Almost everyone loves pizza. Most of us in fact will enjoy happily even average pizza. Until recently, I never went out for pizza in Charleston because the pies were only average or what the Eater critics considered good were only available a long drive from our base in Charleston on the east islands. I can now report that De Sano Pizza Bakery in Charleston near the foot of the Ravenel Bridge is worth the drive and is now my preferred pie supplier in Charleston.
Their three wood burning ovens were imported from Italy and feature hearths of volcanic stone from Mount Vesuvius. It takes all of 90 seconds to finish a pie at 900°. The major ingredients, including 00 flour, San Marzano tomatoes, sea salt, olive oil and buffalo mozzarella are all imported from Italy. These superb raw materials are staged on racks in the dining room/preparation hall making it feel a bit like a pizza warehouse but the taste overcomes any concerns about the industrial at best décor.
My second experience with De Sano was at the Charleston Food and Wine Fest in March when I was one of 19 lucky people who were taken through their whole process from mixing the dough, proofing, tossing the dough into the rounds, applying the toppings and firing the pizzas to dark brown, blistered perfection. We tasted our way through the entire menu. I loved them all but especially the ones that featured the addictive peppadew. It was a fun party made even more fun by the solid Italian red and white wines available to accompany the “class” and pizzas.
De Sano just opened a branch at the Charleston airport but there is no wood burning oven at the airport as aviation and wood fires are not considered to go together. The restaurant encourages patrons to bring their own wine by not charging a corkage fee but has a reasonable sampling of mostly Italian wines by the bottle for purchase. The last time I was in, there were wines I would drink on offer. While you can bring your own wine, you cannot bring your own beer but they have a reasonable number of both local brews and Italian lager available. Try it and let me know if you like it.
