Pizzeria Enzina
You can get pizza and pasta at literally 1000s of places, but you are not going to get pizza and pasta like you will at this place. We are on Main Street in Waltham, Massachusetts at a new restaurant called Enzina Pizzeria and if you love real authentic Italian food with a little bit of comfort food twist, this is the place you absolutely need to try. Now I knew this place was going to be good because I’ve been going to their sister restaurant Domenic’s in Waltham for years. I think the best Italian bakery and sandwich shop there is in Massachusetts. So when they decided they were going to open a pizzeria, it was going to be fantastic I had no doubt. And once Ciro Maione the owner decided to hire chef Julio, well everything was perfect.
Julio is from Italy. He’s from Torino. His family is from Abruzzi. Most of the recipes are his.
I grew up with the food my dad was cooking not my mom, upside down with him. So I try to have comfort Italian food. Most of the stuff is homemade. A lot of product is imported from Italy to try to get the best quality food we can.
Enzina is a super popular place for takeout and delivery but honestly I like coming in here to eat. We’ve got this beautiful dining room, the wooden floors, brick lined walls, they have beer and wine. It’s just a fun place with a great family community vibe.
Comfort Italian food and a lot of pizza, it is a place for everybody.
I think two of the best appetizers here are sort of pizza-esque, pizza adjacent if you will, check out this cheese bread with the mozzarella and the pecorino that has a little bit of peppercorns in here and a little bit of European bonus on egg right on top. But if you asked me the number one appetizer you need to get here is the panzarotti. What is the panzarotti? Basically you can think of it as a deep fried calzone out on the outside it is literally fried dough and on the inside everything you would get a margherita pizza tomato sauce if you’re in a latte mozzarella cheese this thing is insane. That’s a cheese poll my friend. Is it rude to eat this my hands? I don’t care if it is. Oh my god is that good.
They call their pizza Neo-Brooklyn. So it’s partially Neapolitan Italian style, partially New York style pizza.
The ovens we use are from New York so they’re like a Brooklyn style oven which is cooked a little bit quicker. We get a little bit more crispiness, the airiness is like the Neapolitan pizza.
If you want to go classic, definitely I will go with a Margherita if you want to try something different. This the Stagioni is a classic Italian pizza.
You have some artichokes, mushrooms, you have a ham all of so it’s kind of like a hearty complete meal pizza.
Now I’m a guy who eats a lot of pizza. I’ve tried just about every topping you can imagine. But I’ve never had this one here. This is the Tono – yes an Italian style tuna pizza.
Julio really wanted to make a tono pizza because he used to have an Italy and he loved it. So I said why not?
The Tono Pizza is really is a really hardcore Italian pizza. It’s basically the important Italian tuna and it’s finished with shallots, tomato, mozzarella, and try to have classic Italian pizza that you can find when you go in Italy. Any pizzeria.
I like a tuna melt as much as the next guy. Tuna Pizza? I don’t know, but we’re about to find out. That’s a lot better than a tuna melt. I gotta be honest with you. It’s not fishy and that’s great flavor in the combination of the tuna and the sweet red onions. It just works.
Here are two of the most popular dishes at Enzina, you got the Bolognese and you got the chicken parm. For bolognese. It’s just a big hearty rich delicious bowl full of comfort food.
This secret is time, it’s cooked really low temperature to four hours, have a sofrito, a little bit of red wine, three different meats, veal, pork and beef, tomato and see that? So it’s really really rich. Then we finished with tagliatelle pasta, a little bit of cheese, and the magic is done.
Chicken Parmigiana this is perfection. It is perfectly golden brown and it’s not just blanketed in cheese. This is little dollops of the real deal fior de latte mozzarella melted on top. I’m moving to Waltham just so I can be close to this chicken parmesan. So you’ve come for the gourmet pizza you stay for the incredible pasta and maybe you take home a little tiramisu and you are experiencing the sweet life at Pizzeria Enzina in Waltham.