Throwback Thursday: MidiCi Neapolitan Pizza Co. at The Avenue in White Marsh

This post originally appeared on Minxeats.com on March 15, 2018.

It's a shame this place couldn't make it. Mr Minx and I liked it quite a bit. The pizzas were tasty and the salads were huge and interesting. I think the odd fast casual-ness of the ordering process was its downfall. Had there been a more normal sit-down dining experience, I think this place might have lasted longer. Though the pandemic might have closed it anyway, hard to say. Also, the name was mighty weird and I'm betting 0% of people knew how to pronounce it properly. 

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There's been a real push toward Neapolitan-style pizza in the last few years and I am so happy for the trend. The thin but pliable crust with a scattering of tasty scorch marks has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. When the trend shifted to fresh dough pizzas in the 80s, I lost interest in pizza altogether. Now we have several places in the Baltimore area that are embracing Neapolitan again, like Paulie Gee's in Hampden which imported wood burning ovens from Italy. MidiCi Neapolitan Pizza Company, with a brand new branch on The Avenue in White Marsh, is the first chain that I'm aware of that's attempting to spread this style of pizza nationwide on a large scale.

The Minx and I were recently invited to check out their space and sample their food and drink offerings. The space is clean and inviting, with a curving bar that runs along most of the dining room. The design allows patrons to watch the pizzas being prepared and cooked in their authentic wood burning ovens, just behind the bar. The menu itself is stripped down and very much reflects Northern Italian cuisine. Instead of crab pretzels and sliders, the appetizer menu has a selection of meat and cheese plates and several pairings with fresh burrata. There's also a nice selection of salads, but the main focus is the pizza.

Of course, diners do not live by pizza crust alone, so there is a wide selection of beer, wines, and specialty cocktails. The Minx and I sampled a few, including the Angel Margarita and Devil Margarita. The Angel is a fruity and refreshing concoction flavored with blackberries, while the Devil has some serious heat thanks to the whole Fresno pepper floating in the drink. We also sampled an Italian variation on the whiskey sour that incorporates an herbal liqueur known as amaro, and a Tequila Mojito that has a bright, citrus kick.

In addition to the meat and cheese boards, MidiCi offers an appetizer of meatballs with fresh mozzarella. The meatballs are made with angus beef and are a bit firmer than the meatballs you might get at a red sauce Italian place, but I'm fine with that. The dish is accompanied by their house-made wood-fire toasted bread with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

Speaking of meat boards, the one we tried featured prosciutto, spicy Italian salami (calabresi), Neapolitan salami, and rosemary ham. The board included two types of mustard and a smattering of kalamata olives as well. This and a nice glass a wine is perfect start to a lively evening with friends.

Okay, let's get down to business. MidiCi offers about 15 different specialty pizzas as well as five classic Neapolitan pizzas that can be modified with a selection of toppings. The Minx and I tasted several, with the shrimp scampi pizza being a particular favorite of mine. The Minx enjoyed the Egg 'n Bacon pizza which also included Italian sausage and fingerling potatoes in addition to applewood smoked bacon and a freshly cracked egg on top. While I typically do not go for margherita pizzas, the freshness of MidiCi's ingredients made theirs quite appealing; the version with prosciutto and arugula was even tastier.

While eating all that pizza can be quite filling, MidiCi also has a selection of desserts to finish off the meal, including gelatos and sorbettos. If you're more into the concept of a cheese plate as a perfect end to a meal, there's also burrata with pear and honey. Their signature dessert, however, is the Nutella calzone with fresh berries. Made from the same dough as their pizza, the calzone is filled with Nutella and fresh berries, topped with more of each, and drizzled with a balsamic reduction. 

MidiCi is a rapidly growing franchise, but they haven't skimped on the details, like the choice of ingredients, the design of their restaurants (even the bathrooms are special), and the quality of their wood-fired ovens that make all the difference in preparing Neapolitan-style pizza. I'm looking forward to trying more of their specialty pizzas and diving into their wide selection of salads.

MidiCi The Neapolitan Pizza Company
The Avenue at White Marsh
8139C Honeygo Blvd.
Nottingham, MD 21236
(443) 725-5456

Posted on Minxeats.com.

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MidiCi Neapolitan Pizza Co. at The Avenue in White Marsh

There's been a real push toward Neapolitan-style pizza in the last few years and I am so happy for the trend. The thin but pliable crust with a scattering of tasty scorch marks has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. When the trend shifted to fresh dough pizzas in the 80s, I lost interest in pizza altogether. Now we have several places in the Baltimore area that are embracing Neapolitan again, like Paulie Gee's in Hampden which imported wood burning ovens from Italy. MidiCi Neapolitan Pizza Company, with a brand new branch on The Avenue in White Marsh, is the first chain that I'm aware of that's attempting to spread this style of pizza nationwide on a large scale.

The Minx and I were recently invited to check out their space and sample their food and drink offerings. The space is clean and inviting, with a curving bar that runs along most of the dining room. The design allows patrons to watch the pizzas being prepared and cooked in their authentic wood burning ovens, just behind the bar. The menu itself is stripped down and very much reflects Northern Italian cuisine. Instead of crab pretzels and sliders, the appetizer menu has a selection of meat and cheese plates and several pairings with fresh burrata. There's also a nice selection of salads, but the main focus is the pizza.

Of course, diners do not live by pizza crust alone, so there is a wide selection of beer, wines, and specialty cocktails. The Minx and I sampled a few, including the Angel Margarita and Devil Margarita. The Angel is a fruity and refreshing concoction flavored with blackberries, while the Devil has some serious heat thanks to the whole Fresno pepper floating in the drink. We also sampled an Italian variation on the whiskey sour that incorporates an herbal liqueur known as amaro, and a Tequila Mojito that has a bright, citrus kick.

In addition to the meat and cheese boards, MidiCi offers an appetizer of meatballs with fresh mozzarella. The meatballs are made with angus beef and are a bit firmer than the meatballs you might get at a red sauce Italian place, but I'm fine with that. The dish is accompanied by their house-made wood-fire toasted bread with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

Speaking of meat boards, the one we tried featured prosciutto, spicy Italian salami (calabresi), Neapolitan salami, and rosemary ham. The board included two types of mustard and a smattering of kalamata olives as well. This and a nice glass a wine is perfect start to a lively evening with friends.

Okay, let's get down to business. MidiCi offers about 15 different specialty pizzas as well as five classic Neapolitan pizzas that can be modified with a selection of toppings. The Minx and I tasted several, with the shrimp scampi pizza being a particular favorite of mine. The Minx enjoyed the Egg 'n Bacon pizza which also included Italian sausage and fingerling potatoes in addition to applewood smoked bacon and a freshly cracked egg on top. While I typically do not go for margherita pizzas, the freshness of MidiCi's ingredients made theirs quite appealing; the version with prosciutto and arugula was even tastier.

While eating all that pizza can be quite filling, MidiCi also has a selection of desserts to finish off the meal, including gelatos and sorbettos. If you're more into the concept of a cheese plate as a perfect end to a meal, there's also burrata with pear and honey. Their signature dessert, however, is the Nutella calzone with fresh berries. Made from the same dough as their pizza, the calzone is filled with Nutella and fresh berries, topped with more of each, and drizzled with a balsamic reduction. 

MidiCi is a rapidly growing franchise, but they haven't skimped on the details, like the choice of ingredients, the design of their restaurants (even the bathrooms are special), and the quality of their wood-fired ovens that make all the difference in preparing Neapolitan-style pizza. I'm looking forward to trying more of their specialty pizzas and diving into their wide selection of salads.

MidiCi The Neapolitan Pizza Company
The Avenue at White Marsh
8139C Honeygo Blvd.
Nottingham, MD 21236
(443) 725-5456

Posted on Minxeats.com.

The Food Market's Private Kitchen

The Food Market used to have a pretty sweet employee lounge in the basement of their Hampden location, complete with a couch and big screen TV, but when the demands of their catering business required a prep kitchen, the lounge was the logical place to use. Once transformed into a place to cook, this new kitchen was sometimes idle between catering gigs. Chef Chad Gauss decided to add some decorative elements to turn the utilitarian cooking space into something resembling a Hampden basement and opened it up to special group dinners known as the Private Kitchen.

Seating up to 12 people, the Private Kitchen can be reserved for special events such as business meetings or sports viewing parties. There are three options for your dining pleasure: a monthly five-course chef's dinner; a-la-carte, with selections from the regular menu; and a "slay the menu" option where the guests leave their dining experience to the chef's discretion. The Minx and I were invited, along with other members of the media, to experience the five course chef's dinner option.

Pretzels with beer sauce

We started off with some familiar Food Market snacks: soft pretzels with beer sauce, and fried pickles. Those pretzels provide all the flavor you would expect from a soft pretzel, but are lighter and more buttery tasting. They're so good, they don't even really need the beer cheese dip, but eat it anyway. And somehow that combination of juicy dill pickle and crispy fried batter works so well, especially when combined with bleu cheese and hot sauce, flavors reminiscent of buffalo wings.

Fried Pickles

The first official course of the evening was modestly called Chicken Broth. The broth was indeed a clean and intensely chickeny-tasting chicken stock with a faint whiff of truffle oil. The broth became soup when poured over a bowl of items including roasted, finely diced mirepoix, freshly made farfalle, both raw and fried prosciutto, and an asiago cream. The combination of flavors and textures are incredibly fun to play around with.

Chicken Broth

The next course featured a pear poached in red wine and stuffed with goat cheese. The red wine was enhanced with clove, shallot, thyme, and other elements to further flavor the pear, which sat atop a raspberry emulsion, arugula, and spiced pecans. Again, the balance of flavors and textures was spot on, with crisp and spicy pear and pecan, creamy goat cheese, and fruity emulsion.

Poached Pear Stuffed with Goat Cheese

The seafood course featured a thick chunk of seared wild rockfish decorated with lemony lump crab meat and micro greens. The skin of the fish was perfectly crisp and the two types of aquatic protein provided an interesting juxtaposition of flavors and textures.

Rockfish with Lump Crab Meat

Our entree was charred lamb with salt-roasted baby potatoes, porcini cream, horseradish mustard, and strips of shaved portobello mushroom. The mustard provided a burst of sinus-clearing heat, balancing the hearty cream and potatoes. The medium rare lamb was succulent and tender, and I was not ashamed to grab both chops by the bone to wrestle them for every morsel of meat.

Charred Lamb

Dessert was a deconstructed s'more. A house-made graham cracker was decorated with swirls of rich chocolate pot de creme (sans pot) and toasted marshmallow. A hickory foam served to recreate the illusion of a s'more cooked over a wood fire. It's advisable to not taste the hickory foam on its own as the flavor was a bit harsh, but taken with the rest of the elements, there is a vague smokiness that completes the effect of the campfire treat. The Minx and I are not fans of traditional s'mores, but when each element is made from scratch with this level of care, the effect is quite satisfying.

S'mores

Along with some incredible food, the cozy atmosphere of the basement kitchen and the ability to watch your meal being prepared in front of you creates an enjoyable dining experience. It's rare when you get to watch chefs of this caliber at work in such close quarters. The whole evening is a bit like having a terrific dinner party--if your host happens to be an award-winning chef.

You can have this same meal (or one like it) at the Food Market Private Kitchen on March 26th, 2016. Tickets are $80 per person, and will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis. For more details and to buy tickets, go to http://www.thefoodmarketbaltimore.com/ and click the "Private Kitchen" link at the top of the page, then scroll down.



Posted on Minxeats.com.