Pizza by the rulebook: Café Porta Alba's pies and their not-quite-Neapolitan rivals

Pizza's often the kind of food people reach for when they don't want to think too hard about what they're eating, but at least one group of sticklers from the old world insists on having it just so. Though only a few dozen U.S. pizzerias have the license from the Vera Pizza Napoletana, which officially sanctions authentically made Neapolitan pizza, one of them is in Madison. Café Porta Alba (558 N. Midvale Blvd., 608-441-0202) recently reopened at a new location, an ideal opportunity for The A.V. Club to check out the new digs—and dig into some strictly regulated pizza.

Margherita
The Vera Pizza Napoletana Guidelines are very specific: The base must be dough made from yeast and wheat flours, natural water, and sea salt. The Margherita is that crust topped only with a handful of fresh mozzarella, tomato, and fresh basil. For many Americans, this may not immediately be recognizable as pizza; the light toppings on a small pie may be a jolt for anyone used to a pile of ingredients slathered on top, but the simplicity is a virtue. The tastes of that gloriously complex, crispy-chewy crust, cheese, and San Marzano tomatoes allow a full appreciation of each.
Non-purist alternative: Though it lacks the official certification, Margherita with basil and Mozzarella di bufala from Pizza Brutta (1805 Monroe St., 608-257-2120) is Porta Alba's primary competition and also serves a Margherita with basil and mozzarella di bufala in the same style (wood-fired oven and all) with a lighter, sweeter tomato preparation.

Quattro Formaggi
VPN-approved pizza must be cooked in a wood-burning oven, and Porta Alba's oven even incorporates lava stone from Mount Vesuvius. It runs at 800-900 degrees and cooks a pizza in 90 seconds, producing a chewy, just barely charred crust that is complex, rich, and satisfying. By virtue of this incredible heat, each quarter of the Quattro Formaggi has its own flavor imbued by the cheese and seared into the crust. The variously tart and tangy cheeses provide a study in bread and cheese interaction; comparing slices of Parmigianino, pecorino, fontina, and mozzarella illuminates each of them.
Non-purist alternative: Quattro Formaggi… with bacon at La Rocca's Restaurant And Pizzeria (940 Williamson St., 608-204-9100‎). Once you've said “to hell with the purists,” adding bacon to this cheesy classic sounds like a pretty good idea.

Salsiccia
Porta Alba's new Hilldale location is a bit hard to take—it's cramped, the crowd spilling over from the Sundance movie theater continuously steams in, and the turn-'em-and-burn-'em vibe oozing out of the servers like sweat doesn't make for a pleasurable dining experience. But when this pizza arrives, all agitation disappears. The pie is 12 inches of golden-crisped crust topped with mozzarella, Italian sausage, tomato, fresh garlic, and mushrooms. The sausage, garlic, and mushroom are fused into the puffy, flaky crust, but the delicate individual flavors are not subsumed by the whole.
Non-purist alternative: If subtle interplay of flavors on a smaller pie isn't your thing, Greenbush Bar (914 Regent St., 608-257-2874 ‎) serves up a thin-crust, Sicilian-style sausage pizza that's a good deal more robust and intense—its flavors are also fired up by a wood-burning oven with many more years of service, and a heavier dose of tomato sauce.