Arte Pazza

Arte Pazza
Ullevålsveien 61
0171 Oslo
http://www.artepazza.no/

When it comes to Arte Pazza, I must admit that I am a bit biased. For years, this has been my neighbourhood restaurant and I have had my dinner there more times than I can remember.

On the other hand, my numerous visits to this charming little Italian restaurant perhaps make me rather qualified to voice my opinion on it.

Arte Pazza started out as a tiny cafè/ restaurant in Parkveien, in the middle of the town, and then they opened the restaurant at Sankthanshaugen, a bigger and more ambitios place. The small place in Parkveien is still there, but now it only offers take-aways.

I love my pizza. I really truly love my pizza. And I love it Italian style, with thin dough, crispy crust and just the perfect amount of topping (a pizza is not a sandwich and it shouldn't drown in toppings).

Arte Pazza offers a rather wide range of veggie pizzas and pastas. If you go there several times, they are likely to remember that you always order vegetarian and if there's a pasta of the day with meat in it, they offer to make you a vegetarian version. I have tried and it worked like a charm.

Still, at Arte Pazza my love affair is with their Contadina pizza. As pizzas go, Contadina is a vegetarian paradise. They make it crispy, thin and delicious. The topping consists of tomatos, aubergines, zucchini, artichokes, some mushrooms and olives and parmesan. I like to dress it with some olive oil spiced with chilli. I order this so often it is actually a bit embarassing. It has come to the point where I actually can say that I want "the usual" and they will know what I am talking about (that is if their charming Swedish waitress is there). Contadina is fragrant, juicy, crispy and yummy. I promise. An no, they are not paying me to say this. :-) This pizza is spectacular.

If aubergines and artichokes aren't quite your thing, there's an array of other pizzas and pastas. A couple of the pizzas are very similar to Contadina, only with fewer ingredients and hence cheaper. Then there's Sarda with from four to six Italian cheases on it. I have had this one several times and each time I finished just because I don't like leaving uneaten food on my plate (my granny gene!). This was not because Sarda wasn't good (it's delicious) but because the cheases make it very heavy and powerful, so it's a capacity challenge for one person to deal with the whole thing. But it my world, this is fine.

The pastas are simple and good. I have yet to order a flop at Arte Pazza. The closest I came was a calzzone with tomatos. It was more air than tomatos and I felt it was very lunchy and not too inspired or filling. It was overpriced considering that you are left hungry afterwards. Not bad, but just boring and small.

In general, right now this might just be the pizza place in town (forget the calzzone). I have had pizzas at tons of places, so I know.

As for the desserts, try the tiramisu. it's bona fide and orgasmic. If you want to take something with you, to pig out on in the privacy of your own home, I suggest you go for the canneloni. they're pretty firm, so you can transport them safely and still they're creamy and the mascarpone filling is pure perfection.

As if I need to say it after all this, but still here I go: As non-vegetarian restaurants go, Arte Pazza's food rocks. It does. So there. Go. Now.