Il Pizzaiolo in Mount Lebanon. Gold Medal Winner. Wait til you read Why and How. Astounding!
- Jon Litle
- May 9, 2023
- 10 min read
Updated: May 10, 2023
Food Review by Raziel Stevenson
This article is a different kind of food review. It is half about food which will be written in black text and this article ends in a rant about life in these United States and the plight of the small business. That part of the article will be typed in red type.
Il Pizzaiolo is located at 703 Washington Road in Mount Lebanon a suburb in South Pittsburgh. It's open everyday but Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and Easter. It opens at 11 and closes around 9pm. It may be the best restaurant in Pennsylvania for these reasons. The owner is master chef Ron Molinaro. Molinaro has taken some heat from a bunch of Karens and Kevins over his right to assert himself and run the business the way he wants. Covid from the very first day was overwhelmed with false media and fake federal emergency declarations. This created public mass psychosis and hysteria and it was all intentional.
Some local hack journalists wrote a hit piece on Ron Molinaro trying to indicate that he was insensitive or not taking the ludicrous CDC mandates seriously or that he was un-concerned about Covid
But as it turns out Molinaro was on the right side of history. He knew it was a scam then, but the media and the public painted him out to be public enemy #1. He remained tough and we think he's a total bad ass in giving the middle finger to the mob mentality that wanted him "tarred and feathered."
Also think about this... KDKA runs a hit piece which was mostly Jerry Springer style sensational tabloid garbage. A plaintiff attorney could sue KDKA for defamation of character. Libel is the written word; slander is the spoken word. KDKA did both because the written word led to murmuring in Mt Lebanon, a city known for having a disproportionate share of sanctimonious snobs spreading harmful gossip and rooting for a Salem style witch hunt. This negative press by KDKA certainly damaged Molinaro who suffered substantial revenue loss. KDKA inflicted well over $100,000 in damages in a time when restaurants were already getting destroyed by the aforementioned mass psychosis created by CDC and a complicit media feeding off fear mongering. Covid19 did turn out to be a huge act of terrorism by US government to wipe out millions of people and boost profits for the health industrial complex. Just google vaccine injury or follow the hashtag #diedsuddenly if you have any doubts. This isn't a political blog we're just interested in reporting facts and some reading this will pretend to be offended iso let's get back on topic. Let's discuss the food, the atmosphere and the service at il Pizzaiolo.
First check out the standards il Pizzaiolo follows as per the VPN requirements. What does VPN mean?
The Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN) is a non-profit organization based in Naples, Italy, that was founded in 1984 with the goal of promoting and preserving the traditional Neapolitan pizza. The AVPN has established a set of strict standards for the quality of ingredients and the preparation of pizza in order to ensure that it is made in the traditional way.
Here are some of the key standards set by the AVPN for making traditional Neapolitan pizza:
Dough: The dough must be made from a specific type of flour (type "00" or "0" soft wheat flour), water, salt, and yeast. The dough must be kneaded by hand or with a low-speed mixer, and must be left to rise for at least six hours.
Tomatoes: The only type of tomato allowed is San Marzano, which must be grown in a specific area near Naples and must be peeled and crushed by hand.
Cheese: The only type of cheese allowed is Mozzarella di Bufala Campana, which must be made from the milk of water buffalo raised in the Campania region.
Toppings: Traditional Neapolitan pizza can be topped with only a limited number of ingredients, including fresh basil, garlic, oregano, and extra virgin olive oil. Other toppings are allowed, but only if they do not compromise the quality of the pizza.
Cooking: The pizza must be cooked in a wood-fired oven at a temperature of at least 430°C (800°F) for no more than 60-90 seconds.
In addition to these specific standards for pizza, the AVPN has also established general principles for the quality of ingredients and the preparation of Italian food. These include:
Using fresh, high-quality ingredients that are in season.
Cooking food with simple techniques that preserve the natural flavors of the ingredients.
Avoiding the use of pre-packaged or processed foods.
Using traditional methods and recipes that have been passed down through generations.
Overall, the AVPN and other organizations like it play an important role in preserving traditional food cultures and ensuring that consumers can enjoy high-quality, authentic Italian cuisine.
Each of these protocols above are exhausting and are very labor intensive.
Just look what you have to do to be in compliance for the wood fired oven itself.
The requirements for the construction of the wood-fired oven used to make traditional Neapolitan pizza are very detailed and exacting.
Type of Oven: The oven must be a wood-fired, dome-shaped oven made of refractory materials that are able to withstand high temperatures.
Size and Shape: The oven must have an interior diameter of no more than 35 inches (90 cm) and a depth of no more than 12 inches (30 cm). The dome should be no less than 16 inches (40 cm) in height.
Heat Source: The oven must be heated with a wood fire, using only specific types of hardwood that are able to reach the required temperature.
Temperature: The oven must be able to reach a temperature of at least 430°C (800°F) and maintain that temperature for several hours.
Location: The oven must be located in a well-ventilated area that allows for proper air circulation and prevents the buildup of smoke.
Cooking Surface: The oven's cooking surface must be made of refractory materials and must be cleaned and maintained regularly.
Door: The oven must have a door that allows for the proper regulation of heat and the circulation of air.
Installation: The oven must be installed by a professional and in compliance with all relevant building and safety codes.
These requirements are designed to ensure that the oven is capable of producing the high temperatures and consistent heat necessary to cook authentic Neapolitan pizza in the traditional way.
Here is a copy of of their menu
Here is how your order online
Here is how you buy a gift certificate
We recommend you show up in person to purchase a gift certificate. Olivia is the best at doing all the transactions at the host station or front bar area.
Reservations are recommended and they use a scheduling app that sends out sms reminders. One of the core competencies of il Pizzaiolo is their "family style" menu for large orders. This is like their catering operation. Here is the menu for ordering "family style." These orders require 24-hour notice because of the labor time on staging these orders that feed between 6-8 people per product. They are 6x12 trays (entrees, salads, antipasto) averaging between $35 to $65 dollars, in our inflationary environment this equals about $8 per serving which is below market value IMHO
They have a boutique approach, and we encourage you to walk in for face-to-face transactions. Their phone rings constantly that's why popping in can be the best practice (for reservations, gift certificates, to go orders, family style orders.) On a given night over 70% of the patrons are regulars and remainder new guests or tourists.
The staff is very pro-active, educated, polite and helpful. The owner Ron Molinaro encourages his staff to learn enough Italian to describe the food and wine. All the products such as the core ingredients, tomatoes, pasta and wine are products of Italy. So, the staff and public can't rely on generic names like cabernet, merlot, chablis. They must learn the Italian nomenclature which is an important value Molinaro is trying to instill within his core staff as well as the public.
This goes to Ron Molinaro's general world view. He thinks and acts on a macro level and believes it's important for cultural preservation to celebrate life outside the US supremacy lens where people here tend to not have any sensitivity to other cultures, languages but are too ethnocentric to take the time to learn other customs.
That's really what il Pizzaiolo is about. Embracing and showcasing the complexity, passion and flavors of life how it was in Naples for centuries and recreate this experience in today's chaotic times (fast food culture where no one can delay gratification...on demand Amazon living with Netflix and Twitter distracting nonsense.)
There are no TVs within Ron's venue. The look of their back wine bar is eclectic, vintage, dark and uber romantic, (mostly mysterious and cozy.) It's intentionally dark allowing the vintage light fixtures, candles, fireplace and wine bar surface to glow. It features a beautiful bar that yields a glowing cobalt blue being backlit underneath the bar surface. This creates a luminous touch accented with subtle white flecks on the bar surface (creating a Terrazzo illusion.) The wine bar is an intimate space that seats about 30 and occasionally hosts private functions. (But not on weekends)
wine bar behind main facility
The flooring in the bathrooms are intricate mosaic tiles. The flooring in the main dining room is beautiful slate with a variegated color palate. Architecturally il Pizzaiolo is splendid characterized by natural stone, wooden shelving in a walnut color which pops off the yellow paint hues. The faux wall treatment compliments the overall design motif. The painting intent (by use of blending yellow hues) creates the look of Venetian plaster. The clay around Naples sourced from the hillside deposits had this colour theme because of the type of gypsum typical of the region.
The artwork is ironic with random city scenery. My favorite photo is adjacent to the front bar and displays a 1960s Italian model on a Lambretta scooter. There are intriguing murals adorning the walls in the adjacent dining room as well as the back bar. The marquis mural in what is called room 799 (because that was the address of the merchant annexed to the main room) displays a hybrid New York Statue of Liberty juxtaposed within Pittsburgh's skyline)
The food servers are courteous, kind, experienced and attentive. The cooking staff work mostly in the basement whereby there are days of preparation going on behind the scenes to make sure that the VPN standards are upheld. Some of his staff have been with him for over a decade.
There is also a beautiful patio with tumbled pavers and a fountain that provides a sense of tranquility, an authentic "al fresco" feel.
The outdoor seating at il Pizzaiolo, tumbled pavers, fountain, beautiful garden. Peaceful setting for festive wedding parties, reunions, first dates or families.
This is a favorable restaurant review, but it is all true. Best of Pittsburgh goes into exhaustive detail in all our investigative reports because our readers deserve to be clued in. There is so much noise in the media messaging landscape that it's our editorial mandate to report accurately. I think you have read enough detail as to how and why il Pizzaiolo is the Gold standard. Below in red type is some narrative on how restaurants and merchants are disappearing rapidly. Pittsburgh is more of a safe haven than most markets because there is a fierce spirit of entrepreneurship and loyal customers that support family-owned businesses.
Moreover you don't see as many big box retail located in the neighborhoods. Big Box hell is mostly located in the periphery instead of the heart of the trading districts you see in places like Castle Shannon, Mt Lebanon, Dormon'ts Potomac Street, Allentown, Millvale, Brookline (too many to name.) Allegheny County itself has over 136 municipalities, which include townships, boroughs, and cities. WARNING: There may be some other restaurants in Pittsburgh that use the name il Pizzaiolo but they are not the original (they are imposters)
Disclaimer - now we are getting into some commentary that isn't food related really. It's very much off topic and more of a rant and isn't necessarily the view of anyone but this author.
Small businesses have been intentionally decimated by the political class for centuries. It dates back to Italy in the 12th century when artisans like blacksmiths, glass blowers, clay fired brick makers, iron workers, carpenters were able to trade with one another using silver and gold and also trading in kind.
Example a physician may want to obtain a wooden cart to help bring home goods from the market so he may engage an artisan to trade medical services for the purchase of a custom cart. These sorts of negotiations worked for centuries silver was considered for every day purchases (food, clothing, medicine, provisions) and gold for bigger ticket items (horses, carriages, larger homes with acreage)
Then some greedy merchants started leveraging some fortune and competitive advantages to snatch up smaller artisans and made connections with politicians. They then started vaulting the gold and silver and drowning the villagers with bank notes. This introduced counter party risk because every time the fiat currency failed.
It was usually because the merchants would loan money to the King so the King could go to war. This syndicate of greedy businessmen (generational and inherited wealth) along with the ruling class led to the beginnings of a stratified society. Artisans no longer were able to thrive independently through their culture and network of trade but had to get hammered down into a coercive form of slavery.
The way this worked is similar today. The US Federal reserve can print a $100.00 bill and it costs them .17 cents to do so. But workers have to expend their time, talent, sweat, labor and energy
( 100 dollars worth based on wage/hour calculations) for 17 cents worth of paper. The difference between this 17 cents and extracting 100 dollars worth of labor is called seignorage.
This unfair exchange ( time, energy, and hardwork) for increasingly worthless pieces of paper always ends poorly. Every time inflation infects the village it leads to violence, civil unrest, distrust of government, poverty and misery. In every instance in history where this occurs it leads to the ruling class being overthrown (so we do have this to look forward to, we recommend you spend this time cheering for the ensuing chaos in a festive atmosphere like il Pizzaiolo!)
What does this have to do with Wood Fired Pizza in Mt Lebanon?
Everything, Il Pizzaiolo survived the biggest con since I've been alive (since 1963)
The Covid war plandemic was unleashed on the world a few years ago via an intentional biological weapon. It started through gain of function research at the Wuhan Virology lab. It was blamed on some random bat in a wet market. (Can't make this shit up)
It was funded by the United States ( NIH and EcoHealth Alliance. ) It featured Super Evil Villains such as EcoHealth Alliance's Peter Daszak, Dr. Ralph Baric, Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina, Little Tony Fauci, Evil Bill Gates and other WEF globalists dead-set on planning depopulation schemes. Their next play will be "climate lockdowns" or launching some Central Bank Digital Currency for total control of workers and villagers. Their final solution to suck up all the money from as many people possible. US and globalist "think tanks" intentionally engineered a virus and then launched an experimental drug experiment they called a vaccine in a follow the money scandal of the century. All of us who survived this planned war but it was especially brutal for restaurant owners. They were picked on more than any niche in our economy.
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