Midici
21001 Tatum Blvd, Ste 1010, Phoenix, AZ 85050
Mon. – Thurs. 11 am -12 am n Fri. – Sat. 11 am -1 am n Sun. – 11 am -12 am
Due to late August heat, our DRCA Review Team chose to review “lighter fare” of salads and Neapolitan Pizza. Neapolitan-style pizza typically consists of a thin and soft crust (if it is cooked properly at a high temperature, the crust will bubble up and be charred in spots) that is topped with a simple tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil. We checked out the recently open MidiCi: The Neapolitan Pizza Restaurant that’s located within Desert Ridge Marketplace just southeast of the Verizon Store. It features mostly non-GMO food products and we found this environment to be both upscale and trendy, offering great values at more reasonable prices than you’d expect to find when you walked in the front door.
By Barry Wilson
Communications Committee
We love the contemporary ambience with high ceilings and white interior that was lively with upbeat yet not overwhelming upbeat music. Old Italian Cinema was projected onto the south wall right above the “diner style” longish bar that oversees view of food preparation/cooking and two active wood-fire stoves. Following today’s “popular self-service trend” we got into line near the entrance to place our order, next proceeding to get our beverage glasses along the same south wall that also housed our eating utensils and narrow, but wide, plates we would use to share salads and pizza on. Since we had more than 4 in our party we opted to sit in the “high top stools family style dining area” across from each other along a super sturdy beer hall type long table.
From their list of six Appetizers we opted to split one order of the House Meat and Cheese Plate since it’s the only appetizer that “serves 2.” All of us loved this as it consisted of black truffle cheese, goat cheese, Parmigiano-Reggiano, tartufo, prosciutto, spicy Italian salami, served with two mustards, olives, walnuts, pears, dates, honey and wood-fire toasted Neapolitan bread. Coupled with available wine or beer, this appetizer might be a perfect date night evening snack before/after mall shopping or going to the movies. From their array of visually appealing ten salads, served in giant sized bowls, we opted to split the vegan Sweet Life Salad featuring baby arugula, seasonal greens, melon, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, shaved and shredded coconut, tossed with a housemade lemon vinaigrette dressing. Our salads were tasty and not bland in any way. We tried their two best-selling salads and the Italian Salad was our favorite as it has seasonal greens, romaine lettuce, salami, grape tomatoes, cucumber, red onions, bell peppers, olives, parmesan, crushed croutons, all tossed with a housemade Italian vinaigrette dressing. Their Caesar Salad could become a protein packed entre by adding the available sides like anchovies, chicken, and even an egg.
Being adventurous, we decided not to bother with ordering their best seller, a Double Pepperoni, from their list of 15 specialty pizzas that are “not too large and not too small.” Another best seller, Devil’s Pizza, is very spicy but turned out to be our unanticipated favorite as it was stimulatingly tasteful but not overpowering. We tried two of their “new pizzas,” the Le Carni (Meats) and the Pizza Tropicale (Hawaiian) and both were great values they both seemed not to be able to overcome the innate taste of the dough in which their toppings lay.
We tried some unique pizzas without tomato sauce since we might not find them elsewhere.
Their Egg-N’-Bacon Pizza features fresh mozzarella, applewood smoked bacon, Italian sausage, rosemary roasted fingerling potatoes, parmesan, basil, oregano, extra virgin olive oil, topped with a freshly cracked free-range egg and the Genoa’s Pizza featuring housemade pesto, sautéed baby spinach, roasted bell peppers, parmesan, basil, fresh mozzarella, topped with baby arugula, and grape tomatoes after bake. Both of these pizzas were great to look at and devour but the composition of the Genoa’s pizza, while resplendent in red and green, was surprising to those of us at the table who’d forgoted that not all of a pizza’s toppings would be warm.
From their list of five Desserts most of us opted for the Affogato (Drowning Gelato) which Italian Vanilla Bean Gelato is drowning in espresso coffee. What a great, refreshing, late summer taste treat that was! In addition to Vanilla Bean and Chocolate Gelato they change their Gelato and Sorbet flavors daily. Gazing about the room, both their new
Signature Nutella© Calzone with Cherries and Ricotta or with just Fresh Fruit seemed to be a popular choice as well.
