El Camino Pizza

Since opening in August 2022, College Hill’s El Camino Bakery has been one of our favorite spots in the city for coffee, baked goods, and Gustave Doré inspired decor. More recently, El Camino has started hosting Saturday night Pizza “pop-ups” by @el_caminopizza (sometimes called ‘Get Sauced’). I tend to be a big fan of pizza from bakeries (see the Neapolitan at @bakerstablebakery, the focaccia at @brownbearbakery & sfincione at @allezbakery). Pizza is mostly bread & bakeries are experts on that. At El Camino Pizza, they use locally sourced flour that is milled on site. The pizza uses a 3 day slow rise to develop more flavor in the dough.

To me, the pizza is a sort of Neapolitan design adapted to bakery ovens (somewhat related to the original coal oven pizzerias in New York, see @lombardis_pizza_nyc or @julianaspizza). So its a New York - Neapolitan hybrid (perhaps 75% Neapolitan / 25% New York). The crust is thin, with a crunchy charred exterior and soft interior with plenty of air bubbles - a result of the slow rise method. It had some nice leopard spotting (artful char, not burnt), which varied across the pizza. We ordered a pepperoni and a pesto pizza (with pistachio). Both were well-balanced & excellent overall. We will be back & I’d recommend getting there early as the pizza can sell out fast.