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Restaurant: Pizza Pub Sheraton

By Max Woodworth
STAFF REPORTER
Friday, Aug 20, 2004, Page 19

Brick ovens just make pizza taste better. PHOTO: MAX WOODWORTH , TAIPEI TIMES

As the Sheraton Taipei's top-to-bottom renovation draws to a close, the hotel is gradually dismantling the scaffolding on a total of 12 restaurants serving food from every corner of the world. So far, the hotel has inaugurated its Kitchen 12 buffet on the ground floor, so named for the 12 food stations serving Western and Asian foods, a couple other eateries, and as of last week the Pizza Pub, serving exclusively Italian cuisine.

When it comes to pizza, the hotel starts with a distinct advantage, having one of the city's only wood-burning brick ovens. The domed brick oven cooks the pizzas evenly and gives them that trace of smoked wood flavoring that is so plainly lacking at most local pizzerias.

There are five types of pizzas on the menu to cover the standard combinations of meats, seafood, spices and vegetables, but choosy or creative diners who prefer, say, pineapple and anchovies together on a pizza, can build their own pie by selecting five from among the 18 toppings available. Frankly, though, 18 is not a huge number of toppings and most appetizing combinations are covered in the menu's five pre-determined pizzas.

The kitchen's head chef, who, like the brick oven, has been at the hotel for over 20 years, said Pizza Pub aims for a happy medium in providing authentic Italian flavors and catering to local taste buds. This explains the lack of peas and corn on the list of toppings, as well as the fairly bland cheese and the sweet tomato sauce used on the pizzas, which connoisseurs may find fatal shortcomings. Also absent from the list of toppings are gorgonzola, feta and blue cheeses, fresh garlic, arugula, zucchini and capers. So while the pizzas aren't eye-popping, they are exceptionally tasty thanks primarily to the homemade crust and that trusty brick oven.

Diners who enter this pizzeria, but suddenly decide against pizza need not panic. The menu is padded on both ends with a wide choice of antipasti, the stand-outs being the assorted antipasti platter and caesar salad, and entrees that cover all the bases of Italian cuisine.

There are a few seafood entrees, risotto and meats, but the pastas present the most variety. Diners choose from spaghetti, fettucine, penne and capellini noodles and 10 sauces. Again, the selections err on the side of caution, but one would be hard-pressed to find a better carbonara.

The deserts, however, throw caution to the wind and are quite faithful to what one might eat in Italy. The coffees, on the other hand, are Italian in their full flavor, but American in their enormous size, which might provide a nice excuse to draw out dinner on Sunday for Chinese Valentine's Day. On that night the restaurant will present couples with a "Passport for Lovers," which offers discounts at the hotel on upcoming holidays.

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