Bay Area Eats: Spotlight on Oakland’s Pizzaiolo

For wood-fired pizza and hands down the best sourdough bread in the East Bay, Pizzaiolo is at the top of my list.  Their gourmet pizzas are topped with the finest and freshest ingredients like tangy tomato sauce, creamy mozzarella & housemade sausage, but this restaurant is so much more than their pizza. Pizzaiolo’s beautiful farm-to-table salads are a standout star on the menu and their pasta options and daily-changing entrees are delicious. I would be lying if I said I didn’t come here for the bread, though.

Their country bread, a perfect combination of a deliciously rustic crust and a doughy center, is the brain-child of self-taught baker David Surkamp, who makes a round of hot loaves every morning in Pizzaiolo’s brick oven, which largely sell out before 11am. Luckily for you, the restaurant keeps some fresh for its dinner patrons, served up at your table with a brick of cold butter. Heaven.

     

What to order