Where did we crawl? Luna Wood Fire Tavern (223 Franklin Ave, Nutley, NJ)
Category Wood / Coal Fire Pizza
Whose Pick Aileen
Overall rating 6 Thumbs Up
Would we return? Yes
On last night's episode, we decided to go out for take-out pizza and the category we chose was wood fired pizza - Luna's Wood Fire Tavern (LunaWoodfireTavern.com). Ironically enough, we recently received the New Jersey Monthly magazine and they had an article of who has some of the best pizza in New Jersey. After looking through the featured, recommended "top spots" we chose our target establishment?
So, how and why did we choose Luna's? Well it...
Needed to within 30 minutes of home (we were doing take out and we have a 14 week old puppy sitting in a crate)
Must use wood or coal fire for its pies
Should not only feature pizza, but also a mix of other Italian dinner items
We looked up the menu and picked out a few things we had read were some specialties:
The Pizza Margherita (Tomato Sauce, fresh Mozzarella, Basil, and EVOO)
Mezzaluna (Half Calzone with Ricotta / Half Margherita pie)
Luna Salad
Long Peppers and Italian Potatoes
So, we piled into the family truckster (okay okay - the Toyota Highlander) and away we went. Luna was easy to get to and find parking in close proximity to the restaurant on Franklin Ave (one of Nutley's main drags).
Okay... So we started with the Luna salad and the long peppers and potatoes. The arugula-based salad came loaded with Roasted Red Peppers, Fresh Mozzarella, and freshly sliced Parmesan cheese.
The Luna salad comes dressed with their homemade EVOO oil and lemon dressing (that seemed to have some honey in it as well). All in all a very refreshing and tasty salad.
The Italian potatoes and long peppers was also very good. The potatoes were thinly sliced and cooked with lots of chunks of garlic. There was also a decent amount of spicey long peppers (warning the peppers pack a punch) - The whole dish was cooked in olive oil. The portion size was VERY liberal - and there was enough leftover that I enjoyed this AM with a couple of fried eggs for breakfast (they made amazing homefries).
Next came the pizza and "pizza-like" course. Not a single complaint with this either. The Margherita pizza was wonderfully cooked with just the right amount of sauce, fresh mozzarella, and fine slices of basil (with just a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil). They put just the right amount of heat on the pizza so that it was well-done with some bits of char (which I like), but wasn't burnt to a crisp.
The pizza mezzaluna lived up to its half-moon namesake. It was just like a pizza margherita got together with a calzone and decided to have a wonderfully delicious baby. The Calzone portion is filled (but not overfilled) with fresh ricotta and there is enough of a little bit of margherita pizza sticking out to have it be the "best of both worlds". The mezzaluna comes with a small container of their sauce for dipping.
Luna's sauce was very freshly made, a little bit chunky and has just a little bit of sweetness to it - overall very tasty.
Another good thing to note, was our pizza's were cooked fresh when we came to pick them up - a very nice surprise and testament that they made their pies a la the true Pizza Napoletana technique (because they seemed to be cooked in less than 5 minutes and came out of the oven and into the boxes piping hot!!!
This place is a keeper and we will definitely return!!!
As Always Best Regards and BonAppetIT!!!
TheITGourmet
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