why this town is obsessed with gouda on their pizza, i don't know.

Intangibles**: 7 - The outdoor seating is nice, if you can ignore the buses that stop directly in front of the tables. If you can't, then eat quickly before the next one

Final Decision: 32 - It's not toppling Di Napoli, but it was tasty. A return visit might improve the score, but til then, it's above average. Barely.

* The top crime-fighting pair in the topping universe
** Well, some of these are intangible. But using the word makes me feel like I'm rating players for a draft. Thank you, Jay Bilas!