Zavino — The Thin Crust Experience

Thin crust pizza is awesome, and not many places do it as well as Zavino Wine Bar and Pizzeria. Zavino’s is a tight, little casual restaurant located at the corner of 13th Street and Sansom, in Midtown Village, that serves up excellent small plates, meats and cheese, pastas and pies.

My first visit was for lunch in September, when the floor to ceiling windows were opened to circulate the autumn breeze. On that visit, I ordered the Kennett, which is made with oven roasted crimini, shiitake and oyster mushrooms, mozzarella, bechamel, roasted onions and rosemary. The pie was absolutely memorable, and the crust was thin, crisp and charred wonderfully. I knew I’d be returning soon.

My next opportunity to visit was the first weekend in December, after we toured the Barnes and walked to nearby Macy’s to check out the Christmas light show. The windows at Zavino were closed this time, and the small space was crowded for 4 p.m., though luckily we didn’t need to wait. Working at Zavino is not for the claustrophobic. There is only one narrow path cutting through the elongated space, and it was fun to watch the experienced servers navigating the alley, patiently waiting for customers or coworkers to pass. Once in the front door, to the right is a very tight station where they assemble the meats and cheeses. The bar stretches along the right wall, ending at the pizza oven. The left wall features the floor to ceiling windows and tightly packed tables that seat two or four.

On this Sunday visit, my date and I chose to order some small plates and split a pie. We started out with Carlos’s Focaccia, which today was being served with grapes, rosemary and sea salt. At first, I thought the grape was a cipollini onion, so it was a pleasant surprise to taste the sweetness offset by the sea salt. An enjoyable way to start our meal.

Under the Small Plates menu, we chose the Warm Sheeps Milk Ricotta, which is served with a rosemary flatbread. This ricotta was warm, gooey and delectable. The flatbread came to the table warm and soft. The combination took me back to my college days of eating calzone, though I never ate a calzone with ricotta as excellent as this. This was an amazing dish, and we were thrilled when our server offered to bring more flatbread to the table so we could devour every last bit of the ricotta.

We decided to try the pizza being served on the daily specials, and we made an excellent choice. The Burrata Pie was pure pizza elegance. Buratta is an Italian cheese which is made from mozzarella and cream, so it puddles beautifully onto the pie. Standing in for tomato sauce  in this pie was a sweet, slightly tangy butternut squash sauce. We’ve been on a butternut squash soup kick this autumn, so we were all over this. Of course, this combination hit the trifecta since it included Zavino’s perfectly charred, crisp thin crust.

Behind me, a handwritten note on a chalkboard explained Zavino uses an 850 degree oven to assure their pizzas are always served hot and crisp, never soggy. “We’re working with 850 + degrees to assure our oven keeps your crusts crunchy and your cheese melted. During this process, the outer rim of the pizza tends to char. The color on your crust is your guarantee against soggy middles and lukewarm pies.” Having now tried two pies, I can attest they do it right.

In addition to their decent wine list, Zavino does have a full bar with cocktails and several craft beers on draft or bottle.

Zavino Wine Bar and Pizzeria is located at 112 South 13th Street in Philadelphia, PA. They do not take reservations. Open Monday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. – 11 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11:30 a.m. – 1 a.m.; Sunday, noon – 10 p.m. They are reachable by phone at (215)732-2400.

Photographs courtesy of Zavino Wine Bar.