Fratelli La Bufala, Miami Beach

Once we decided that the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon just was not happening for us last weekend, I thought that the least I could do is get a good lunch out of the deal. I had to go to South Beach that day to check on a hotel for a client, so we picked up our race t-shirts (which are very nice, by the way), took a stroll through the less-than-exciting expo, and made our way to have lunch at Fratelli La Bufala.

I had been there before, but was impressed by the sheer yumminess of  the pizza. Fratelli La Bufala has a number of locations throughout Italy and a few others in Europe, but Miami Beach is the only location in the US.

We were there at noon, and it was empty. I imagine when crowded, the tight tables and few noise buffers would lead to a loud environment. But the day we were there it was quiet. the service was friendly and food was prepared promptly. Again, I believe this was largely because the place was empty, but I have no reason to believe it would be any other way even when crowded.

The menu has a nice selection of appetizers, salads and pastas, but the pizza is really the thing here. Thin crust and an interesting variety of toppings are what make these pies special. We had a pizza with tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella and eggplant as well as a white pie with arugula, basil and mozzarella. Both were excellent. The eggplant topping was more of a prepared roasted eggplant, so it was a bit oily and made the crust somewhat soggy, yet still tasty and delicious. You should know that the bit of sogginess did nto deter us from eating the entire thing.

The white pizza was cooked nicely and the arugula topping was perfect – just the right amount of crunch and bitterness. It was hard to pick which one we enjoyed more. The food here is so good and they make it look easy. It makes me wonder why more places can’t do perfect pizza. I am looking forward to my return visit.