A day between Brescia and the Amalfi Coast, part two

Our Brescia outing continues with a journey within a journey in the name of good food: pleasantly tired and hungry, we in fact reach the Ristorante Pizzeria Cristal, on via Valcamonica, easy to find as it is practically the continuation of the very central via Milano. We leave the car in the handy car park and, once inside the large, bright rooms, furnished in an elegant modern style, we feel magically transported from the Lombard winter straight into the summer of the Amalfi Coast. Creating this most pleasant summer atmosphere is the warm welcome from the Campanian owners Franco and Alfonso, an expert pizza chef, but the large photographs on the walls depicting the fabulous landscapes of the Coast contribute too.

As well as images of the places whose beauty has inspired numerous poets over the centuries, there are also those testifying to the skill of the owners, whose pizzas have won various awards at the world and European pizza-chef championships. 'We opened this restaurant in 2008 after gaining long experience, including at highly prestigious establishments. We have an in-depth knowledge of the products and, as well as following seasonality, we pay the greatest attention to the quality of the ingredients. You have to start from an excellent product to bring an excellent dish to the table. This is a very demanding job, but for us it is the most beautiful in the world,' Franco explains as we begin to enjoy our pizzas.

The enthusiasm and the great cheerfulness with which the owners work, together with the assistant pizza chef Ignazio and Edi, who helps in the kitchen, are the foundation of their philosophy. Passion and love for their work become for them indispensable ingredients for a successful dish. 'The customer must be pampered from the moment they come in to the moment they leave. It is important to work with empathy, to understand everyone's needs and to respect a good quality-price ratio. Rather than offering a rigid menu, I prefer to listen to the customer and accompany them along the paths of a pleasant culinary experience,' Franco confides in us. Our gastronomic walk leads us to discover the authentic flavours of Campanian cuisine offered with small variations and sometimes through dishes skilfully reworked so as to create a valid marriage between tradition and northern taste.

'For us these challenges represent an evolution. The culture of fish is in our DNA, but it is also important to sense the best way to offer our dishes to a particularly demanding northern clientele. To give an example, here spaghetti with clams must be served in white, while down south they are made with a touch of tomato,' the owners explain further. At this point, we have nothing left to do but give ourselves up to the pleasure of the steaming pizzas that arrive at the table in a great many varieties. As well as the classic ones, we also choose some special pizzas, named after loyal customers (one lady even dedicated a poem to the pizzeria, so much did she enjoy the food), as well as after the owners. For example the pizza Alfonso is made with tomato, mozzarella, scamorza, sausage and fried aubergines, while the one dedicated to Franco has ham, porcini mushrooms and grana cheese.

Clodo inspired a pizza with spicy salami, onions, anchovies and peppers, while Chiara's favourite ingredients must be porcini mushrooms, pancetta and gorgonzola. There is also the pizza Patatosa, the Montagnina and the Favolosa, made with porcini mushrooms and squid, but we can also imagine admiring Vesuvius while enjoying the pizza Vulcano which, as the name suggests, is prepared with olives and spicy salami. What is the common thread among all these varieties of pizza, including the white ones and the half-metre-long ones served on a board, is the care taken over the ingredients and the long, appropriate rising of the three different types of dough used. There is also wholegrain pizza, fried pizza and very long calzoni filled with all sorts of good things.

'Every ingredient has its own story, which you have to know thoroughly to obtain a good and unmistakable taste'; this too is the secret of the goodness of Franco's and Alfonso's pizzas. A trip to the Amalfi Coast cannot, however, do without the taste of the sea, so here we are enjoying some specialities suggested to us according to the availability of the best products. To begin, we taste some scallops au gratin with citrus fruits and an exquisite seafood salad. Next, we choose the typical Neapolitan paccheri with seafood, after which we enjoy a lovely mixed fry of small fish while our friends opt for squid with rocket, dried cherry tomatoes, grana cheese and balsamic vinegar.

Finally, we gladly give in to the sweet temptations of the home-made desserts, including tiramisu and crema catalana, but those arriving directly from the workshop of the famous Amalfi Coast pastry chef Salvatore De Riso are just as delicious. If it were still fashionable to entrust messages to the Lodoiga statue, ours would undoubtedly be one of thanks for the emotions and the hospitality we received during this day, as well as a wish to be able to return here again as soon as possible.

Francesca Bertha

FOR INFORMATION:

Ristorante Pizzeria Cristal Via Valcamonica, 27 030/3229996