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D.O.C. Pizza & Mozzarella Bar
Add: 295 Drummond Street, Carlton, Melbourne VIC 3053
Tel: (03) 9347 2998
Hours: [Mon-Sat] 5:30pm-11pm [Sun] 12-10pm
Price: [entree] 13.50~23.50AUD [pizza] 14~24.50AUD [dessert] 8AUD
Visited on: 2012-04
D.O.C. Pizza & Mozzarella Bar is a simple place. The storefront is bare and the decor is minimal, but owner Tony Nicolini, who is apparently the granddaddy of artisan pizza in Melbourne, has struck the right cord with his brilliant pies. We arrived at 10pm on a weekday evening and the place was still boisterous, with customers filling up every table in the house and a swarm of Italian men in the kitchen busy shoving pizzas in and out of the oven. We knew we were at the right place.
Start with a bottle of Menabrea Bionda (7.90AUD), a blond lager brewed with malt, maize, hops, yeast and water. Pale yellow in color, well-balanced and fairly light.
Insalatona Di Spinachi Novelli (14.50AUD), baby spinach, cherry tomatoes, bocconcini, basil and pine nuts. I couldn’t stop with the bocconcini, which literally means “small mouthfuls” and are the small egg-sized mozzarella cheeses topping the salad. Semi-soft, white, mild, spongy…
But pizzas are the the main event here. The menu lists a range of simple and old favorites, and we went for the special of the day, a pizza with figs, San Daniele prosciutto, gorgonzola D.O.P., and buffalo mozzarella (24.50AUD). Each ingredient contributed its own part – slightly bitter gorgonzola, sweet figs, fresh soft buffalo mozzarella, and the San Daniele proscuitto! This DOP product (meaning that the breed and the feed of the pig and its processing are tightly controlled to assure quality and consistency) has a rich, sweet-salty fragrance and flavor, each slice is supple but with slightly chewy consistency. It’s good stuff.
The other special of the day was pizza with potato, taleggio D.O.P., and wild mushrooms (24.50AUD). Another good pie, though I personally preferred the previous combination of figs, prosciutto, and mozzarella.
I later found out that the restaurant has a mozzarella bar from which you can order balls of flor di latte from Carins or velvety buffalo mozzarella from Italy, accompanied with a dish of fennel, orange, and anchovies. I’m very sad that we missed this, but perhaps you can try this on your visit. The smoked flor di latte sounds absolutely to die for.
