Dinner At La Pizza, Derby
Published On Sunday 15 Jan 2017 by Sticky Beak
La Pizza in Derby closed in December 2019 After having missed the opening night of La pizza in Derby due to being on holiday, it was lovely to finally make it on my birthday! The Boy Wonder and I got there nice and early as we had a family film night planned back at the nest with our Chickadee as well. There were already plenty of folks in the restaurant, tucking in to delicious looking and smelling pizzas and it was fair making my little mouth water in anticipation. You walk in the door and the first thing you see is the massive, and I mean MASSIVE, pizza oven that was made and imported from Italy. Several Pizzaiolos were hard at work satisfying the orders in the restaurant and also in the takeaway section at the front of the premises; we walked through here and into the large open plan restaurant. The exceptionally high ceiling has a central triangular apex that houses a spectacular chandelier as its centrepiece, to fantastic effect I must say. I thought the staff uniform of dark bottoms with either a black or burgundy t shirt with “feed me pizza and tell me I’m pretty” were not only practical but unique too. La Pizza has a selection of 5 dishes on the starter section; I had the mixed Antipasto and His Nibs had the Pizza dough balls with Tomato, Ricotta and Smoked Mozzarella sauce to dip them into. Both were reasonably priced at £4.50 and £3.50 respectively. My Italian meats, including Parma Ham and Salami were delicious; straight forward, uncomplicated flavours that burst onto the tongue. There was nice bed of mixed leaves and fresh rocket to accompany them and also some warm, fresh dough sticks that were like clouds in the mouth. The Mans dough balls were just a nice size to grab and dip into the sauce, and the portion size was just nice for a starter. The dough was incredibly fresh and warm, melting in the mouth and the sauce had a sweet, vibrant flavour to it. You could still discern the cheese melting in its warm tomato-y bath and the flavours combined beautifully together. La Pizza make their pizzas in different shapes; the regular pizzas are round as you would expect, the Stella version is a five pointed star and the half metre and metre varieties are rectangular. The regular pizza selection ranges from £6.50 to £9.50 in price, the Calzone and Stella are £9.50, the half metre pizza is £15.95 and easily feeds two people, and the metre long beast is £29.50 and is ideal for four people. The half- and metre- long pizzas can have different toppings on them, in a zonal system, so that those with wildly differing taste buds are simultaneously satisfied. Genius. Anyhow, back to our meal dear reader. My Stella pizza was amazing, not only from a visual point of view but from a taste perspective too. All the ingredients were fresher than fresh and their true characters just shone through and burst onto the stage that was my palate. The meats were thinly sliced, the cheeses were gooey and it was all nicely garnished. Not a single morsel was left, not even a rogue piece of melted cheese; absolutely nada, zip, zilch to be seen on my plate. The Boy Wonder was merrily chomping away on his Pizza Verace. This gem is made up of spicy Salami, Italian smoked Mozzarella, cherry Tomatoes, Parma ham, Parmesan shavings and Rocket on a white (plain) base. If you love cheese then this is paradise for you. The deep, fluffy base had a generous layer of melted cheese on with ham and salami liberally scattered all over it. Parma ham is a wonderfully delicate, slightly sweet flavour and this partnered well with the bolshier Salami with its punchy but not over powering taste. La Pizza uses a sourdough base for its pizzas, and the slower, more natural proving process allows the true flavours to be tasted and seems to give a lighter texture to the base as you eat it. The pungent notes of the Parmesan and Rocket finished things off nicely for His Nibs, and there was no morsel left uneaten on his plate either. There are only four choices on the dessert section; Gelato for £3.50 (ice cream, which we know the Italians are renowned for), Tiramisu Profiteroles £3.95, Strawberry cheesecake at £4.50 and a Big Nutella Pizza £7 for sharing that can have additional toppings added (have all toppings for £8.50, Marshmallows, Sprinkles, Caramel and Whipped Cream). There was only ever one contender seeing as it was my birthday; the Big Nutella Pizza with the whole gamut of toppings was begging to be my birthday cakeJ. When it arrived it was fab, total choc overload! We tucked in and you just can’t be dignified about it, you have to immerse yourself in its unabashed molten chocolate glory and embrace the chocolate splats on your cheeks and around your mouth. It was worth the momentary inelegance, 100%. Another thing the Italians do well is coffee and at La Pizza you have a choice; milky Latte or strong, simple Espresso. They don’t muck about with all the in-between options. We had our customary Latte coffees and they do use a good bean at La Pizza, plenty of rich flavour but no bitterness at all. As we left, Antonio, La Pizzas owner, wished me Happy Birthday and asked if we had had a good evening. Our heartily positive reply gave him much happiness, and we praised his entire team for their standard of service and congratulated the Pizzaiolos on their talent. The restaurant was full all evening, so when you want to go I would definitely recommend booking ahead to reserve a table. There were plenty of families in with children of all ages, as well as couples and groups of friends, so safe to say that La Pizza has universal appeal. Hot Wings well deserved here :)
You can’t but notice the bright, eye catching artwork on one wall showcasing all things Italian; the back wall has La Pizzas logo painted on it and the facing wall has monochrome stylised writing of Italian words, all very trendy. I was impressed that the original fireplace and surround was still in place, as were the lovely deep skirting boards.
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