What makes Santillo's pizza so great? We got the chance to see first-hand
Santillo's in Elizabeth is legendary among Garden State pizza places. Barstool Pizza rated it near perfect.
Part of what makes Santillo's stand out is its 100-year-old brick oven, with a barrel arch. It was purchased in 1957 by the father of Al Santillo, current owner and third generation baker, for $10,000.
"It's a cathedral," John Speciale, fellow pizza maker and owner of PizzAmore in Carlstadt, said of the oven.
I got the chance to see it in action as part of My Big Year of Pizza, an ongoing series I'm writing about going to as many Jersey pizza places as I can in one year. I'm hoping to hit at least 100.
You walk through an alley to the entrance. There’s only a white speckled counter, white beadboard walls, a black shelving unit and the big, hulking oven, lined with red bricks outside, and flat tiled bricks inside.
Above the oven’s metal mouth it says ‘Dutchess Tool Company, Beacon NY Vienna No 4.’
The oven
The oven is 16 feet wide and 10 feet deep and can hold up to 30 pizzas. The bricks are ancient and heated by gas jet. It has shallow roof, which keeps the heat in.
"I used to use coal, but the dust was hurting my lungs," said Santillo.
It's not just the oven that makes the pizza great. That comes from having almost 60 years of experience; Santillo has been working in the kitchen since he was five.
The dough
His pizzas are constructed differently than most. He punches down his dough at least twice, proofing it until it is just right, then rolling it out in semolina as he forms it into desired round or square shape.
The sauce
Santillo ladles onto the dough a thick tomato-paste-y style sauce, laden with dried basil.
"Here's what I don't like about most pizza makers they don't put enough sauce on," he says as he ladles a thick carpet of red sauce onto his dough. "You shouldn't see any white."
Santillo had us try the sauce, which was thick and by itself not very tasty. But wait until it all comes together.
The cheese
Next he adds the cheese, pecorino and mozzarella. Both are grated into thick ribbons.
"There's a lot of places that use bags of cheese," Santillo says, making plain his disdain.
After he the cheese he, adds the coup de grace, Marzano tomatoes — and his classic Margherita is ready for the oven.
Santillo in action
We visited Santillo on one of his prep days, thanks to an introduction by Jersey Pizza Joints, a Facebook group with 68,000 members. He's only open three days a week, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
After his margherita, he made two more pies, one with pepperoni, onion and pepper and one straight-up pepperoni.
Using incredibly long handled pizza paddles he pushes them into the massive oven.
Initially the pies going onto the right side of the oven, where it is hottest, with temperatures reaching almost 700 degrees. Then he pulls them out and shifts to the cooler side, where bricks are in the low 600s.
"Think this is done?" he asks.
He gets a shrug.
"It's not, it is still white on the bottom," he says.
He's looking for a bit of color.
"I coax the dough's caramel out of my pies," he says.
A few minutes later he pulls the pepperoni pie out and runs the pizza wheel through.
"Listen," he says. "Can you hear the crunch? That means it's done. But I will cook a pie anyway you want."
Still, he said, the real test of any pizza is how well it heats up.
"My pizza gets better every day," he says adding the crispy crust and heavily sauced and cheesed pie can take a day to meld.
The next day when they were reheated, they were in fact as good if not better than the bight before. On day three my son delved into it and said "Wow this pizza is great."
Good to know
It's takeout only at Santillo's. I ate my pie at the counter, but a lot of people eat it in the car, and others pick up a pie and take it over to the The Corner Bar, on 747 E. Edgar Road, Elizabeth.
It is pricey. Three pies ran $100, not counting the tax.
The bottom line 🍕🍕🍕
Three slices: 🍕🍕🍕 Exceptional (worthy of a pizza pilgrimage).
The pizza I ate was fabulous, rich and flavorful. It was unlike any other pizza I've had. Its flavors were deep, the crust crisp. Even with the price, for Jersey pizza lovers, Santillo's is a must-go.
Go: 639 S. Broad St., Elizabeth; 908-354-1887, santillopizza.com.
About this 'Big Year of Pizza' series
In My Big Year of Pizza, Matt Fagan is on a quest to rate as many of New Jersey's close to 3,000 pizzas as possible and let readers know where they fit in the state's pizza pantheon. He's trying for two pizzerias per week from Salem to Sussex counties. That's about 10 per month.
Ratings are: 🍕🍕🍕 Exceptional (worthy of a pizza pilgrimage); 🍕🍕 Excellent (if you are in town, make a stop); and 🍕 Worth It (good if it's your neighborhood joint).
The idea for this big year of pizza comes from the 2011 movie "The Big Year" starring Steve Martin, Jack Black and Owen Wilson. The difference is they were really funny and, as amateur bird watchers, they searched for birds instead of pizza.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Santillo's pizza in Elizabeth: Is it pizza perfection?
