From the good folks who brought you Dish in Hartford
comes Sorella,
conveniently located across Main Street in the space that previously housed the dubious Zula.
Those good folks would include Bill Carbone, shown here slicing strawberries at Dish,
and Dan Keller, shown here providing direction at Dish ’N Dat in Canton.
We checked our coats in the coat closet,
and then passed the bar area
on the way to our table in the pizza area,
the walls festooned with photos of Carbone’s family in New Jersey.
Grissini were apparently available,
but soon we had good bread
and a nice artichoke spread to nibble on.
We looked over both the menu
and the wine list on its back side.
We ordered a nice Italian red,
which we were able to get in nice big goblets (even though the restaurant favored the chic stemless goblets that I’m not keen on).
First and foremost, we had to test the small artisan pizzas made in Sorella’s authentic Neopolitan imported wood-burning pizza oven.
It’s small, but can handle five pies at a time and cooks them much faster than most pizza ovens. Following the strict rules for authentic Neopolitan pizza, Sorella uses only Caputo “OO” flour, San Marzano tomatoes, high-quality toppings and the required artisan techniques in which the staff has been trained.
The results are impressive. The crust is thin but neither limp or crackery, and it’s scorched a bit, which pleases New Haveners like me. The cornicione, or lip, is rolled thicker and is puffy in appearance but still crackles under one’s teeth like the rest of the pizza. The sauce made from San Marzano tomatoes is bright colored and even brighter tasting. The topping are first-rate and sparsely applied. Anyone who thinks pizza is all about toppings (which, in America, is most people) doesn’t understand pizza. Different spots in the pizza oven maintain different temperatures. Your pizza may be finished by scorching the top of it a bit by elevating it for a few seconds on the peel before bringing it out of the oven.
Let’s take a visual tour of the pizza making and some pizzas.
Here’s our simple margherita pizza, absolutely spectacular, the fresh basil crisped almost as if deep-fried from the intense heat.
But anyone who knows Keller and Carbone knows that Sorella may offer some of Connecticut’s best pizza but it will offer much more than pizza. From its antipasti menu, we tried some verdure, including roasted cauliflower,
poached baby artichokes,
and salt-roasted beets served with pistachio, ricotta salata and vincotto.
From the altri, we tried chicken liver mousse with black truffle on buttery toasts
and veal sweetbreads with vicotto served atop cipollini onions.
From the mare, we enjoyed wonderful semolina fried oysters served with marinated fennel and citrus.
A quattro colore salad was delightful,
as was housemade fettucine carbonara with guanciale, speck, Reggiano-Parmigiano and farm fresh egg.
There were only three conventional entrées, and we loved all of them. Through nice teamwork, they were brought to us simultaneously by both our server
and the hostess.
Swordfish was charred from grilling yet wonderfully succulent.
Chicken “al mattone” was wonderfully fresh, crunchy and served with mostardo and winter vegetables.
And grilled hanger steak with olive oil smashed potatoes, watercress salad and salsa verde was juicy and flavorful.
Desserts also offered plenty of temptation.
But first we needed our coffee,
cappuccino
and tea.
We finished with affogato with cherry amarone gelato, toasted almond, bittersweet chocolate sauce and espresso
as well as brioche gelato sandwiches with vanilla, chocolate and strawberry flavors.
The smiling hostess
was kind enough to bring us complimentary glasses of a lovely housemade orange-cello.
Sorella, 901 Main Street, Hartford, 860-244-9084, www.sorellahartford.com