What It’s Like to Eat Pizza at Pepe in Grani

Is Pepe in Grani the world’s ultimate pizza restaurant? We rented a car and followed the roads to Caiazzo Italy to find out for ourselves.

Our 50-kilometer drive was spectacular – filled with rolling hills, local, family-owned trattorias and centuries-old dwellings. We entered the narrow streets in the hill town of Caiazzo and found a city filled with ancient walls, hanging orange trees and jutting, winding stairways.

After a bit of searching, we found Pepe in Grani, the world famous Campania pizza restaurant, hidden among these alleys. Famed pizzaiolo Franco Pepe welcomed us with Italian coffee and introduced us to his world of pizza craft.

Pepe in Grani Video

Watch our YouTube video to see what it’s like to eat the world’s best pizza. See Franco Pepe feed pizza to one of us, an ultimate pizza experience. Bonus points if you can guess who gets fed by the pizza master before you watch the video.

Why We Went to Pepe in Grani

These rumblings were about Pepe in Grani, a Compania pizzeria opened in 2012 and helmed by pizzaiolo Franco Pepe. Respected culinary professionals have sung their praises for Pepe and his restaurant Pepe in Grani. We’re talking about people like Nancy Silverton, Emeril Lagasse and the late Jonathan Gold.

Since our visit to Franco Pepe’s temple of pizza gastronomy, Pepe in Grani has grown in popularity. The burgeoning YouTube generation has learned of Franco Pepe through the channel Alex French Guy Cooking, while Netflix audiences have vicariously experienced his legendary shop through shows like Ugly Delicious and Chef’s Table: Pizza.

And, despite the restaurant’s remote location, more culinary food tours are adding a visit to Caizzo to their tour itineraries. Sure, legendary pizza parlors like 50 Kalo, Da Michele and Sorbillo have branched out, opening new outposts in cities like London and New York. However, a journey to Caizzo and to Pepe in Grani is a singular experience, a pinnacle of eating in Italy.

There’s no pizza in the world like Franco Pepe’s. In this era of crazy global accessibility, we’re okay that eating the best pizza in the world requires a special journey to the intimate, ancient, tight, dark stone alleys of Caizzo. For food travelers like us, it’s worth the extra effort.

Franco Pepe – The Pizzaiola Behind Pepe in Grani

Franco Pepe has pizza running in his veins. After learning the pizza making ropes from his father and grandfather, this third generation pizza maker embraced the global slow food movement and took his family’s trade to the highest level of pizza craftsmanship.

Commanding in the kitchen and passionate when he speaks, Pepe doesn’t rest on the laurels that he has achieved. Quite the contrary – Pepe’s work ethic reminds us of top chefs that we know in Philadelphia and New York. He demands excellence from himself, his staff and his products. Especially his products.

Pepe, a vocal proponent of the hyper-local food movement, exclusively utilizes ingredients from local farmers and producers. He goes out of his way to procure the best local ingredients like tomatoes and other vegetables from La Sbecciatrice, a nearby farm in Villa Santa Croce and olive oil from Ruviano’s Petrazzuolo.

Pepe nurtures his relationships with these producers, which goes a long way. We witnessed this in action when we met one of Pepe’s olive oil producers at the restaurant. Like us, he was all smiles in the home of pizza excellence.

As Pepe explained to us, it all starts with the flour. He uses a special blend of zero flour that is manufactured in Bari to his exact specifications, though he is also experimenting with new flour recipes using ingredients exclusively from Caiazzo. Pepe’s pizza magic starts with that flour, but it doesn’t stop there.

Pepe mixes the flour by hand and then lets the resulting dough settle for 12 hours in special wooden flour casks. As we watched the dough bubble like something out of a horror movie, the future pizza seemed to be a living entity, both scary and beautiful at the same time.

Our Dinner at Pepe in Grani

In other words, Pepe is offering a luxury destination dining experience fit for a wedding as well as for people who love pizza. We won’t be surprised when, not if, Pepe in Grani earns its first Michelin star.

For our dinner, we agreed to skip the Pepe in Grani menu and experience the restaurant’s tasting menu at the suggestion of sommelier Davide Guarino. We originally wanted to order full pies, but this would have meant that we’d only get to try a couple pies. Instead, by going with the tasting menu, we got to try a wide sampling of pies plus a few extra treats.

Guarino steered us toward drinking beer with our meal. About 60% of Pepe in Grani’s customers opt for pizza and beer, with many ordering the Triticum beer that local Birra Antoniana exclusively brews for the pizza restaurant.

At Guarinio’s suggestion, we shared a bottle of Karma’s Marilyn, a light yet highly fermented beer with a malty, herbaceous flavor. Not surprisingly, Birrificio Artigianale Karma is just a 14-minute drive from the Franco Pepe pizzeria.

Our tasting menu took us on a tour of Pepe’s pizza genius in eight glorious courses. As we shared the creatively colorful, miniature pies, we kept thinking “Is this for real?” Luckily, we have the photos and video to prove that this food was indeed for real.

Course 1 – Libretto

Proving that Pepe is a man for the people, this libretto cost just €1.50 at the time of our meal. This small sized pizza has tomato, garlic, oregano and extra virgin olive oil. Stored in the oven, these inexpensive starters are ready to eat when ordered.

The libretto was our ‘introduction’ to Pepe’s incredibly airy, flavorful flatbread. It was also a simple ‘folding door’ to what was to follow.

Course 2 – Potato Croquettes

Course 3 – Fried Pizza Calzone

In Naples, we ate fried pizza for a euro or so. But that fried pizza couldn’t hold a candle to the stuffed calzone we shared at Pepe in Grani. This calzone was filled with ricotta cheese, smoked scamorza cheese, salami and pepper.

Course 4 – Classic Margherita and Mystic Margherita Pie

Margherita pizza was allegedly invented in Campania many moons ago for Queen Margherita, and Pepe honors that history with his classic Margherita pie. This pie is topped with tomato sauce, fior de latte (a semi-soft cheese similar to mozzarella cheese) and extra virgin olive oil.

Ramping up the Campania classic, the PDO Margherita pizza sports Mozzerella di Bufala DOP, raw riccio tomatoes from La Sbecciatrice, basil and extra virgin olive oil.

Course 5 – Profumi del Matese and Scarpetta Pie

The Matese half of this pie was topped with fior di latte cheese, Matese cheese, porcini mushrooms, oregano from Matese and baked, flavored little tomatoes.

Course 6 – Sfizio ai Pomodori and Alleterata Pie

Little yellow tomatoes, oh how we love you. Maybe that’s why we loved the Sfizio ai Pomodori pie half with little yellow tomatoes, salted sundried San Marzano tomatoes, Mozzarella di Bufala DOP, Grana Padano cheese and extra virgin olive oil.

We also love tuna, but we didn’t fall in love with the Alletterata pie half with its Talletterato tuna, Mozzarella di Bufala DOP, onion cream and baked in ice celery. It’s not that this pie was bad; rather, the flavor combination just didn’t work for us.

Course 7 – Fig and Strong Cheese Pie

Course 8 – Biscuits and Brandy

Seven courses down, we were so full that we could barely move. Somehow, though, we found room for the final course of biscuits and sherry. We always do when it comes to Italian desserts and drinks. Do you blame us?

Called Nonna Amelia biscuits and made with Pallagrello wine, olive oil and hazelnuts, these cookies were a sweet version of the savory taralli biscuits that we ate by the bagful in Naples. Washing them down with small glasses of 3-year aged Antica Distilleria Petrone’s Falernum Elixir was a sweet ending to our ultimate pizza meal.

Pepe in Grani Menu

Prices remain fair despite the pizzeria’s fame. Pizza prices start at 5€ for a Marinara Classica pie and go up to 15€. Tasting menus range in price from 35€ to 65€. Prices are subject to change at any time.

Getting to Pepe in Grani

For customers making special trips to eat Pepe in Grani pizza from Italian cities like Rome, Bari and Naples, the most direct way to get Caiazzo is by car. Other options include taking a bus, train or taxi.

Plan Your Caiazzo Trip

We decided not to stay overnight in Caiazzo, a decision that we regretted once we arrived in Caiazzo. Not only is Caiazzo a cute town with intriguing alleys to explore, but the dark drive to Naples is not so fun after eating a multi-course pizza meal.

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Original Publication Date: July 6, 2017