BUILD Pizzeria Roma-Berkeley
By
Carol & Joe Davis
Dining Detectives
We
love Pizza and the thought of customizing our own gourmet
Roman Style thin crust pizza led us to the new Build Pizzeria
Roma. It is located in a Circa 1904 Landmark building
on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley near BART. Inspired by Italian
Pizzerias with their sense of community Restaurateurs Lisa
Holt and David Shapiro have created
a lively, friendly and unique environment where you can "Find
Your Inner Pizza" by combining fresh local farm to table
ingredients, Italian olive oil, cheeses and meats with your choice
of crust and sauce.
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The
open fun contemporary dining room seats 120. It has a large dining
area on one side with the "Building Department" where
you choose your toppings and crust foundation in the center. There
are wood fired ovens in the back where your Pizza bakes in 3 minutes
and a fabulous bar area that has black chesterfield sofa booths
and three giant TV screens strategically mounted.
We
sat near the bar and started out with some excellent Cocktails.
The Amaro Vecchio (Bitter Old Man) made with Bourbon, Rye, a blend
of Vermouths and bitters was served over a crystal-clear hand
cut slow melting ice cube. The Mulo Russo Arrabbiato
(Angry Russian Mule) was made with Vodka, fresh lime, ginger,
juices, allspice, clove, bitters and fizz.
We
ordered Italian Tapas while we enjoyed our Cocktails
and planned our Pizzas. The Truffle Arancini Risotto
with smoked mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes and pesto was a great
starter! Next, we ordered full salads. We loved both the Caesar
Salad made with baby gem greens, shaved parmesan cheese,
white anchovy fillets and house made Caesar dressing and the Insalata
Mista made with organic local baby lettuce, golden beets, fennel,
orange and house vinaigrette. The Insalata Mista was
also very colorful and beautifully presented.
We
had a good idea of the toppings we wanted on our Pizza so we headed
for the "Building Department". We chose our Foundations
from the options of Rosso, Bianca, Pesto or Gluten Free and toppings
from over 30 choices and went back to enjoy another cocktail.
For our first Pizza we chose the Rosso base which had sun marzano
tomatoes, cold pressed olive oil, wild dried oregano, sea salt,
and hand pulled mozzarella. Our topping additions were 100 hour
Hickory Smoked Mozzarella, Roasted Mixed Mushrooms, Calabrese
Spicy Peppers, Roasted Garlic and Italian 18 month aged Prosciutto
Di Parma. For our second Pizza we chose the Bianca white base
which had no tomato just cold pressed olive oil, wild dried oregano,
sea salt, and hand pulled mozzarella. Our topping additions were
Fire Roasted Fontanini Italian Sausage, Baby Arugula, Organic
Sonoma County Egg, and Italian shaved Truffles.
The
Pizzas that we designed were delicious! The flavors and aromas
created by the Wood Fired Oven were terrific. We congratulated
ourselves for our creativity. For those not inclined to build
your own Pizza they offer a Top Ten List with excellent combinations
that you can order from the menu or you can even have a hamburger
and fries. Chefs Brian Langevin and Chef Clara Yun
are also happy to advise you on creating your own pizza and how
to avoid bad combinations.
Build's
libations include Beer, Wine and Spirits. The Craft Beers in kegs
chosen by Brandon Borgel have fun names like Moose Drool,
Buzzerkeley, St. Bernardus and Pranqster.
There is an Italian focused wine list by the bottle and glass
as well as Northern California Kegged Wines. We enjoyed the light
and lively 2011 Tangent Sauvignon Blanc, the full bodied
2011 Smith & Hook Cabernet Sauvignon and the rich and bold
2010 Roth Estate Heritage Blend.
The
desserts were worthy as well. Both the Strauss Family Organic
Soft Serve Vanilla & Chocolate Swirl Ice Cream with a
House topping of Valrhoma Fudge and the Budino house made Butterscotch
with sea salt and mascarpone cream were perfect. It was really
fun to have soft serve ice cream! Illy Double Espressos which
had excellent crema were the perfect finish to our fun and flavorful
dinner.
Build
Pizzeria Roma brings Artisan Pizza to a new level. You
will find a fun, creative, healthy, flavorful and reasonably priced
dining experience. It is a great addition to Berkeley and we look
forward to our next creation!
Build
Pizzeria Roma
2286 Shattuck Ave. (at Bancroft)
Berkeley, CA 94704
510-898-1839
www.BuildPizzeria.com
Open from 11:30 AM-2:00 AM