This post will include an overview of the pizza that we’ve purchased in 2022 through mid 2023 (my previous post, click here, provided an update of my Homemade Pizzas). Also, there’s a review of Pizaro’s Pizza in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston, TX.
But. I will start with an Aside.
- ASIDE: Frequently I mention the high price to purchase pizza in North America. So, let me explain my comparisons.
- Comparison #1 – Napoli, Campania, Italy – (and most all of Southern Itly….spelled like Grandpa Tony pronounced it) – €5 (about $5) for a Pizza Margherita made with Neapolitan 00 and Tipo 1 flour, the freshest San Marzano tomato, buffalo moozedell, and parmagian Reggiano (the real parmagian from Parma, Reggio Emilia, not the fake BelGiosioso crap from Wisconsin). BTW, pizza north of Roma is not as good, nor cheap as Southern Italy.
- Comparison #2 – My Own Homemade – imported from Napoli 00 flour and canned San Marzano tomato, fresh local cow’s milk moozedell, and the same, real parmagian Reggiano. My dough is a multi-part system of a pre-ferment, cold ferment, and final ferment totaling 24-72 hours. Add the cost of the oven, charred wood, and cooking wood, $3.50 per pizza (obviously $0 for labor)
Given that, I believe the sweet spot price for a 10″ – 12″ Neapolitan Margherita pizza in the US should be $12 – $14; especially with the likely use of lower quality, industrial ingredients, and short fermentation time of dough made and cooked on the same day. That price is about 4 – 5x the cost of ingredients to keep the lights on, pay employees, and make a profit of about 25%
For true “artisan” pizza, a artistic masterpiece of tastes and atmosphere with all imported ingredients and 24 – 48 hours of dough fermentation; $16 should be a max price. Profit margin should be about 35%.
- The problem for eaters is that the barriers to entry to open a Pizza Joint are low. Any hack can do it.
- Rent a store front
- buy a gas oven (if the owner cares, it’s a wood burning, pottery/ceramic version, but most don’t and use gas)
- go to Wegmans/Publix/HEB and get some Gold Metal All-purpose flour (even cheaper if a distributer is used)
- pre-shredded, cow’s milk mozzarella (along with all the anti-caking and sticking chemical added)
- BelGioioso fake parmagian cheese
- Hunt’s tomato
- and start cooking.
Unfortunately, most of those owners won’t know that many of their pizzas are meh and that they’re hacks. If you don’t think it’s possible to be an artisan, have good prices, and great atmosphere in the US, then re-read my review of Mercurio’s Pizza in Pittsburgh (blog link).
Highlights for Purchased Pizza
- 2022 Full Year Purchased Pizza – 46 times
- 2023 1st Half Purchased Pizza – 12 times
- Click here for the full Purchased Pizzas Table with synopsis reviews (93 total)
Pizaro’s Pizza – Montrose, Houston – 3/16/23
While visiting family, we decided to hit up Pizaro’s Pizza (website link) in Montrose, Houston, in March 2023, and boy was it a ride!
Pizaro’s website claims are very promising. They claim:
- to make their dough, sauce, and moozedell fresh daily
- they we’re trained in Itly to be a pizzaiolo
- and make Neapolitan, Detroit, and New York Styles
Despite the claims, the pizza was good, not great, and I’m just not into strip mall style pizzerias. The interior was open and modern, with a high ceiling, and lots of hard surfaces. This resulted in lots of noise bouncing around. I could barely keep a conversation at our table.
Yes, I realize not everyone lives in Italy or the Northeast with small establishments in old buildings, but it’s my preference. Once inside, it’s more of the strip mall experience, there is nothing quaint about Pizaro’s.
Upon ordering, I attempted to engage the manager, but he blew me off when I asked to see their ovens because I’m an oven aficionado, that I write a blog, own ovens, and make pizzas regularly.
The cheese was normal mozzarella (the term moozedell is reserved for “real” stuff) and had the right amount for a Neapolitan-style pizza. The sauce was thin, but tasty and had just the right amount of flavor, without an overly tomato taste. The cheese to sauce ratio was spot on – the sauce was medium, and the cheese was medium as well.
The crust was also Neapolitan-style – thin, spongy and airy. It’s cornicione was bubbly, chewy and soft making it a delight to eat. Unfortunately, the dough lacked the zippy sour bite from dough that’s been aged 24+ hours.
Although cornicione was great, the middle was undercooked. I mentioned this to the manager who had blown me off earlier, and he quickly delivered a replacement pizza. This had equally good taste, a nice char, and well baked.
The other downside to this experience was the price – at $20+ for a Neapolitan-style pizza, it felt a bit steep.
However, despite their claims, my overall rating for Pizarro’s Pizza is good, not great, and I probably wouldn’t go back because of the high cost especially with their lack of consistency and quaintness. Also, their making of so many different styles of pizza in ovens made for Neapolitan pizza seems problematic for consistency. Detroit and NY Style pizza require much different oven temps and times, dough, sauce, and cheese than Neapolitan. It’s one thing as an owner to be trained as a Neapolitan pizzaiolo, but unless your staff has the same training, the same passion for consistency, and focus on one style, you fail.
At that price, the pizza should be spot on every time which is the difference between an artisan and a hack. To make matters worse, the owners are Amerigans! Please leave the important business of pizza to us Italian and Italian-Americans.
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