Montanara Style Pizza & Evviva Trattoria

Have you ever sampled a Montanara Style Pizza, aka Fried Pizza?

Fried pizza sounds like a clearly American invention, as we seem to fry everything, from Twinkies to butter. However, the origins of Montanara pizza extend back to the mountains around Naples, Italy (and "montanara" translates as "mountain"). It's not an easy style to find in the Boston area, but it can be found at all of the six locations of Evviva Trattoria, and that's where I enjoyed this pizza style. 

To create this pizza, the pizza dough (which isn't battered) is first fried in hot oil for about a minute. Then, the fried dough is topped with sauce, cheese and other ingredients, and popped into an oven for another minute, primarily to melt the cheese and lightly char the crust. The pizza crust ends up with more of a golden color and possesses a crunchy and light, airy texture. 

The photo above is a Pepperoni Montanara Pizza and it looks beautiful, as well as possessing a delicious and intriguing taste. The crust was crunchy but light, with a nice, toasty flavor, and I was thoroughly impressed with the taste. The cheese and pepperoni enhanced the overall taste, and we ensured we ate the entire pizza. Why don't more restaurants serve this style of scrumptious pizza style? 

Evviva Trattoria offers both Neopolitan and Montanara style pizzas, although the Montanara is only available as a 9 inch pie ($14.50-$15.50). The Neopolitan can be ordered as a 9 ($14.50-$15.50) or 16 inch pie ($21.50-$23). There are 13 different pizzas available, both white and red, and you can also create your own pizza, selecting your sauce, cheese, protein, and vegetables.

Evviva Trattoria is owned by the 110 Grill, and currently there are six locations, including Stoneham, Malden, Marlborough, Maynard, Westford, and Wrentham. Their website states, "Evviva Trattoria features modern Italian food served in a comfortable and casual atmosphere. Our chefs have taken beloved Italian and American classics and added their culinary flair." 

The Stoneham location opened recently, so I stopped there for dinner one evening. Overall, I was pleased with my dinner, service was excellent, and the Montanara pizza excelled. I definitely will return here, to check out more of their menu. Here are some of the dishes I tasted during my recent dinner.

These are Crispy Lasagna Fritters ($14), lasagna wedges, marinara sauce, pesto ranch, whipped ricotta, arrabbiata aioli and microgreens. Fried lasagna? Yes, it was crunchy and creamy, cheesy and tasty. 

The Steak & Gorgonzola Salad ($21) contains grilled beef tips, arugula, romaine, tomatoes, pickled shallots, balsamic glaze, avocado and a creamy gorgonzola dressing. The tips were tender and flavorful, enhanced by the gorgonzola. The veggies were fresh and it was a fairly large dish as well.

The classic Chicken Parmigiana ($24) comes with a scoop of whipped ricotta, which is almost hiding behind the chicken. This is the type of iconic dish which can give you a good idea of the quality of the food at the restaurant. If the chicken parm isn't any good, then the rest of their food probably won't measure up either. However, this chicken dish was very good, with a pleasing crunchy coating, thick and tender chicken, and a very nice red sauce. The whipped ricotta was a nice addition. 

The Montanara Style Pizza was the clear winner of the dinner, but the rest of the food was pleasing as well. After I dine there again a couple times, I'll be back to write a full review of this restaurant.