Downtown Tampa’s Pizzaiolo Bavaro casual glamour, wood-fired brick oven and glorious food delivers some of the best gourmet pizza, homemade pasta, antipasti and hand-crafted desserts in town.
Owner Dan Bavaro has catering in his blood, and after selling off his limo company, he took at culinary tour of Italy and came home in love with the simple dishes of Naples and even sells his Antico Pomodoro savory tomato sauce. A modest wine and beer menu features some of my favorite Italian brews (MOretti, Peroni) and a dozen Italian wines, from a berry good Amarone Classico to a nicely balanced Pinot Grigio.
Pizzaiolo Bavaro serves lunch Monday-Friday and dinner Wednesday through Sun starting at 5 p.m., you can enjoy the intimate dining room or small patio. The buffalo mozzarella topping the lighter-than-a-feather pizza dough comes topped with the freshest of vegetables and meats. You’ll want to come daily for a different succulent pie: the prosciutto with basil or the sopressata and Italian olive? The carne or the prosciutto and artichoke hearts with basil? Or maybe the cipolla (caramelized onon, provolone) or the zucchini, eggplant and mixed peppers vegetarian?
The temptations go beyond Neapolitan pizza. There are calzoni and tomato basil soup, lovely ravioli served with mortadella, pork, sirloin in a Bolognese sauce or simple cheese in a vodka or antico pomodero sauce. Or make a meal of the caprese salad and antipasto Italiano plate where no olive or
piece of mortadella is left behind.
Lunch is even more complicated, because there are six wood-fired sandwiches in addition to the other delectable dishes, wich the tuna, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, celery, red onion, arugula and cherry tomato to live for. Save room for the homemade desserts (tiramisu) and gelato, especially the chocolate hazelnut.
