Thank Goodness, Great Pizza in the Neighborhood.

At the end of a really obnoxious day (don't even ask), at 7:00, I was coming home to no food.  It occurred to me that someone had mentioned the newest incarnation of "My Pizzeria" at 653 NE 125th Street, and I had an idea whoever it was said it was good.  So I thought I'd give it a try, and myself a break.

The owners are a married couple, Leandro DeVita and Dana Lulic.  Dana was there, and she told me they had owned DeVita at about 70th and Biscayne for 10 years, until they sold it this past January.  They brought their show to My Pizzeria, and they've now been open one month.  They outfit it and create ambiance like it's high class food.  In fact, pizza is not the only dish they serve.  They have about four Italian dishes, and the usual accompaniments.  They don't call the place My Pizzeria, either.  It says that on the outside, but they call themselves Tomato & Basil.  Dana says they specialize in fresh, high quality ingredients.

My thought was to get myself a pizza, then go home to console myself, and eat my pizza there.  Alone.  But the more I stood around waiting, the more I got to talking to Dana, it occurred to me it might be nicer to add a salad to my order, and just eat there.  Dana was very pleased to host me.  I was the only eat-in patron.  She made up the table, brought me a cruet of olive oil, and a flask of water, and I waited.  The salad came soon enough.

I don't know if Caesar salad is worth $10.  My reflex is to say no lettuce salad is worth $10.  But it tasted amazingly good, and it would have been enough to share, except consoling myself meant, among other things, eating the whole thing.  The two slices of very lightly toasted baguette, to which I added the olive oil, were perfect.  So was the cheese, and so were the croutons in the salad.  The dressing was a bit thicker than it needed to be, but it made a great salad.  I have absolutely no complaints.

I ordered the vegetarian pizza.  This is most unusual vegetarian pizza.  The crust is thin, and it was not dry in the center.  But what a taste!  I would love to know what recipe they use for that dough.  The "sauce" is really just plain tomatoes: San Marzano tomatoes.  These people don't fool around.  And if you think you need anything more than great San Marzano tomatoes to make a magnificent-tasting pizza sauce, let me tell you, you don't.  The topping was unbelievably good.  It was fresh spinach, which tasted better than spinach usually does, lots of thin-sliced eggplant, red bell pepper slices, and spectacular thickish slices of garlic.  Wow, what garlic.  Dana started to tell me what was special about the mozzarella cheese, but she stopped.  She acted like she was distracted, but I really thought she didn't want to reveal some secret.  The cheese was not heavy on the pizza, and it tasted perfect.  There's definitely some story about that cheese.

Every night, Monday through Saturday, there is some special offer.  Mondays, it's $4 beer.  Tuesdays, it's $4 champagne for the ladies. Wednesdays, it's half price wine, and Thursdays, it's all you can eat pizza for $15.  I still haven't gotten over the loss of Slices, so I'm there some Thursday soon.  Friday is all you can drink prosecco for $15, and I forgot what Saturday's special offer is.

Mama Jennie's is OK.  So is Steve's.  Mario's is not great.  Tomato & Basil is the place to go if you want great pizza, right here in the neighborhood.  The food is amazing, the ambiance is extremely engaging (each table has a vase of rosemary sprigs, from which Dana cut a small amount for preparation of something), and the proprietor couldn't be more inviting.  And not that it matters, but she's a knockout.  I didn't get to see Leandro.  My guess is he's a knockout, too.

Do yourself a favor.  Don't miss Tomato & Basil.  You'll find it where the sign says My Pizzeria.