Dishola: Reviews by the Dish

I absolutely agree with Beth, and since the magic did indeed happen the night I ordered Mandola's Melanzane pizza, I must give it a perfect 10 - the dishola!
The ingredients coalesced perfectly...the Fontina cheese provided a base in which the silky slices of eggplant nestled. The cherry tomatoes burst with sweetness, and the oven roasted garlic...well, drizzled with olive oil and swaddled in cheese on that thin, crispy crust, it was a standout dish. Thank you for the recommendation, Beth!

A photo of this pie before we've started eating it? Not going to happen. The husband and I have devoured this pizza a half a dozen times, now, but it's still like the first time, every time. Its modest listing on the menu simply cites its ingredients: eggplant, cherry tomatoes, roasted garlic, fontina. What it doesn't list is an x-factor, that inarticulable something that just takes it all to another level, sort of like that je-ne-sais-quoi that makes marriage work, that something beyond the obvious factors like compatibility and friendship, fresh produce and high-quality cheese. It could be that the crust (on all of Mandola's pizzas, for that matter) is perfectly thin and crisp with an authentically wood-burned flavor. Or that the eggplant, savory and silky, is cut to a thickness that lets its flavor blossom in your mouth without overwhelming it. Or that the cherry tomatoes caramelize to hot sweetness in the special oven. Or the roasted garlic... oh, divine. The magic, it seems, is in the way it all comes together in luscious balance.

That said, once it didn't happen, which is why we can't grant the whole Dishola here. Too much cheese on a pie we ordered to eat at the restaurant (as opposed to carrying out for an old-married-people Netflix date) made the whole thing gloppy and inelegant. But it's been smack-on ever since.