Italy's Best!

We've been so busy, I have not had time to stop and digest what I saw in Italy on our last trip. Today is the day...Shrimp Cocktail Pizza! What do you think? Would you have ever thought the Italians would go to this extreme?

Giangi Pizza e Ricerca | Pizza dell'anno 2019 ops! ho fatto un cocktail di Gamberi

Here’s the deal…the last time we were in Italy, my cousins took us to some top notch restaurants. They wanted us to experience new flavors and the gourmet side of Italian pizza. It just so happened that the winner of the 2019 Italian Gourmet Pizza Competition was the chef at a restaurant close by…I saw a side of Italy I didn’t know existed.

Below are the photos of the restaurant info and some of the pizzas we ate that evening...

Mitzi, thanks for the beautiful photos!

My cousin's wife, Maria, is so much fun. I realized quickly she knew great food. So I often found myself saying “I’ll have what she is having”. I was never disappointed. I had the pleasure of trying foods I’d never had, including an octopus sandwich in a cuttlefish ink bun.

Maria is with me in the photo below:

Octopus sandwich in cuttlefish-ink bun from Da Matti Street Food

Now…back to the shrimp cocktail pizza. Yep, the shrimp was raw! It may have had a little lemon squeezed on it to marinate/cook it, but it was raw. It's was not the first time we ate raw shrimp on the trip, but this trip marked the first time I've ever eaten raw shrimp.

Raw seafood plate from Caraibi

Now, let's dive into the shrimp cocktail pizza...I did have the pleasure of meeting the creator Chef Vincenzo at Giangi Pizza e Ricerca.... He was busy the night we were there, but made time to introduce himself and pose for a photo.

Chef Vincenzo didn’t loose his mind when he created this shrimp cocktail pizza., he just went deep into his mind to create a very unique taste and work of art. Chefs have to express themselves by getting their ideas out of their mind and onto a plate. Sometimes it's a win and other times you fall short. Chef Vincenzo won with his creation, and for that I send a huge congratulations and best wishes with his future dreams and creations.