Restaurant Review: Pizza Barbone

By Sarah Colvin

We’ve all heard of fancy dinners that include wine pairings – perhaps that perfect blend to accompany your foie gras, maybe a woody red perfectly paired with a perfectly cooked filet mignon…but when it comes to beer and pizza, usually we are left to our own devices, which for me normally includes nothing fancier than a six pack of Miller Lite and a pizza that comes piping hot from a cardboard box.

That vision was certainly destroyed at last night’s Cape Cod Beer and Pizza Barbone dinner. Nary an aluminum can nor cardboard box was in sight – instead, attendees of the dinner were greeted at the door of the delightfully decorated Hyannis Main Street hot spot Pizza Barbone with a glass of Cape Cod Blonde and a fabulous antipasto spread.

The main portion of the evening consisted of five delectable courses, each paired with a different flavor of Cape Cod Beer, and introduced by Cape Cod Beer’s own Brewmaster, Todd Marcus. While the able staff of Pizza Barbone poured the beer and prepared the first course, Marcus gave a brief history of Cape Cod Beer along with an interesting talk about variety, flavor, and crafting of beers. Marcus introduced each beer and each course as the evening went on.

The highlight of the menu, after the delicious roasted beet, green apple, endive, and hazelnut praline salad – and of course the tasty risotto arancini with prosciutto and fontina – had to be the ravioli.

Homemade butternut squash ravioli, smothered in brown butter, sage, and topped with an unusual sprinkling of crumbled ginger cookie – OUTSTANDING, paired with Cape Cod Beer’s Dunkel Weizen – the two complemented each other perfectly, the dark wheat beer bringing out the sweet smooth flavors of the ravioli; the butter and sugar in the dish emphasizing the spices and earthiness of the Weizen. This writer says it captured all of the flavors that make fall food so delicious.

Being at a restaurant called Pizza Barbone, naturally the main course was, well, pizza. But this is not your average cheese and pepperoni – it is far from it. Made in an authentic wood-fired pizza oven – the owners had it specially made and imported direct from Naples, Italy, this pizza is certainly a delicacy. From the super-fine-milled flour that’s used in the crust (again, imported from Italy), to the handmade meatballs and creative toppings – Pizza Barbone is indeed something special. The pizzas of the evening were a meatball pizza with caramelized onion, kalamata olive, and oregano; and a delectable
white pizza topped with sweet potato, kale, and red onion – over a sauce of garlic cream. The pizzas were paired with Cape Cod Beer’s popular Red variety.

All good things must come to an end, but if they all came to an end the way this dinner did – well, we’d be ending things a lot faster, all of the time. Dessert was also a pair of pizzas – Dessert apple and cinnamon spiced pizza with a crumbled oat topping, along with a nutella, raspberry and toffee crunch dessert pizza. The latter sparkled with the paring of Cape Cod Beer’s tasty Porter – both the flavors in the chocolate hazelnut Nutella and the depth of flavors in the Porter were a combination truly conceived in dessert heaven. That is, if you like beer and pizza.

I’m hoping more of these special events come around again. In the meantime, Pizza Barbone serves up its delicious wood- fired pizza every day on Main Street in Hyannis, and Cape Cod Beer is found on tap and in the fridge at restaurants, bars, and package stores around the region. You can also visit their brewery on Phinney’s Lane for tours, tastings and more.