We went to Montesacro Pinseria yesterday for the first time before visiting the MOMA. While not inexpensive it was outstanding and had a very authentic feel. Here is what we ate:
Sardella e pan tostado- a dip made with Calabrian chilies and sardines. Briny, spicy and umami rich dip served with toast. Excellent.
Ostia pinsa- Pinsas are Roman style pizza. This one was was topped with Burrata, shaved botarga and sunflower sprouts. The crust was outstanding- perfectly crispy, charred light and fluffy. Paired perfectly with the creamy cheese and salty botarga. Excellent.
Very interesting wine list.
According to the owner this place has been open about three years. This was our first visit and we were blown away. We will definitely be back.
Located in SOMA in a somewhat sketchy neighborhood
I’m going to piggy-back on to your post, as I had never heard of this place before, but went last night with 5 friends.
I had never heard of pinsa before either, not even when I was in Rome. Learned that it’s traditionally an oval shaped pizza-like bread, with a dough made of a combo of different flours. Here, it was rice, soy, and wheat. Similar to focaccia, from the Lazio region, it’s lighter than pizza dough, and as you describe, crisps up beautifully with big bubbles, tender inside, and supposedly easier to digest. All i know is they were fantastic. Six of us split three - we also got the Ostia, with artichoke, crema de pecorino, bottarga, and mint (favorite), a margherita (very good), and a lamb sausage one with tzatziki, mint, & oyster mushrooms (i thought i would not really care about a fusiony one but it was wonderful). Before that we split sides of cavolfiore - roasted cold cauli, olives, capers, cherry tomatoes, chili, and breadcrumbs; burrata with pesto, olive oil and acciughe, with bread; and cavolo nero - lacinato kale, crisped bread, pecorino, in an anchovy vinaigrette. All completely delicious. we had two bottles of red wine - Sicilian (spicy) and Sardinian (almost honey-mead-like), varietals none of us had tried before, both wonderful and interesting, and stayed long enough to get hungry for dessert. We split the torta del ghetto - a sheep ricotta, cherry and chocolate torte; a fennel panna cotta with olive oil; and the star of the show, a small pinsa stuffed with a pistachio “nutella” and dusted with powdered sugar. This was spectacular. I thought I’d be done with “pinsa” by this point, but it was a perfect dessert. Pistachio butter, flown in from Rome, we were told. We also split a bottle of Sagrantino, a dessert wine that had a sweet start but a mellow finish. They have an extensive listing of formaggi & salumi too that we didn’t get to try. All of us loved it and can’t wait to go back.
Forgot pics of the loaded salumeria/formaggi board and cavolfiori dish (cauliflower, olives, capers, cherry tomato, calabrese chilies, breadcrumbs) but 6 of us shared the fennel/blood orange salad and mushroom salad:
