La Piedra brings food of Naples to Jerusalem

For the second year in a row, La Piedra has been listed in the Top 50 Pizza Guide, an Italian list of the top 50 pizza places in the world! This year, another Israeli pizza restaurant, Fresca in Kibbutz Afikim, joined the list at No. 37, while La Piedra is No. 39.

“Last year we had a lot of Italian tourists who wanted to come and try our pizza,” owner Avi Sinclair, 29, told me. “You’d think they wouldn’t want to eat pizza in Jerusalem, but they did.”

There are two locations of La Piedra, a very small one on Agron Street next to the Shufersal, and a much larger one next to the Haas Promenade in Talpiot, where you can reserve a table. On a Thursday night every table was taken, including a large table of about 15 people where grandparents were hosting their adult children and a bunch of grandchildren.

As we sat down, the staff came to a table with a dessert with a large sparkler, and the birthday boy (who looked to be about six) grinned from ear to ear as his family, and many of the other patrons, sang “Happy Birthday.” La Piedra just makes you feel good about being there, especially needed these days.

We let Avi choose our menu, although I did make one request – the pizza with the fresh mushrooms and truffle oil, which is my favorite. I could eat this pizza every day for a week and not get tired of it.

A word about the size of the pizza: It is a personal pizza for a teenage boy but more than I can eat at a sitting. This applies to all the pizzas, which are all the same size.

The pizza is done in traditional Neapolitan style, with a thin crust cooked in a wood burning oven. The flour and tomatoes are imported from Italy, and the cheese is from a local dairy.

We started with focaccia and dips (NIS 34) followed by suppli, fried risotto and mozzarella balls with a red pepper dipping sauce. They were similar to arancini, one of my favorite appetizers, but in an oblong shape. They were hot and fresh, and are highly recommended.

My husband, who loves chips in any form, asked for the Parmesan stracciatella fires (NIS 52), which were topped with arugula, lemon zest, stracciatella cheese and Parmesan. I can’t even think about how many calories each bite had, but it was such a unique combination that it was worth it (we all tell ourselves stories we want to hear).

Then we got to taste what we came for – the pizza. Neapolitan pizza has a very thin crust around the bottom, and it puffs up around the sides. Even though the crust was thin, it held all of the ingredients of the pizza.

We started with the red pizza, meaning it has tomato sauce as one of the ingredients. First came my favorite pizza at La Piedra, the Blue (NIS 74), which has mushrooms, truffle oil and blue cheese. I find myself craving this pizza every time I think about it. We also tried the Napoletana (NIS 65) with fresh basil and mozzarella. Simple and delicious.

My daughter is allergic to tomatoes (not easy for an Israeli), so Avi also brought us a white pizza. My husband went nuts for the onion jam pizza (NIS 74) with the caramelized onions and pickled onions. I’m not an onion fan, so I left them to it while I went back to the Blue.

Along with the pizza, we drank a wheat beer that is brewed by Hatch for La Piedra (NIS 28).

La Piedra has also been active in feeding soldiers since the beginning of the war. Anyone in uniform, which includes soldiers, police, Magen David Adom and United Hatzalah workers, can get a free pizza. Avi says he’s donated “thousands” of free pizzas.

That alone is a good enough reason to patronize La Piedra, if you need another reason beyond the excellent pizza.

La Piedra17 Daniel YanovskyTel: 1-700-505-678 (Reservations recommended)Hours: Sunday-Thursday, 5 p.m.-11 p.m.Kashrut: Jerusalem RabbinateThe writer was a guest of the restaurant.