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As a graduate of Italy’s esteemed Accademia Pizzaioli Italiani Internazionale, Samuele Polverosi views his Mattia Pizza food truck as a literal vehicle to bring the dish’s authenticity and tradition to San Benito County—even if it means luring them in with a recently added variation that includes pineapple, a decidedly untraditional ingredient.
“If you go to Italy,” he said, “and you ask for pineapple, it’s like, ‘No, no, no, no, no, no, no.’ We are Italian; we don’t do it at all. No, no, no. But people ask for this kind of pizza, and so we said, ‘Ok, they like it. We’ll do it.’”
That doesn’t mean, however, that Samuele or his wife, Letizia, herself a graduate of Florence’s Scuola di Arte Culinaria Cordon Bleu, would grab a slice of Hawaiian pizza themselves. But their son, who was 10 when they moved here nine years ago, loves it.
“He grew up with American flavors,” Letizia said. “He asks us, ‘Why don’t you like it?’ Because it’s too different. We are Italian. We can’t eat it. We just can’t.”
Fig and salami pizza. Photo by Robert Eliason.
The couple is much more comfortable with their classic Italian margherita pizza, with sauce made from San Marzano tomatoes, fresh organic basil, fresh mozzarella and olive oil, or the Papa, which adds salami, onion and Calabrian sausage with a dash of chili spread to make it extra spicy.
The secret to a great Italian pizza, Samuele said, is in the pure simplicity of the ingredients. His crust is made from just flour, salt, olive oil, yeast, and water, but he crafts it with passion.
The sauce is the same, made simply with a mix of peeled tomatoes, olive oil, basil, and a little salt. Any vegetables are not cooked beforehand but are added fresh to the pizza, allowing all flavors to mingle and combine in the oven.
“A lot of people do pizza,” he said. “There is pizza all over the world. There is pizza at Safeway. But pizza is my food. It’s not complicated, but you need the technique to do a good Italian product.”
Vegetarian Pizza. Photo by Robert Eliason.
As the food truck business became more saturated with competition, the Polverosis started offering a catering menu, which has the fortunate side benefit of allowing them to expand into a more adventurous menu.
They have added a selection of gourmet pizzas you are not going to find anywhere else in the county, like a Pear and Gorgonzola and a Salami and Fig, both topped with walnuts and honey, Kale and Sausage, and a Pumpkin and Sausage with parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, which was occasionally on the regular menu last year.
“When we stopped making it,” Letizia said, “customers continuously ask, ‘Do you have the Autumn pizza?’ We said, ‘No, it’s not in season.’ And then we decided to put it in the gourmet menu because it’s different and because it’s got so much flavor.”
The catering menu includes some elegant salads, including Philadelphia cream cheese and smoked salmon, spinach and strawberries with feta cheese, balsamic glaze and lemon vinaigrette. And there are some top-tier crostini, including creamy tuna spread with capers, walnuts with ricotta cheese, and feta and honey with pomegranate seeds.
Walnut and ricotta crostini. Photo by Robert Eliason.
While the Polverosis had done some catering in Santa Cruz before relocating to this area a year and a half ago, they had not considered doing it again until their regular customers became more familiar with their products, and the need became apparent.
“Over there,” Letizia said, “we were very well known. This year, more people asked and, for us, it works well. People love to have private parties, and they love our pizza..”
Working outside of the food truck gives the Polverosis the flexibility to experiment with new dishes, and they enjoy the predictability.
“It is a lot more organized,” she said. “When you do the catering, you already know how many people you have, how many pizzas you have to make, and how many appetizers to have ready. You are organized when you arrive, and it’s not as much stress.”
Samuele Polverosi finishing the fig and salami pizza. Photo by Robert Eliason.
Letizia said that they are going to occasionally make some of the special items they have created for catering available at the food truck as well, starting with quietly offering a very limited number of servings of lasagna and eggplant parmesan.
“We can make it in our commercial kitchen,” she said, “and try, maybe, 10 individual portions just to see how it works. We can heat it in the oven when they order it, or they can take it home with them. We hope our customers will love it.”
Despite expanding into catering, the Polverosis have no interest in taking it further, for example, opening a restaurant. They are very content with their truck, catering, and their recurring slot at the Hollister Downtown Farmers Market.
“We want to focus on what we are doing now,” Letizia said, “and we hope to grow that way. We have seen that, here in this area, people love good food, and if you give them good food, they become loyal. And they trust you.”
The Mattia Pizza website provides a link to catering information. The Polverosis can be reached at mattiapizza04@gmail.com and (669) 236-9182 or through Instagram and Facebook.
Recommendations for future Eat, Drink, Savor articles can be emailed to roberteliason@benitolink.com.
BenitoLink thanks our underwriters, Hollister Super and Windmill Market, for helping to expand the Eat, Drink, Savor series and give our readers the stories that interest them. Hollister Super (two stores in Hollister) and Windmill Market (in San Juan Bautista) support reporting on the inspired and creative people behind the many delicious food and drink products made in San Benito County. All editorial decisions are made by BenitoLink.
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Dining and Cooking