Look up the surname “Gatti” and you’ll find that it’s dealing with cats, as in the plural of cat (gatto = cat in Italian). Knowing that, then “Quattro Gatti” means “four cats”. It’s amazing how fitting this is because of the fact that a cat is a mystery wrapped in a riddle wrapped in an enigma – you never really know exactly what to expect with a cat… and so it is with Quattro Gatti.
I met the PizzaHunt guys here for lunch, Monday. They had both been a couple of times and had nothing but praise for the place in the build up to the visit, so I was pretty excited to give this joint a try. Uriah has been telling me it’s a little more rustic and a slightly thicker pie than your typical Neapolitan. I hear phrases like “plenty of cheese” and “stronger pie” and “hefty”. Definitely not your typical Neo. I’m really feeling good about this.
We walk in and I’m immediately translated to another time. The place is in an older building on Congress Avenue in Austin. The interior look is from the turn of the 20th Century. The bold, heavy wood trim is painted a dark brown, and the walls are given a darker, lemony, Tuscan yellow treatment, complete with the light sponge technique. The high ceilings are capped with tin ceiling panels. The overall feeling is welcoming and classy, but not pretentious. Everyone on the staff is well dressed, mostly in black or black and white. The place exudes refined warmth.
We are provided with some table bread, which has a ciabatta appearance to it, but is much more dense and heavy. Along with this, we were given a small dish of some fantastic tasting Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I forgot to ask where it came from. My guess would be Italy, but after our experience here, I’m not so sure that assumption would be correct.
We put our orders in, which were from the pizza menu, of course. And, as I stated earlier, Neapolitan style pie is what they claim to make. Brandon and Uriah both got a standard Margherita pie with the traditional crushed tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil. Me being the hell-bent, revolutionary rebel that I am, I opted for the Quattro Formaggi (Four Cheese). This incorporated a mixture of mozzarella, ricotta, fontina, and bleu cheese. After giving our waitress our order we settled in to some excellent conversation, something we’re pretty good at, by the way.
The whole time we’re talking, I’m drooling at the thought of devouring my four cheese pie, and stealing a slice of the Neapolitans that the guys ordered… and as time goes on, I’m getting hungrier and hungrier, so I’m scarfing down the bread like it’s going out of style. Each loaf is different, though. The first loaves were denser and far less fresh than the latter loaves. The latter loaves were really tasty… the earlier loaves, not so much.
They really took a long time with the pizzas. The place was not packed, and these pies were not super complicated. Not sure what the delay was, but it should not have taken as long as it did for our waitress to start walking our way with our pies seeing as the dome oven they had was able to handle five or six 10 inch pies easily. It was close to 40 minutes when she showed up with the Margheritas.
The pies were disappointing to look at… especially since neither pie looked like the other. I’m not kidding when I say that. Neither pie looked like the other. Yes, they both had all the same components, but they looked completely different. They were both overly sauced with way too many skins and too much pulp, though, and both only had little tiny dabs of mozzarella dotting the surface. The basil was barely there as well. One was toastier around the crust than the other. One had a lighter colored sauce than the other. The guys weren’t overly impressed with the taste of the pies either. They said they were “good” but the pies did not live up to the expectation of the two other times they’d been there. Like night and day. It was a completely different experience for them.
My four cheese pie came a minute later. It… looked… fantastic. It was beautiful, and, after biting into it, it was delicious. I’m confused at this point. I don’t know what to think… what to believe… what to do… I’m clueless as to what is going on. I’m dining at a restaurant that is completely inconsistent. I don’t know if my food is as good as I think it is because it looks better than theirs, or if it’s really that good. I don’t know which bread is the bread I should really expect, the first few loaves or the last one. I don’t know if they have new people cooking, or if something is seriously wrong, or if someone’s having a bad day. I’m pulling what little hair I have left out of my head! ARGH!!!
That’s how I felt as I left Quattro Gatti. I felt confused. Quattro Gatti is a mystery wrapped in a riddle wrapped in an enigma. They’re great, and they’re so-so. They’re fresh and they’re a little stale. They’re confusing. And I hate being confused, especially about my food and where I spend my money. I’m giving them 3 stars based on the guys’ previous visits, and the taste of my pizza, however, I don’t know if I’ll go back. If I do, I’ll be sure to revisit the review and let you know what the next experience is like.
The Margherita Pie. Notice the conspicuous lack of cheese.
The Quattro Formaggi. It was really good. Loved the hint of Bleu Cheese.
No Comments, Comment or Ping
Reply to “Austin Area Pizza Review – Quattro Gatti – Downtown Austin”