As all good foodies know, St. Petersburg’s Fourth Street North corridor is abuzz with new restaurants. At two of them — Pie Topia and Noble Crust — pizza is the main lure, with Italian entrees also in the mix. Both spaces have a modern industrial chic feel, so the devil is in the details: What does each deliver in food, value and service?
Superstar chef Thomas Keller of French Laundry and Per Se fame made a pithy observation in a TED talk a while back. Simply put, he said, “Cooking = ingredients + execution.” He then goes on at great length about nurturing his connection to farmers and makes an exquisite case for the trend of “farm to table.”
Pie Topia, the brainchild of owner Joe Di Bartolo, advertises a committed farm-to-table menu. The pies, under the direction of pizza maestro Federico De Rossi, certainly demonstrate high quality. There’s nice bright acidity to the sauce, absolutely oodles of cheese, fresh basil and great sausage on my margherita variation. The crust is thin with dense, toothsome chew, but lacks the intoxicating char I looked for in my Pizza Marathon earlier this year. So, it depends on your personal taste. In any case, it’s a good effort.
The restaurant also offers pizza featuring herb or veggie-infused crema (in place of tomato sauce), or stracchino, a soft and creamy partner to mozzarella. The servers need to proactively educate diners if they’re going to change old habits, though. As of now, the service is a bit scattered.
And I wonder at the future prospects of the dramatic meter-length European pizza, a style that Di Bartolo fell in love with while living in Italy. The problem in the U.S. market is that seeing pizza for $85, even if it does serve six to eight, is shocking, despite a farm-to-table moniker.
Up the road, I visited Noble Crust during my “year of pizza” and found its margherita to be light and fresh, if not particularly memorable. The entrees, however, really stand out. Huge fillets of day-boat grouper have a golden sear but remain juicy and luscious. They sit upon creamy risotto that pops with spicy andouille sausage and some rock shrimp, plus a touch of salsa verde. It’s got all the distinctiveness the pizza lacks.
Even better is the sweet potato ravioli, which burst with flavor. The “Southern soul” that marches hand in hand with “seasonal Italian” really shines here. The ravioli are perfectly firm and bathed in plenty of nutty brown butter, hinting of sage and reinforced with a handful of whole crunchy pecans. It’s a wonderful dish. The entrees are Noble Crust and executive chef Rob Reinsmith’s strength.
Back at Pie Topia, the non-pizza items are more of a mixed bag. The mozzarella bullet appetizer is a standout, starring a ball of cheese made in house daily by guru Jaynea Ford. The luscious bullet envelopes a stuffing of prosciutto di Parma, heirloom cherry tomato, fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil, truffled balsamic glaze, heirloom tomato jam and Italian sea salt. There are glorious green olives to boot.
Unfortunately in our other dishes, despite quality ingredients, Pie Topia’s kitchen falls down on the execution half of Keller’s equation. The roasted peach and prosciutto salad is a nice idea, but the raspberry vinaigrette is bitter and tastes slightly fermented. This one needs to be tweaked.
Wild salmon marinated in limoncello vinaigrette is overcooked and dry; you’d never know limoncello is involved. The Italian sausages, which appear to be the same ones sliced for the pizza, are too salty when served whole. Different veggies accompany each entree and are obviously farm-fresh. Although the asparagus is just right and the melange of peppers and onions sings, the broccolini manages to be too crispy and yet underdone. Pizza dough breadstick trios with each entree seem to be an odd add-on, but they allow you to appreciate the chew and density of the dough.
Pie Topia’s cannoli dessert is presented as a sweetened mascarpone-ricotta cheese “dip” with chocolate chips and toasted coconut. It’s really dense, and the mini cannoli used to scoop it up are thick and lack crunch, almost as if they’ve lost the battle with the Florida humidity. Better is the roasted pineapple with lightly caramelized edges and a sweetened mascarpone dotted with fresh berries.
Noble Crust assuages the demands of your sweet tooth with soft-serve gelato that leaves me cold. However, the Southern pecan pie, topped with warm banana slices (not compote) and whipped cream, is just right.
Note: Domenica Macchia, the noted chef hired by Di Bartolo to open Pie Topia, is no longer with the restaurant as of June 1. Di Bartolo says another "high-caliber" chef is due in shortly, but no immediate changes are planned in the menu. In the meantime, either nosh with a crowd on one of the eatery’s humongous pizzas, or head up to 83rd and Fourth for those seasonal Italian entrees with Southern soul.
Star Ratings:
Noble Crust
3.5 out of 5 stars
Pie Topia
2.5 out of 5 stars
