Whiffs of wood-fired pizza invite you to open the door.
The vintage building creaks a warm welcome to a mix of locals and visitors – a low buzz of music and conversation, clinking dishes, frequent bright fire bursts as pizzas slide in and out of the ceramic oven. A pyramid of San Marzano tomato cans – and 55# sacks of 00 flour slump by the entry. As we moved toward a table, we didn’t notice the “authentication certificate” that verified The Red Vespa as Iowa’s only certified Italian pizzeria. We were more enamored with the red oven and prosciutto slicer in the back.
So good!
The waitress raved about the appetizers, so we started with Arancine Alla Bolognese – risotto balls with pork and beef ragu, mozzarella and San Marzano tomato sauce. It was a hard choice to pass up the meatballs al forna and the anipasto platter, but we wanted pizza too.
The pizza selection looked really tasty – winning our vote was the “Pork Love” pizza with prosciutto, Soppressata and fennel sausage, especially since it was topped with Prosciutto di Parma and homemade mozzarella. We thought this pie was exceptionally delicious, too!
Yuuuuummmm…….
As we were waiting for our food, the owner – Aziz – made his way to our table for a delightful conversation about how he and his wife Angie, decided to establish a pizzeria certified by Associazione Pizzaiuli Napoletani.
Aziz told us about building the oven – “it has a refractory brick interior, made in Naples,” he said. “Pizza production is very unforgiving – pizzas cook in just 90 seconds – no room for error.”
Aziz and Angie Longou opened the Red Vespa in Solon a few years ago, but they are not strangers to the restaurant business. After owning and selling restaurants in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, Aziz “figured I was ready to retire so I sold. Then a couple years later, this building was for sale and it was perfect for an Italian pizzeria, which we’d always wanted to do.”
Photo courtesy of Red Vespa
They’ve got the pizzeria formula down – When we toured Italy five years ago, one of our “must dos” was eating authentic Italian pizza. We discovered a great out-of-the-way pizzeria near St. Peter’s Square….and the wood-fired Napoletani pizza was delicious, of course.
So glad we found the Red Vespa! We can enjoy an equally authentic Italian pizzeria in small-town Iowa …offering a slice of the 200-year-old Neapolitan tradition and technique used by the original pizza masters.
If you’re in the area, stop by and satisfy your tastebuds or check out the Red Vespa here.
https://www.facebook.com/RedVespaSolon/
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