Adventure #34: Quattro Gatti Ristorante e Pizzeria

Quattro Gatti is the first place we've gone where we've been asked if we have a reservation. We did not, but Thursday night didn't seem to be the time to need one - we were promptly seated.

Was this pizza reservation worthy? Find out after this picture of bruschetta. (This was delicious, a perfect blend of textures and flavors.)

How about the pizza? We chose the Quattro Stagioni: Tomato sauce, mushrooms, Soppressata, artichokes, and olives. Soppressata (we had to look it up) is Italian cured salami. Top notch ingredients - check.

Unfortunately, the sum of the parts was less than what you'd expect on paper.

The ingredients really were great: the mushrooms were slightly exotic and sweet, the olives were the Kalamata variety, the tomato sauce was what it claimed to be - tomatoes (although there was some debate as to whether the tomatoes were just a sweet variety or whether sugar was added to the sauce. I think we agreed that they were just sweet tomatoes.) The salami was slightly crispy and salty, a good balance to the sweet sauce. So . . . where did this pie go wrong?

Crust and balance. Within a minute of arriving at the table, the middle of the crust was soggy enough to warrant very careful movement to your plate. By the end of the meal, I was able to fold a piece vertically. It would take a great pizza to overcome a soggy crust, but the ingredients never seemed to gel - the sauce was a little too sweet, the salami a little too salty, the cheese a little too . . . . not special.

While we're not so sure we'd go back for pizza, the atmosphere is intimate and most of the menu is normal Italian fare. Judging by the bruschetta, you may fare well ordering from that side of the menu.

-Ian

PS (from Karin) - I think this bruschetta will be the bruschetta that all future bruschettas shall be judged by.