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Eat this: Zucchina pizza at Rustico Italian Street Food
Rustico Italian Street Food opened inside the former Planet Fresh Burritos space on the corner of Locust Street and Cedar Street in downtown Santa Cruz a couple of weeks ago, and has already become an integral part of this little gourmet corridor just one block off of Pacific Avenue. Chef Francesco Ramunno, formerly of Mentone, Tramonti and Pizzeria La Bufala, is offering long, rectangular Roman-style pizzas by the slice or whole pies, as well as panini on homemade focaccia and some fried snacks, including baseball-sized arancini, or stuffed risotto balls.
Unlike its popular cousin to the south in Naples, Roman pizza has a thin crust with a cracker-like crunch, and has its own lineup of traditional toppings. I loved the zucchina ($9 slice/$40.50 whole), with sweet zucchini on top of caramelized onions and mozzarella. After it comes out of the oven, Ramunno tops it with stracciatella – the creamy cheese inside a ball of burrata – which oozes luxuriously over the piping-hot slice.
But when I saw that Ramunno offers panzerotto ($15) on his menu, I could barely contain my excitement. I haven’t seen this pizza style Stateside, but my husband and I fell hard for it in Naples after we wandered into a pizzeria with a line around the block. Panzerotto is essentially a margherita pizza that is folded over into a calzone and then deep-fried to a golden brown. You don’t need me to tell you it’s delicious.
Rustico will open for lunch starting this Saturday, March 9, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and currently serves dinner every night of the week from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and until 10 p.m. on Fridays.
Best of the Week Ahead
Below, find a curated list of the best food and drink events in Santa Cruz County for the coming week. At the top, I share my picks of unmissable local happenings.
News of the week
ICYMI – here are the food news stories from Lookout that you might have missed, plus important news from beyond our borders picked by yours truly.
- 483 days for 120 square feet: How Santa Cruz’s permitting process almost killed one entrepreneur’s dream (Lookout)
- Farmers markets rally to save vital assistance for low-income shoppers (Lookout)
- Laurie Love on Wine: Locals at World of Pinot Noir, Pebble Beach Food & Wine preview and ‘Eden’ premiere (Lookout)
- Big Sur Food & Wine to host Dalí SURrealistic Dinner (Edible Monterey Bay)