...and Fug That!
In which I continue my search for the best fugazzeta rellena in town.
If you want the nitty gritty details, I refer you back to the first post in this series, Fug… This! which will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about fugazzas and fugazzetas. In short, however, my samplings are focused on fugazzeta rellena, generally a two crust thin focaccia filled with cheese and often other things, and then the whole thing topped with more cheese and a lot of onions.
My first visit to a branch of Banchero, years ago, was not one of my favorite experiences in the pizza world. Now, these are the folks whose founder invented the fugazzeta rellena, and their original location in La Boca (Av. Almirante Brown 1220) is one of the oldest pizzerias in the city, cerca 1932. They now have two locations along Av. Corrientes, a couple of blocks apart. I stopped in at one of those, at 1300, the other at 1604. They used to have another along Av. Pueyrredón, at Estación Once.
Though I felt for this series I had to go back and try the original again, my feelings about it remain pretty much the same. It’s not a rellena in the traditional sense - it’s not a two crust sandwich, it’s just a thick, kind of flavorless pizza dough base topped with mozzarella and a handful of onions. At least this time the onions weren’t burnt to death. Compared to others that I’ve tried, it’s just boring and stodgy. 4000 pesos, or 7500 in combo with a beverage. Interestingly, on a recent night, I joined a group of pizza aficionados, the organizers of which are huge fugazzeta rellena fans and we compared some notes (and I have new recommendations), and all agreed that while Banchero might be the original, it’s a pretty poor example of the genre these days.
This was not my first visit to San Antonio, Av. Juan de Garay 3602, Boedo, which was about seven years ago. At the time, I only tried a slice of their basic mozzarella pizza and while it was delicious, it was also oozing way too much oil. As I mentioned above, I recently went out with a group of pizza fanatics, a monthly outing organized by a local, where people can sign up via various methods (Meetup, Eventbrite, Instagram, a WhatsApp list) to head out to two pizzerias in a selected part of town. Boedo was on the list, and although I’d been to both planned locations, I decided it might be fun to meet some other folk who love pizza as much as I do. In the end, I only stayed for the first spot, as, in typical Argentine fashion, people showed up outside the place as much as an hour late, and with eleven folk, we didn’t get a table until well past that, so after one spot, I, and several others, called it a night.
This is classic rellena style, a huge rectangular fugazzeta that’s cut into a couple of dozen portions, each enough for most of a meal. They use a creamy cheese (not specified, but I’d guess maybe cuartirolo or port salut) sandwiched between two medium thickness pizza doughs, and then topped with a little mozzarella and onions. I liked it quite a bit, though it’s a bit breadier than some of the ones I’ve tried.
Tangent. Having decided I wasn’t going to go on to the next spot of the evening (it was coming up on 11:30) I decided to try one of their anchovy and olive slices. They have a limited selection of by the slice pizza, and oddly, not including either calabresa or napolitana, either of which I’d have probably ordered first. I’m glad, in a way, that they didn’t, as this was really good. Instead of their regular tomato sauce, they use a canchera sauce. That’s the cheese-less pizza sauce I’ve mentioned before that’s made with lots of garlic and chili. This was one of the better ones I’ve had. Top that with anchovy and a lot of olives (may a couple too many) and… wait, you’ve got a puttanesca pizza. Spicy, rich, vibrant, salty. Nothing wrong with that.
A couple of friends in visiting from California who come down here regularly to judge beer competitions, along with some of the other judges, and they wanted to meet up at one of their favorite pizzerias, Güerrin, Now, I’ve been many times (my first visit was 2006!), it’s one of my go-to spots to take people and try Argentine style pizza. It’s also very, very touristy. That, however, doesn’t take away from it being really good pizza. In all the times I’ve visited, I’ve never tried one of their fugazzeta rellenas - they have five different versions - plain cheese, ham and cheese, mushroom and cheese, shellfish and cheese, and, one that I don’t recall - some kind of vegetable I think. With six of us we ordered a large one, along with a smaller anchovy pizza, not near as good as the one above, though a different style with a mound of mozzarella.
This is what I think of when I think of a fugazzeta rellena. Thin crust above and below more mozzarella than anyone should be thinking of eating, a layer of sliced ham, and then just a thin cap over the top of it to help hold the onions in place. Nicely browned, well seasoned, delicious.
A delivery from local chain Romario, I think the branch over on Ugarteche in Palermo chico. A bit of a mess from the bike ride over, but in the end, trying their three different fugazzetas rellenas wasn’t as interesting as it might have been, as the bacon and tomato versions are really just the exact same as the plain, rather than filling inside. And, there’s not an inside, despite them claiming it’s a double crust - the cheese is just mounded on top of a fairly thick crust. Lots of cheese, and not great quality. Tossing a handful of barely warm bacon, or a ladle of pizza sauce over the top does nothing for it. Yeah, the bacon was okay, but it’s not the same as stuffing it inside and cooking it all together. And the tomato sauce version is, in essence, just an onion and double mozzarella pizza, with the sauce on top. All in all, acceptable but a bit of a yawn. They run 4500 plain, 4800 tomato sauce, and 5200 bacon, by the portion, or all around $4 a slice.
Hitting up another of the old school classic spots, Las Cuartetas, Corrientes 838, near to the Obelisco. Now, it seems bizarre to me, as I look at the precursor blog to this venue, that I’ve only ever written this place up once, way back in… 2006! It was one of my first, and favorite, spots for Argentine style pizza. I particularly like the individual size deep dish pizzas arriving cauldron bubbling hot in their own skillets. Something it appears they don’t do anymore. I think it’s been about 5-6 years since I was last there. Everything now appears to come out of the kitchen on thin metal platters, or small plates.
But I was not here for one of those, but for their fugazzeta rellena, of course. Now, they offer two - either just cheese, done in the traditional rectangular pan and offered in small rectangular pieces; or with ham and cheese, which is made round, and only offered in full pizza size (small or large). I wasn’t up for an entire pizza, even a small, and went with the classic. It’s good dough, has some flavor to it, albeit a bit thicker than I like, even for a deep dish style (and, looking at the pizzas on display, it’s thicker than the round pizza deep dish style). It’s topped with what might only be described as a wad of cheese, and a lot of very sweet onion. Sweet enough that it seems like maybe a little sugar added? Also not really browned, other than a few bits around the edges, they’re just soft, and sweet. Meh. For 3200 pesos, there’s better around - though within a block or so, it’s better than Banchero above, though not even remotely up to the quality of Güerrin, also above.
So where do we stand after two rounds, plus two decades of previous fugazzeta rellenas? I’m only going to provide links to the Highly Recommended ones (which are also ranked rather than alphabetical). The others can be found searching here, or on my old site, SaltShaker.
Highly Recommended
Recommended
Banchero
El Correntino
El Imperio de la Pizza
La Mezzetta
Las Cuartetas
Romario
Santa MarÃa
Soultani
Meh
AngelÃn
La Gran Pocha
La Nueva Güimpi
La Torre de Retiro
Maricel
Mi TÃo
Piani by La Marguerite
More to come down the line, though slowly. There are only so many portions of fugazzeta rellena I’m up for, and too many places that don’t offer it by the slice, which requires more of a commitment.