When you think of touring bands and food, most people immediately think Pizza.
You can get it late after the gig, you don’t need plates or cutlery and it can even come to you backstage, right!? But there’s pizza… and then there’s pizza.
My most surprising food encounter involves this humble yet indispensable link in the food chain. The best pizza I have ever had bar none was in…. Nashville! Not in Naples or Rome; not in the latest chic restaurant opened by a Masterchef contestant in a Sydney Hot-Spot; not even at my Dad’s house (sorry dad), who was born in Sicily and still uses a pizza stone that he bought from Moses! Nope, in honky-tonk heaven, Nashville Tennessee, lives the world’s BEST PIZZA, in a little restaurant in the back of an arcade called, Bella Napoli. Big claim I know J
You see, the owner flew to Naples, stole a pizza chef, stole all their secret methods and then set up shop in southern USA. He even imports the same flour and tomato base from Naples to make sure it’s spot on. What makes it sooo good?! I think it’s a combination of everything. The bases are so good I sat there and ate every crust! Try doing that with a… (I don’t wanna get slapped with a law suit so I won’t name names) pizza.
The bases are thin, tasty and full of smokey wood flavor. They aren’t overloaded with crap cheddar cheese! My fave doesn’t have any cheese at all… just tomato-based sauce, a few olives, a couple of anchovies, a sprinkle of herbs and a drizzle of olive oil… Perfect!
It was a little hard to believe at first. Maybe it was a fluke, maybe I was just craving pizza and feeling homesick, maybe it was a combination of the wine and the company I was eating it with. So I ventured back, again and again - always the same result. I devoured every inch and not one single crust was left alive. Now I’m back home and craving pizza from Bella Napoli, I’m having thoughts of flying back there and stealing an already stolen pizza chef!
- Adam Brand
Adam Brand will launch his upcoming career-spanning record ‘My Acoustic Diary’ at a special show on Friday November 22 at Rooty Hill RSL. See here for details and ticket information.
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