Best Of Jersey: Pizza

Posted March 10, 2008

The secret? New Haven native turned jersey guy says, ìItís the love.î

Paul Liscio, chef and co-owner of La Casa Bianca in Whitehouse Station, grew up on Wooster Street in New Haven, in an apartment above his parentsí Italian deli. The apartment was across the street from and midway between Sallyís and Pepeís, the two shrines of New Havenís justly famous pizza culture. People stand in line for hours waiting to get in, sustained by aromas wafting to the sidewalk. Liscio can go them one better.

ìI could see and smell both Sallyís and Pepeís from my bedroom window,î he says. ìI was in my crib smelling those pies.î

After he earned his CIA degree, Liscio interned at a restaurant directly across the street from Sallyís. ìEvery afternoon I would have a pie and some homemade wineî with owner Sal Consiglio while the
kitchen staff, who were all Italian, took their siesta. 

Liscio later trained in Rome and Palermo before opening La Casa Bianca (lacasabianca.net), a fine dining restaurant in Whitehouse, twelve years ago. In 2002, his partner, Joe Speranca, whose masonry company is doing the brick-and-block work on the new Giants Stadium, brought in third-generation Italian artisans and special stone from Tuscany to build a wood-fired oven. Though the oven is cleaned regularly, it has not been allowed to totally cool down in six years. When Liscio began making pizzaósmall individual pies at firstóìmy influence,î he says, ìwas Sallyís and Pepeís.î

As a trained chef, Liscio says he can easily duplicate almost anything he sees and tastes, but getting his pizza dough right proved a much greater challenge. ìI found out through trial and error that you need a blend of flours,î he says. ìIt took me 50 times to get this dough the way I wanted it.î

He got more than the dough right. All the ingredients he uses are fresh and of high quality. He makes his own mozzarella, imports extra virgin olive oil, San Marzano tomatoes, and Reggiano Parmesan. ìIf you make pizza right,î he says, ìitís good for you.î

Liscio thinks of the crispy baked dough ìas a plate.î The toppings are sautÈed in olive oil and a little garlic before the pizza goes in the oven, so everything is cooked to the proper degree. The pizza on our cover, for example, starts with chicken marinated in brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, roasted garlic, and fresh rosemary. Before it goes in the oven, the pizza is dressed with slices of the grilled, marinated chicken, a light pesto (minus pinenuts) and a sprinkling of genuine Reggiano Parmesan, which Liscio calls ìthe blessing.î

In sum, ìItís like dinner in a pan. It takes a little longer than usual to get a pizza here, but people know, and they appreciate the pies, so they call earlier. Itís about the love. When I was a kid I knew I was going to have meatballs at night because when I got up for school my mother was already frying up the meatballs before she put them in the sauce. Itís the love. People ask me, ëCan you make it like my mother did?í I say, ëAbsolutely not. Your mother loves you a lot more than I do.íî

Although his mother and Italian aunts, who learned cooking in the Old Country, might be scandalized, Liscio will introduce some innovations this spring. A chocolate chip pizza for kids, which gets a scoop of ice cream when it emerges from the oven. For grownups, a mascarpone dessert pizza, which will get whipped cream and fresh berries after baking. ìThere are a lot of young families in Hunterdon County, and they appreciate the fine dining we offer,î he says, ìbut they like to bring the kids.î

NJ Monthly