Luini Panzerotti and Pizza Spontini, Milan

I've been checking my files and realized that I have many posts that I still have not put up on my blog, so hopefully with more time, I can update all my "pending blog posts".

During my last trip to Milan (late 2009) I heard about 2 places that I said I had to check out. The first is a place called LUINI, very near the Galleria and Duomo in Milan. This tiny take out counter is an institution in Milan since 1948. People cue for at least 10-15 minutes before they can get their food. All sorts of people line up for a quick lunch, from Tourists to Milanese executives, students, construction workers, etc...




What's the secret of this place? I guess aside from a good location, they serve the best Panzerotto in town and fresh out of the oven. And what is Panzerotto? It's a pocket sized pizza made with a donut type of dough, very light and a slight sweetish flavor (but not overly sweet). Inside, all sorts of ingredients can be placed: Tomato, Ham, Tuna, etc...but always with a base of cheese. I had the classic Ham and cheese (their best seller I was told).

It is served fresh out of the oven, piping hot.....

First bite and not much filling inside, but the dough was "to die for"....

Second bite and hmmm...at last, the ham and Cheese. Very basic simple food but something I have never tried before. Don't make the mistake of comparing this to Calzone, which is made of Pizza dough. I will always make it a point to come here every time I am in Milan.

The next day, I was brought to Pizzeria Spuntino, another institution in Milan I was told, dating back since 1953. A classic Pizzeria, again very basic and simple. They only serve one kind of Pizza: Cheese Pizza.


While we ordered our take out Pizza, I observed how the kitchen worked. Everything synchronized, the Brick oven was spitting out huge, oily, bubbling cheese pizzas every 2-3 minutes, and waiters running around serving them non stop while shouting the orders to the top of their lungs. It was a bit of like an organized chaos going on there but it seemed like it was under control.

Finally, after a 15 minute wait, our pizza was served. For take out, the pizza is not even served in a box. The crust is so thick that it is just wrapped with a pink 'wrapping paper' and 2 strips of carton elevated so the cheese does not stick to the paper.

Once we got to our destination, we unwrapped it and voila, lovely thick Milanese style pizza, oozing with Cheese and Tomato. The Pizza was not so big in diameter (I'd say around 14-16 inches) but it was so thick, almost 3/4 inch thick.

Definitely my kind of Pizza, simple as can be (just a Pizza 'margarita') with Cheese and Tomato. I think the Tomato they used were very fresh ones, since I could not taste the bitterness of the canned Tomato sauce many pizzas use. The crust was very thick but still crunchy, which is how I like it.

Since we were celebrating the opening of our office in Milan, we had a Bottle of 1993 Dom Perignon to go with our Pizza. Weird as it may sound, I actually enjoyed it and I think the Champagne was a good pairing with my Pizza.

Ciao!