Kosher pizza has a terrible reputation, a gastronomic fact I was unaware of when I first had a savory slice at Cari Mama Pizzeria (follow link for contact details and user feedback) two years ago. But while I’ve discovered that the kosher take on this ubiquitous Italian specialty has a taste that might strike some pizza purists as heresy, I’ve still been lured back to the hole-in-the-wall eatery a half-dozen times since. Indeed, Cari Mama’s deserves mention on any listing of budget eats in Budapest because the value trumps whatever qualms are to be had with the peculiarities involved in making a pizza kosher.
Cari Mama is nestled in the heart of District VII, the Jewish District, near the ever-popular Szimpla Kert. Located on Kazinsky between Dob and Wesselényi, it’s painted orange with red Stars of David. Despite the fact that the shop is across the street from the Hungarian Electrical Engineering Museum, the color combination is one blast of brightness on an otherwise putty-colored street. While it is closed Friday nights and during the day of the Sabbath, they are open well past midnight on Saturday, a time when at least I am always ready for a nice hot slice.
And proprietor and chef Carmella does serve her pizzas hot. Each pie is made to order from homemade dough, tomato sauce, kosher cheese and your choice of toppings. With pizzas at 26cm, 28cm and 32cm, (Ft 1,100, €4.75 for a 26cm Margarita) one pie can easily fill one or even two bellies, but it’s the slice that I actually recommend. That’s because she makes each “slice” separately – so they are not slices but a mini pies (see photo, third from top). At Ft 250 (€1) it’s the perfect snack.
While you are waiting for your slice to be made, be sure to look on top of the beehive oven, where you will see an unusual sight for a pizza parlor: cookie-size mounds of charred dough (second from top). Tradition requires that whenever more than five pounds of wheat, oats, rye, spelt, or barley flour are used, a portion of the dough is set aside to receive a blessing, and is then burned as an offering.
To be kosher, the toppings are either vegetarian or fish, and oil isn’t used. Meanwhile the kosher tomato sauce is much sweeter than you’d expect. (“Way too sweet,” said one critical friend.) But when matched with the cheese, I think it works. Carmella uses a kosher sharp cheddar imported from England that is white, salty and bubbly. While it’s not mozzarella, it’s tasty, and is shredded and doled out in large handfuls.
Since the crust is thin, the pizzas sometimes come out a bit burned. But they are not too dry or matzoth-like, and the middle maintains that important softness. All told, Cari Mama’s pies are strong and salty, with a tangy aftertaste (compliments of the sweet tomato sauce). She also neatly bundles pizzas into handy to-go boxes.
While the restaurant clearly caters to a specific demographic, perhaps one of the reasons that the two-year old Cari Mama’s appeals to non-kosher eaters is because it offers good, affordable food and is open late. Of course, this is no sit-down restaurant, mind you, but an eatery that uses solid ingredients in a location that doesn’t have much competition by way of cheap food. And to top it off, Carmella is sensitive to all budgets and gives 10% off to students. That’s what I’m talking about.
I wonder whats that ugly shot doing here. I mean the second photo from the top with all the wires hanging from the wall, is that a new kind of pizza?? If I was the owner I would remove that photo at once. Rally disgusting.
“… be sure to look on top of the beehive oven, where you will see an unusual sight for a pizza parlor: cookie-size mounds of charred dough (second from top)….”
ONLY THE BEST KOSHER PIZZA IN THE WORLD!!! I AM IMPRESSED! CARI IS AMAZING!
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