What I Ate Today: Pizza de Argentina

First in a series. And this is actually what I ate yesterday for dinner (and lunch today).

Napolitan pizza from Kentucky on Santa Fe in Palermo:





There's a pizza place about 7 blocks down Santa Fe that's been around since 1942 called Kentucky. Kentucky? Yeah, that's what I thought. Not a state known for its pizza. The decor seems to be horse-racing related, so perhaps this explains it?

There are many, many pizzerias here. Given the number of Italians who've come here over the years, this is not surprising.

First thing to note about pizza here is that it is a sloppy, cheese-happy, sauce everywhere affair. You will need a napkin. Or four. There's un poquito of grease involved. Olives seem to be quite normal, which is not a plus for me. I'm not sure if the picture does it justice, but it is quite filling. I wasn't expecting that, but it is definitely filling. It's pretty deep dish. New York-style or Margherita's (still my favorite pizza in the world. Good things do come out of Newark, DE) this is not.

If you've looked at the picture, you're probably thinking: what the heck are those things on the left and bottom quadrants of the pizza? That's faina. What is faina? Excellent question. I tried to ask this myself, but I didn't have much luck understanding the answer. My spanish ain't that great yet. Duh.

Faina is a thin slice of chickpea bread that you put on top of one of the pieces. It then forms something of a sandwich. It's actually pretty good (plus it helps in containing the "joy" that is pizza de Argentina), and I could definitely see myself getting used to it, and wanting faina with all my pizza down here.

It's also traditional here to wash your pizza down with moscato, a sweet white dessert wine. I didn't do that. I'm going to do that when I go to Guerrin, which is probably the most famous pizza shop here. Trip report when it happens, of course.