Yesterday, we took Cooper down to a great dog park in the South Park neighborhood of San Diego (Grape Street Dog Park at Grape and 28th Street). Since we were so close, we decided to stop by one of our favorite South Park restaurants, Buona Forchetta (http://buonaforchettasd.com/).
Buona Forchetta is the vision of Matteo Cattaneo. It offers an assortment of pizza and homemade pasta dishes. They have a diverse menu with enough selections to please any palate. They can even prepare any of their pizzas gluten free!
One thing that distinguishes BF from other pizzerias in town is their pizza oven (named “Sofia”). This oven was created in Naples by artisan, Stefano Ferrara, and is capable of temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees! With an oven this hot, classic Neapolitan pizza can be cooked in minutes.
I was first introduced to the restaurant by my pastor who lives in the South Park neighborhood. I loved it so much I couldn’t stop talking about it. Since then, we have visited this restaurant on many occasions and brought a number of friends (local and out of town guests) here. Without fail, everyone we know has come to appreciate the quality food and friendly atmosphere here.
Highlights of the appetizer menu that I would encourage anyone to try include the calamari fritti, polpettine, arancino and polenta with gorgonzola and mushrooms. All of these are easy to share warm-ups that will get you ready for the main event — authentic Italian pizza!
I was fortunate enough to study in Roma for one semester in college. During that time, I was able to travel throughout Italy and Western Europe. I went back in 2012 for a two week visit. It is undoubtedly one of my favorite food and wine destinations. Once you avoid the more touristy venues, it is difficult to have a bad meal at any price point. Someday I will write a blog post about my travels in Italy, but for now, I just want to say that eating pizza from Buona Forchetta transported me back to Italy. The moniker “Best Pizza in San Diego” is tossed around as much as pizza dough, but in the case of Buona Forchetta, I think the phrase is a perfect fit.
I don’t think that there is a bad pizza on their menu. However, I want to highlight some that continue to impress me. They have a few selections that are marked “Fried” where the pizza dough is fried before being topped and baked. This adds an airy crispness to the dough while maintaining a soft chewy center that is awesome! I recommend the Amanda which is a fried pizza topped with scamorza (a soft Italian cow’s milk cheese similar to mozzarella), ricotta and prosciutto di parma.
For yesterday’s visit we tried the Catarina which is topped with smoked salmon, brie cheese and grape tomatoes. It was bright and fresh tasting with a lightness that was a perfect counterpoint to our other selection, the Angela which included a red sauce, mozzarella, and a spicy salame calabrese (BF’s version of pepperoni). We wanted something a little heavier so we added some house made fennel sausage to our Angela pizza. I highly recommend this if you like spice and are looking for something hearty.
The home made pasta dishes are also awesome and an assortment of specials are featured on a chalkboard each day. Yesterday they were featuring a lobster fettuccine special that looked and smelled amazing.
Buona Forchetta is open nightly for dinner and for lunch service on Wednesday – Sunday. Be prepared to wait as much as an hour if you are coming here for dinner. Trust me, it is worth the wait. You can avoid the lines by trying to come at lunchtime or before 6:00 pm. They have a large dog-friendly patio which has some covering for those cooler San Diego evenings.
One thing I just learned about is that BF now does catering. They have a second pizza oven (named “Dante”) mounted on a 1946 Chevy flatbed truck that can be brought to your event. If anyone out there wants to host a party catered by Buona Forchetta, we would be very happy to attend. Surely it would be an event people talked about and remembered! Cento di questi giorni!
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