Mikey Likes It

Bauer Extras: A Mini-Review of Una Pizza Napoletana, and a Look Back at Stars

The Ilaria pizza at Una Pizza Napoletana, with smoked mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, and arugula.
The Ilaria pizza at Una Pizza Napoletana, with smoked mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, and arugula. Photo: Brian Smeets/Grub Street

Because the limited menu doesn’t qualify it as a full-fledged restaurant in the eyes of the Chronicle, Una Pizza Napoletana has not received the Bauer treatment since opening last summer, despite the fact that we knew he had to love Anthony Mangieri’s pizza. Yesterday, simultaneous with his three-star review of Ragazza, Bauer published a mini, non-starred review of Una Pizza. He sounds pretty well in love but doesn’t get too gushy, merely raving about the “puffy, blistered crust, charred in places, [that] has the tenderness of bread, with a crackling veneer.” [Chron, Unterman’s earlier take, Kauffman’s]

Also, we’re kind of enjoying hearing Michael Bauer’s recent nostalgic takes on restaurants we never had the privilege of knowing. Today’s blog post is about the legendary Stars, Jeremiah Tower’s Civic Center restaurant that marked a high point for the 80s in chic, buzz-y, dinner-as-theater. He credits Tower with inventing the casual bar menu within a fine restaurant (surely that had to have happened in New York or somewhere else before?), and he credits the glamor of the restaurant with helping him decide to move to the Bay Area in 1986. [Between Meals/Scoop]

Bauer Extras: A Mini-Review of Una Pizza Napoletana, and a Look Back at Stars