Can’t decide what style of pizza you’re in the mood for? Look no further than Pizzeria da Laura.
This brand new spot just opened up in Berkeley and what intrigued me was their menu with various styles of pizza, similar to Tony’s Pizzeria Napoletana in the city. While their selection isn’t as large as Tony’s Pizzeria Napoletana, Pizzeria da Laura offers four styles of pizza: New York, Sicilian, Detroit, and Grandma. New York and Grandma style will be your thin crust pizzas (the server said Grandma style is a little crunchier). Sicilian and Detroit will be thicker crust styles where the Sicilian is more of a focaccia dough while the Detroit has that thick layer of crusty burnt cheese along the perimeter of the dough. The Sicilian and Grandma are suited for larger parties so we opted to try a New York and Detroit pizza.
On their menu they have a list of different flavors which can be made into any style (I do believe some flavors are better suited to specific styles) so we did our best to pick which flavors would pair the best with the style of pizza. You can also create your own pizza too.
“Pazzo” New York Style (7/10).
We started off with the New York thin crust pizza and got the “Pazzo” flavor. This pizza had tomato sauce, Mozzarella cheese, sausage, bacon, mushrooms, red onion, bell peppers, and garlic (it normally also has thin pepperoni on it but we omitted it as the other pizza we ordered had it). While we both enjoyed the dough texture and flavor, I thought the execution of the toppings needed improvement. Since it’s a thin crust pizza, the dough cooks relatively quick so precooking some of the toppings would have made for a more successful pizza. The bacon was not as charred and crispy as I would have liked and the bell peppers were practically still raw.
“Ray J” Detroit Style (8/10).
The second pizza we tried was a Detroit style pizza which was executed better. The “Ray J” had tomato sauce, Mozzarella cheese, thin and thick pepperoni, basil, Burrata cheese, and fermented honey. I love the combination of pepperoni and honey and that cheesy exterior crust is addicting. While I did really enjoy this, I think Square Pie Guys Detroit style pizza is a tad stronger.
Pizzeria da Laura is definitely a neighborhood joint and the perfect place to go with large parties who can’t decide what kind of pizza they want! Overall I’d give it a 7.5/10.