Osteria Procaccini, Pennington

Oh how I do love pizza. All kinds. Every kind. But even better than just pizza? Perfect pizza. And folks, I believe we have found it.

Matt and I stumbled upon Osteria Procaccini's original location in Kingston, NJ last year, and fell instantly and deeply in love. Their pizza is nothing short of amazing.... crispy crust, luscious sauce, high quality toppings. Their salads are giant and full of interesting things.The staff was friendly. It was a true delight. The only problem was the place was tiny. Teeny tiny. Itsy bitsy teenie weeny tiny. We're talking about 8 tables for two, in a single line. This made us hesitant to go as much as we wanted to, since we would often have to wait (in cramped quarters, no less). And then the magical happened. A second location! Triple the size! Equally close to us, in Pennington! YAY!

As soon as we found out, we were on our way. Our friend Meesh joined us for our maiden voyage, which was wonderful... more people= more food= more things for me to try. We kicked the meal off with an apple, walnut, and gorgonzola salad and an appetizer special simply entitled "Mama's Meatballs". The salad was lovely... not over dressed, nice and fresh, every apple bright and crisp, loads of crunchy walnuts, and of course a heap of tangy gorgonzola. They certainly did not cheap out with the ingredients...I hate places that throw ya a slice or two of apple... gee thanks. The salad was enough for all three of us to have a decent size serving.

The meatballs were amazing. The sauce they were in was so full of flavor, so tomato-y and perfectly seasoned, and yet still let them meat shine through. I am almost positive we were dealing with a veal, beef, pork mixture (we know for sure it was at least beef and pork, we asked, because Meesh is anti piggy) but no matter what it was it was tasty. Darned tasty. The balls were nice and dense, but didn't feel too heavy. Adorned with little dollops of goat cheese, this was a wonderful start to our meal.

Dinner was three pizzas, as they only do one size (a 12" personal...  large for a personal, I know, but woo pizza!) I opted for the pesto pomodoro pizza... it was basically bruchetta pizza. Delicious. Crispy, thin crust topped with mozzarella, pesto soaked tomatoes, and then drizzled with a thick balsamic reduction. It was beautiful to look at and delightful to eat. I am often wary of balsamic reductions, usually finding them too acidic or too sweet. Osteria Procaccini had perfected the art of the balance, and it was pleasing to everyone. The pesto was very subtle, which allowed for the flavor of the tomato to really shine. Yum.

Matt went tried and true with the Margherita D.O.C. pie. Simple, classic, and perfectly executed.  For those that don't know D.O.C. stands for 'Denominazione di Origine Controllata', and is a measure of authentic pizza standards. It requires certain things to be true of your pie to be able to label it as such. 1. It must be cooked in a wood burning oven. 2. It requires the ingredients to be fresh, non processed, and all natural. 3. The dough must be kneaded by hand or low speed mixer. No mechanical dough shaping allowed! All of these things lend for a truly authentic, Napoletana style pizza. This was just that. Picture perfect, classicly executed, as tasty as all git out.

Meesh went with the pizza vongole... clam pizza! They offer it in red or white, and she opted for white. The pie was piled high with clams, garlic, and shaved parmigana cheese. While it was a touch dry, as it's a sauceless pie, there was a ton of flavor. The clams were sweet and plump, the cheese plentiful and slightly salty and nutty, and the dough was chewy and wonderful.

This new location also offers wine! Who knew!? It's so rare to find a restaurant that has a wine menu, with no full bar, so we were surprised. The wine was pretty reasonably priced (bottles ranged from $18 -$30 I believe), and a decent selection was available.

Osteria Procaccini is a serious gem. The menu is somewhat limited in that the only offerings are pizzas, salads, and sandwiches (the meatballs seemed to be a rare treat... we had never seen them offered before at the other location). That being said, you can still find something for everyone. With fresh ingredients, a beautiful new space, and interesting and unique takes on old favorites I think everyone will enjoy this place.

Osteria Procaccini
www.osteriaprocaccini.com
7 Tree Farm Road
Suite 101
Pennington, NJ 08534

or

4428 Route 27 North
Kingston, NJ 08528