The Pompeii Oven, Chapin

At The Pompeii Oven, pizzaiolos understand that, sometimes, brevity is the soul of good pizza, too. They slide their pies—constructed from Caputo flour dough, San Marzano tomatoes grown in the volcanic soil surrounding Mt. Vesuvius, and locally grown organic herbs—into their wood-fired brick oven for just 90 seconds. If that seems too brief a time for so noble an assemblage, what emerges from the 900-degree heat quickly proves otherwise. Just a minute and a half is enough time to bake authentic Neapolitan pizza to its ideal state: burnt and crispy on the edges but wet and soft in the middle–“kissed by the flames,” as the local saying goes. Each entry on the menu holds a unique combination of additions within its delicately flame-seared folds, such as the Blue’s bacon, blueberries, and mozzarella or the medley of caramelized onions, bacon, mozzarella, arugula, and honey on the Lita.