Brace Yourself for Pupatella 2.0

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

Any newcomer to NoVA might just assume that we’ve always had a fleet of Twitter-powered, gourmet food vendors at our beck and call.

Think again, stranger.

Just a few short years ago mobile dining options were frighteningly scarce here in the suburbs (save, perhaps, for the roving taco and sandwich trucks that have long kept construction workers fat and happy). And the on-the-go sustenance you did encounter was more often than not either prepackaged pabulum or hastily prepared slop.

The landscape changed dramatically after culinary school grads cum gastropreneurs Enzo Algarme and Anastasiya Laufenberg rolled their Neapolitan pizza cart into Ballston in fall 2007.

Word of their traditional-style Margherita–think: olive oil-brushed dough smeared with a chunky, San Marzano-based sauce (flush with acid and tang), giant ovals of milky buffalo mozzarella and freshly torn basil, all spot-baked to a bubbling, crunchy brown–and their high-end toppings (locally sourced cheeses, homemade salumi) soon spread like wildfire.

(Image: Andromeda Drive)

The introduction of stuffed-till-bulging arancini and freshly-dipped donuts secured cult status for the pie-slinging pair in near-record time.

The duo now stands poised to unveil their first brick-and-mortar restaurant–”We’ll be open by next weekend,” Laufenberg said (final inspections are set for early next week)–just north of N. George Mason Drive.

Although the roomier digs have certainly paved the way additional goodies, Laufenberg insists the pair remains committed to their original vision:

“It is not the same pizza that we serve at our food cart. It is of much higher quality, made in the best wood-fired pizza oven in [the] world (built in Naples from volcanic ash from mount Vesuvius),” Laufenberg said of their next generation pies. “We will also have other things that are traditional to the Neapolitan region, such as arancini (fried risotto balls, stuffed with meat, peas and mozzarella), fried stuffed calzone, panuozzo (a cross between a sandwich and a pizza, made with pizza crust split in the middle and topped with meats and vegetables).”

Updates include: the build-your-own-pizza option (including seven free toppings), a full complement of artisanal gelatos produced by fellow Naples native Gianluigi Dellacio, a wide variety of Italian wines, beers and sodas  (Image: Pupatella)
–sourced predominantly from the Campagna region of Southern Italy–and made-to-order espresso embellished with freshly ground hazelnuts.

According to Laufenberg, the plan is to open (at least for the first few months) for lunch and dinner, Tuesday through Saturday. Ultimately, the duo plan to tack on a breakfast shift and transition into an everyday operation.

And what of the famous, fire engine-red cart?

“We don’t have a definite plan for the cart,” Laufenberg shared, estimating that they’ll probably put it in mothballs, at least temporarily, while they get their bearings at the shop.

She suggested, however, that the cart would be out and about in Ballston this week (Wednesday through Friday) and next.

Pupatella: 5100-C Wilson Blvd., Arlington; 571-243-2952; www.pupatella.com

–Warren

Tags: Anastasiya Laufenberg, Arlington, Ballston, District Taco, Dolci Gelati, Enzo Algarme, food, food cart, gourmet, Gut Check, Neapolitan pizza, Northern Virginia Magazine, Pupatella, Rebel Heroes, Warren Rojas, Windy City Red Hots