Mozzarella Archives - Queen of the Food Age

Desano Pizza Bakery [CLOSED]

February 21, 2014

Recently, I met up with Laura and Lauren from Blue Ion for lunch. I picked Desano because I’d been wanting to try it, and boy, am I glad we did. The place was relatively empty when we first got there, but we were impressed with the size of the space and how immaculately clean and inviting it was. It had a very interesting feel about it; it felt at once brand new and years old, which was strangely calming.

Then again, we were 2 beers deep, so that could’ve had something to do with it…Photo from Urbanspoon

When you first arrive, you order at the counter and then wait for your food in the dining room. The lady who was working the counter (whose name I’m sad to say that I don’t remember) was really funny and helped us make the perpetually difficult decision of which pizza to order. She also let us know that all of the ingredients they use to make their pizza–from the flour they use to make the dough, the salt they use to season it, and the buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes that top their pizzas are all flown in fresh from Italy. And their pizza dough is made fresh daily in small batches. And their three pizza ovens (which were also imported from Italy) can cook your pizza in under 90 seconds. Like, whoa. What is this place?

It's blurry because this place really is like a dream. A delicious, pizza dream.

It’s blurry because eating at Desano is like a dream. A delicious, pizza dream.

Some of the ingredients, like Peppadew, we’d never heard of, and she patiently explained to us exactly what everything was (a peppadew is like if “a sweet pepper and a cherry tomato had a baby that was kind of sweet and spicy all at the same time”), and made some genius recommendations.

For reference. Sidenote: They sell these at Whole Foods stuffed with goat cheese, and they are positively sinful.

We started with the San Gennaro pizza (sausage, peppadew, garlic, buffalo mozzarella, caramelized onions, $15), which also shares a name with one of their 3 pizza ovens. The crust is Napoletana-style, which means thin crusts and a nice char, which is refreshin and different. The pizza was so good, I can’t even explain it accurately. It had a great mixture of spicy (from the sausage) and sweet (from the peppadew and onions) and cheesy (from the mozzarella and garlic). It was perfection.

I might actually go eat this for lunch today #noshame

The other pizza we ordered was the Bianca (Mozzarella, ricotta, buffalo mozzarella, garlic, pecorino romano, $13). I’m a little obsessed with white pizzas and have yet to find one in Charleston that lives up to the amazing white pizza I’ve had in Boston. This one definitely came the closest. It is freaking delicious. La, you might even convert from the Gourmet White at Mellow (although, you never really will, let’s be serious). I can’t wait til my mom is off of her HCG diet so I can take her here and have her try it. She’s also a white pizza snob. It was cheesy, garlicky, and delicious and I would even go so far as to say that it’s the best white pizza in Charleston.

I changed my mind. I might go eat this for lunch. #CantMakeDecisions

After eating a bunch of pizza and drinking beer, you’d think our gluttony would be satisfied, but you’d be wrong. Did I mention that Desano hand fills cannoli? Because they do. And they let you choose from a variety of toppings and it is glorious. Since we were practically the only people in there, the counter girl made us a custom cannoli based on her favorite toppings. I don’t remember what it was, except that it was delicious and had I not been disgustingly full, I would’ve ordered another.

She’s like a magical cannoli wizard.

The level of service at Desano was also exceptional. From the moment we walked in, we felt like they actually cared about us having a positive experience. While we were waiting for our pizzas to come out, one of the guys from the kitchen came out to apologize and say that they’d overcooked one of our pizzas and were making us a whole new pizza. They brought out the overcooked one anyway, so we essentially got a whole pizza for free (and we didn’t even ask or complain or anything!). Plus, even though they sell alcohol, they’re totally fine with you BYOB and don’t even charge you a corkage fee! That’s some excellent customer service right there.

These ovens are serious business. Photo from the Charleston City Paper

DeSano Pizza Bakery
94 Stuart St.
Charleston, SC 29403
(843) 637-4225

4 Comments

Charleston, SC Restaurant Reviews

Wild Olive

April 5, 2013

So, I’ve mentioned before that Wild Olive is my mom’s favorite restaurant in Charleston (and possibly all of South Carolina), but I’ve never actually taken the time to write it up before. Since I had the pleasure of dining there a couple weeks back, I made sure to take lots of photos to put on this blog. Looking back at the photos, the’yre pretty terrible (low light + cell phone camera = crappy pictures), so I’ll just have to woo you over with my words (and pictures I find on Google). Here’s an interior shot I took before the sun set.

And this is one of the better ones.

I’ve been with my mom a couple of times. She absolutely loves the “marinated warm olives,” so we always end up ordering those.

This picture comes from the Wild Olive website and makes me really wish I liked olives.

I love the “house cured salumi with mozzarella, caponata, chicken liver rustica crostini” appetizer because it is delicious. I know a lot of people see “chicken liver” and get grossed out, but trust me. It is so freaking good. I also love the fresh mozzarella, but let’s face it, I am a sucker for fresh mozzarella. Plus, salami/salumi is delicious, and they give you a bunch of different kinds of salami on a platter, so how can you go wrong with that?

As you can see, I took this from the Wild Olive website. I wish my pictures looked this fly.

I also really love the arancini balls there, or as they’re listed on the menu, “suppli al telefono risotto fritters stuffed with sausage, spinach, parmesan, mozzarella.” So delicious. They’re not big like the ones they make in Boston, but they’re still really yummy. When you bite/cut into them they’re hot, cheesy, and really delicious.

Also, I am always a huge fan of anything deep fried and stuffed with cheese.

The most recent time I went with my new friend Regina, we started with the beef carpaccio (beef carpaccio with parmesan, horseradish aioli, melba toast, arugula, Sicilian sea salt). It’s basically like a beef salami and I really loved it. I think the sea salt and horseradish aioli added a nice element to the dish as a whole. The consistency kind of threw me off a little bit, because it’s very soft. I’m glad they gave me the crostini to balance it out.

As you can see, I took a piece from the middle of the plate before I remembered to take the picture.

We also got the bruschetta which is different than normal bruschetta as it came topped with rapini, purple cape beans, chile flake, garlic, and pecorino sardo. I think they change it out seasonally, because I’ve seen different pictures online. It was kind of weird eating bread with beans on it, but I think I really liked it. They did a really good job of balancing the flavors of each ingredient.

I’ll have an entire salad on my bread, please. Thanks!

I usually try to be adventurous, so I was intrigued by the “squid ink linguine with local shrimp, tomato, garlic, fresh spicy red chile, basil.” However, I’m not crazy about shrimp pasta, but I really wanted to be able to say that I’ve had squid ink pasta before. I asked the waiter how it was and he said “It’s good, but it basically tastes like seafood pasta. If you don’t like fishy tasting food, don’t get it.” So. Instead I was lame and basic and opted for the chicken parmesan. I know, I know. But it’s SO GOOD. It comes with “potato alfredo, marinara, mozzarella, arugula,” and it is SO good.

This picture I grabbed from Charleston Crafted

Last time we went, my mom got the “Grilled Stevenson Place Farms grass-fed steak with smashed fried and truffled Yukon gold potatoes,” but she doesn’t love truffle oil, so instead she replaced the potatoes with an order of potato gnocchi in marinara sauce. As I recall, she loved it.

Even though that steak is the size of her whole head.

Regina and I also got dessert, because apparently she considers herself something of a tiramisu connoisseur. Luckily for me, she was nice enough to share it with me, and let me say. Wow. That tiramisu is damn good.

This picture I grabbed from Urbanspoon.

I’ve always had a really positive experience every time I’ve gone to Wild Olive. From the food, to the ambience, to the service, to the wine, it’s always a good time. It’s definitely worth driving out to John’s Island!

Ok. Time for my lunch break.

Wild Olive
2867 Maybank Highway
John’s Island S.C. 29455
(843) 737-4177

3 Comments

Quote of the Week

Quote of the Week 5/21/12

May 21, 2012

This weekend was awesome. Friday night Blue Ion had a going away party for Katie at HoM (which is pronounced like “home” and not “rhymes with mom” like I originally thought), which was really fun. The burgers were delicious (albeit expensive). I got one called the Godzilla which was a double decker burger with arugula pesto, goat cheese, smoked onion slaw, and fried pickle chips which I paired with one of my favorite local beers, a Holy City Pluff Mud Porter. It was really good (although the burger alone was $9 and it was another $3 if you wanted to add fries…. thankfully Blue Ion paid). We spent a lot of the evening talking about old school Nickelodeon game shows. Pretty much it was the best night ever.

Saturday I spent a good couple of hours spring cleaning my house, and making room in the guest room for my new summer roommate, Johannes. He’s a really awesome German guy who’s allergic to cats (but hopefully he and Fezzik will get along otherwise). Saturday night Shanna and Max came to town for a visit and we had dinner at Moe’s Crosstown, where I got a BLT burger (beef burger with fresh mozzarella cheese, bacon, and a fried green tomato) with hand cut fries. After dinner we walked around downtown for like 3 hours or so. We played at the perpetual motion park, stood on the echo blocks at Waterfront Park, and watched a lady have a meltdown and almost beat her kid to death on the street. It was pretty entertaining. We ended the night with cookies and Louis CK standup. It was awesome.

On Sunday, we decided to ignore the threat of Tropical Storm Alberto hovering off the coast and go to the beach anyway. We spent about an hour and a half at Folly, but eventually the wind, the freezing ocean water, and our growling stomachs got to be too much so we left and got some lunch. We then lounged poolside (mostly hot tub-side) at the pool in my apartment complex before they showered and left to go back to Greenville. Then Johannes moved all of his stuff in and I watched Game of Thrones and Mad Men before going to bed.

This week’s food quote is from one of my favorite comedians from old school Whose Line Is It Anyway in honor of Shanna coming to visit. It’s goofy and random and crazy and is pretty reflective of our friendship as a whole.

“Never interrupt me when I’m eating a banana.”
–Ryan Stiles

I find this attire……appeeling.

Recipes

The World’s Best Lasagna

December 13, 2011

So for my official “Night Before My Last Day Dinner Party” I decided to make lasagna for the coworkers I invited over to share in the feast. I had all of these people to impress so I knew I had to do something more than just thaw out a Stouffer’s lasagna (although Stouffer’s is delicious). So I found this recipe online HERE and tweaked it a bit to fit with what I had and how much time I had to do it in. Here is my tweaked recipe:

Ingredients:

1 pound sweet Italian sausage (I used Johnsonville)
1 pound lean ground beef
1/2 cup minced onion
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
2 (6.5 ounce) cans canned tomato sauce
2 tomatoes, sliced
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
6 tablespoons dried parsley
No-boil lasagna noodles (I used about 24)
32 ounces ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
12 slices provolone cheese
2 cups grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

In a large saute pan (one with high sides, you’re going to be adding a bunch of liquid to it), cook sausage, ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium heat until well browned. Stir in crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and water. Season with sugar, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1 tablespoon salt, pepper, and 4 tablespoons parsley. Simmer, covered, for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
Meat sauce done right.
In a mixing bowl, combine ricotta cheese with eggs, remaining parsley, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
To assemble, spread 1 ladle full of meat sauce in the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish. Arrange noodles lengthwise over meat sauce. Spread with ricotta cheese mixture, and layer with sliced tomatoes. Top with sauce, and sprinkle with mozzarella and parmesan. I eyeballed this, so just use what feels right. I topped it with a bit more meat sauce and then stacked the noodles on top. Repeat layers.
Noodle meat. (that’s what she said)
Top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Add 6 slices of provolone and cover with foil. I used non-stick foil with the non-stick side down toward the cheese to keep the cheese from sticking. You could do the same basic thing by spraying aluminum foil with some Pam or other non-stick spray.
I’ll have a side of cheese with my cheese, please. Also, noodle meat.
Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil, and bake an additional 25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving. I noticed that the cheese was browning a bit too much around the 19 minute mark, so I took it out a bit early.
Right after I took the foil off.

19 minutes later. aka perfection.

Needless to say, the lasagna was pretty ballin’. Everyone ate pretty much all of it. I made two casseroles full and only one little slice was left over. I laid out hors d’oeurves to accompany the lasagna, including buttery crescent rolls, meat balls and tomato sauce, and mini caprese salad bites (grape tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil on a toothpick).

I seriously could eat ten thousand of these things. So. Good.

Les brought salad and we all drank wine to go with it. We laughed and talked for like 3 hours. Probably the most fun I’ve had in a really long time. Plus the lasagna was delicious. Then I made chocolate chip biscotti for dessert. It was pretty decadent.

Biscotti is italian for “Cookies from Heaven”

I’m pretty freaking awesome.

Charleston, SC Restaurant Reviews

Five Loaves

December 2, 2011

I have no idea how many times I’ve been to Five Loaves (or 5 Breads as Tina calls it). It’s Lauren’s favorite restaurant and one of my favorite casual lunch spots in Charleston, as well. It’s simple, good food. Nothing pretentious or over the top—soups, sandwiches, and salads. For dinner they offer heartier options such as pastas and meat dishes. Everything I’ve ever had there is delicious. Their soups are homemade, creative, and just plain yummy. Lauren’s favorite is the broccoli, potato, cheddar which she couples with the half version of the tomato and mozzarella salad (although she always replaces the mozzarella with goat cheese, which is sacrilegious, in my opinion… She says “mozzarella doesn’t taste like anything” MOZZARELLA HAS FLAVOR, LAUREN. IT’S MOZZARELLA FLAVORED. IT’S DELICIOUS. HAVE YOU NEVER HAD PIZZA BEFORE?!). I tend to stick to the marinated chicken sandwich on baguette (which comes with the house-made mozzarella cheese, WHICH IS DELICIOUS, LAUREN) with a cup of the chicken chili.

The sandwich is quite delicious.

If they have a really good selection of soup that day and I have a hard time narrowing it down to just one, I opt for the 3 soup pours which allows me to sample three different soups. I strongly recommend this option if you are indecisive like me.

Om nom nom

If you’re going for dinner, I recommend the tri-colored tortellini in the cracked black pepper parmesan cream sauce. It’s amazing. I’ve also had the gnocchi, which is really good. I usually eat half of it and take the other half home to eat for lunch the next day. The portion sizes are pretty big, so you definitely won’t leave feeling hungry.

When food is this good, it’s hard to remember to take a photo before you eat half of it.

I’ve also gotten the chicken parmesan, which also comes with the house-made mozzarella cheese (PEOPLE LOVE MOZZARELLA CHEESE, LAUREN. IT’S NOT JUST ME. YOU’RE THE ONE WHO’S CRAZY), but I don’t really love their tomato sauce that comes on the pasta. I find it kind of bland. The fried goat cheese appetizer is really good if you like goat cheese (which I do). I’ve also had some of their other appetizers. Becca usually gets the turkey sandwich with the cranberry mayo on whole wheat. Tina usually gets the same thing I get (which drives me crazy. I hate getting the same thing as other people at restaurants. I don’t know why. I just do).

Lauren: This is what delicious looks like. Take note. There will be a quiz later.

Anywho. I love Five Loaves. It’s a great place to eat if you’re not looking to eat something super heavy. I love it, and Becca, I will always choose Five Loaves for our Mount Pleasant lunch dates. Just FYI. I’m so excited to go eat there with Lauren whenever she finds it in her heart to grace me with her presence (yes, DC is cool, I GET IT). Only maybe she’ll get something a little heavier so that we don’t have a repeat of Halloweekend (HINTHINT NUDGENUDGE, LAUREN. EAT SOME FREAKING BREAD).

Also, they’re closed on Sundays. Go figure.

Five Loaves Cafe
43 Cannon Street,
Charleston, SC 29403-6068
(843) 937-4303