Pizza Friday - Tommaso's North Beach

Tomasso's is a place that's served locals and tourists for more than 60 years and there's still generally a wait for a table. It has been claimed -- and never seriously disputed -- that this North Beach Italian restaurant is ground zero for wood-fired pizza, fired up decades before Alice Waters and Wolfgang Puck made their contributions.
The oven dates back to 1935, when the restaurant was called Lupo's. It became Tommaso's in 1971 and was bought by the Crotti family in 1973, who have been running it since, handling every aspect of the business. The subterranean space is dominated by a communal table in the middle. Murals of Italy are painted on the walls, which carry the patina that comes with age and dozens of coats of paint.
Size: 12 inches and 15 inches ($14-$23.50).
Style: Neapolitan.
Oven: Oak wood-fired oven that bakes at 800 degrees for 2-3 minutes.
Crust: A bread-like rim, charred and blackened in some spots, is the hallmark of this hefty pizza that seems a little thicker than most Neapolitan pies. The tender crust has a hint of crispness on the bottom, and is chewy at the edge.
Pizza tried: The Neapolitan (of course), made only with ladles of sweet tomato sauce and what seems like pounds of mozzarella cheese. The waiter also recommended a pizza with thin slices of nickel-size Italian sausage and thin mushrooms however, the cheese and tomato sauce dominates. It's good, but in most cases there are so many toppings that the natural goodness of the crust is buried.
Other toppings: There are 19 pizzas, all with tomato sauce and mozzarella. Fresh spinach and shaved Parmesan is one of the most popular; there's also garlic and clams, and scallops and prawns.
Anything but pizza: Hearty pastas and large portions of spaghetti and meatballs and calamari with marinara; wood oven-baked meats including veal Marsala and chicken cacciatore. There's a good Caesar, and the house specialty is baked coo-coo clams.
Vitals: 1042 Kearny St., San Francisco; (415) 398-9696. Dinner Tuesday-Sunday. Credit cards accepted. No reservations. Takeout available.




This review is from the San Francisco Chronicle by Michael Bauer and is reproduced in good faith.

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