Try the Salad

When I heard that Daniel Scordato was going to open a pizza
restaurant in the former 58 Degrees and Holding Co. space in St.
Philip’s Plaza, I was thrilled.

I love great pizza (who doesn’t?), and Scordato knows what
he’s doing in the kitchen. His Vivace restaurant is one of Tucson’s
most renowned Italian restaurants, and the late Intermezzo served some
of the best lunch food in Tucson during the year or so that Scordato
owned the place.

Therefore, I was surprised to find that the pizza at Pizzeria Vivace
was decidedly … unremarkable.

That’s not to say that Pizzeria Vivace doesn’t have any charms,
because it most certainly does. The service we received was generally
fantastic; the atmosphere is lively and upscale; the prices are
reasonable. But the pizza is only OK.

Pizzas come in one size—12 inches—and we tried three of
the nine offerings. The best of the three was the mortadella, pepperoni
and soppressata pizza, with fontina and romano cheeses and tomato sauce
($14.50), with the addition of sausage ($2). The mortadella (a
bologna-like cured meat) and soppressata (a salami) were both
delicious, and all the ingredients worked well together. (Of course,
when do meat, cheese and tomato sauce not work well together?)
However, aside from the high-quality ingredients, there was nothing
spectacular about the pie, partially because the sauce and dough didn’t
distinguish themselves. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the pizza.

I can’t say the same thing about the margherita pizza ($12). When
done well—and, sadly, it rarely is—margherita pizza is one
of my favorite foods; it is so simple yet so tasty. However, Pizzeria
Vivace’s version was tragically bland. There are only four ingredients,
really, in proper margherita pizza—dough, tomato, mozzarella,
basil—and the basil was not distributed well enough. Some slices
had only two small basil leaves, meaning most bites were completely
devoid of basil. Meanwhile, the tomato sauce was bland. This was not a
highly processed sauce—there were still tomato seeds in the
concoction—but the tomatoes used seemed, like so many tomatoes
found in stores these days, to be lacking in flavor. Since mozzarella
(even when freshly made) and crust can’t carry a pizza, this margherita
was a major letdown.

The strangest pizza we tried was the robiola, fontina and mozzarella
cheese pizza with chopped kalamata olives, roasted mushrooms, fresh
arugula and parmigiano reggiano ($15). That’s how the pizza is
described on the menu, with the ingredients listed in that order. Well,
arugula should be listed first, because that’s what dominates the
pizza: The pie is delivered with so much arugula (added after the pizza
comes out of the oven) that it looks like someone spilled a salad on
top of it. Garrett gamely tried to eat the pizza as delivered, but he
soon realized that the ample arugula easily overshadowed the muted
flavors of the mushrooms and the cheeses. After removing about
three-quarters of the beautiful green leaves, the flavors started to
balance out a bit, although the bites that included kalamata pieces
(which were not well-distributed) were exponentially saltier than bites
without the olives. Garrett was also unhappy about the fact that the
crust was burned a little more than it should have been.

Pizzas we didn’t get a chance to try included the classic pepperoni
($13.50), a chicken meatball and ricotta pizza ($14) and the eggplant,
zucchini and roasted red pepper pizza with both tomato and pesto sauces
($14.25).

The other offerings at Pizzeria Vivace include three desserts, four
salads, an antipasto plate, a stuffed red pepper and garlic toast.
Three sandwiches are on the lunch menu, whereas oysters casino ($7.95)
are on the dinner menu. Surprisingly, all of the non-pizza dishes we
tried outshined the pizzas.

The antipasto plate for two ($11.95 for dinner; on the lunch menu,
it’s $10.25, and the words “for two” are dropped) was enjoyable thanks
to the expected cheeses and meats (mortadella, soppressata and
prosciutto), but the star of the plate was the warm and delicious
cheese and spinach frittata that sat in the middle. During our lunch
visit, Garrett and I shared the gorgonzola cheese and grape salad
($8.95); the vinaigrette, the salt in the cheese, the sweetness of the
grapes and the sweet earthiness of pine nuts all offered delightful
contrasts. This salad was the highlight of our two visits.

Garrett’s Italian grinder ($10.50) with soppressata, mortadella,
ham, crescenza cheese and kalamata olives was also a hit; the smallish
grilled sandwich, served with a side of mixed greens, was hindered
slightly by the over-salty kalamata olives, but Garrett enjoyed it
nonetheless. The cheesecake ($5.50) was fantastic; it was not too
sweet, and the lemon prosecco zabaglione (kind of a creamy
lemon/white-wine custard) on top was so tasty that it could have been
put in a cup and served by itself.

Pizzeria Vivace has three dining areas (four if you count the bar
area), all decorated masterfully, and each with a distinct character.
During our dinner visit, we sat in the largest room, which is chock
full of whimsical décor touches (including cubby hole-like
openings in the wall between the room and the bar that include art,
like a sculpture depicting a plate with pears); during our lunch visit,
we sat in a triangular room with only six tables and low, padded
chairs. Our table was right next to an almost-full-wall depiction of a
wine cellar tabbed “Vivace Enoteca.”

I can recommend Pizzera Vivace for that décor, the fine
service and dishes like that gorgonzola and grape salad. But I can’t
recommend it for the pizza; what we tried is not worthy of the Vivace
name.

This article appears in Oct 15-21, 2009.