Fried Logic

It's Not Your Father's Pizza Place

Attention Triangle Foodies. There is a new restaurant in the area that you need to try. Bella Mia, the Triangle’s first coal-fired pizza place, is now open off Harrison Avenue in Cary. We are working with the Guerra family, former New York residents, as they embark on their adventure to bring traditional Neopolitan-style pizza to our area. Members of the HM&P PR and Social Media teams had the opportunity to partake in this culinary experience a couple days before the restaurant opened.

We started our meal with Anthony’s meatballs. Younger son, Anthony, spent three years perfecting his recipe made from grass-fed beef. Each plate had meatballs covered in marinara sauce and a triangle of bread. The bread was a preview of things to come, as it was really a small slice of pizza crust cooked in the coal-fired oven. The next course was a sampling of coal-fired chicken wings, which are cooked with rosemary and caramelized onions. Our salad choices, made from a variety of local greens, also featured locally-source goat cheese or fresh mozzarella.

Before we get to the pizza, let’s talk about the oven. It is a large domed oven that is heated by a mix of anthracite coal and wood to a temperature of 900 degrees. This cooks the pizza in about 3 minutes. But it also limits the number items that can go on a pizza. Don’t expect a Monster Pizza at Bella Mia.

After our salad plates were cleared, our server brought a 12-inch pizza for each of us. The light, thin crust is unlike any pizza you, or your father (unless he grew up in Naples, Italy) have ever had. The edge of the crust bubbles up and is slightly charred. The bottom crust is just enough hold everything in place, which includes a thin layer of sauce, slabs of fresh or smoked mozzarella and other toppings. Some had basil, cherry tomatoes, and even sausage. These pizzas are the perfect size to share, or save half for lunch.

And even though we were pretty stuffed by this point, we had to try their dessert special, which was two layers of pizza crust filled with a thin layer of nutella, the chocolate hazelnut spread popular in Europe. It was perfect end to a great meal.

One of the Margherita pizzas cooked in the coal-fired oven at Bella Mia (photo by Maria Martinat).

To keep up with the latest on this new restaurant, follow them on Twitter @BellaMiaPizza.