Pizzeria Faulisi

215 E Chatham St. Cary, NC 27511

January 31, 2020

We really love this hidden gem in downtown Cary, and I think this was either our second or third visit. In my opinion, it's one of the best Napoli style pizza joints in the Triangle. As an added bonus, it's only a few miles from our house in West Raleigh. Meg and I went mostly low carb in January, Dudebro aside for myself, to recover from the abundance of delicious garbage food we indulged in over the holidays. Therefore, this is the first proper entry to this blog.

We really went for it and got three different pies because we were both quite hungry and so we'd have leftovers for brunch the next day. We started with a traditional Margherita and then each picked one of the more exotic pies, the Baby Goat for Meg, and the Red, White, & Blue for me.

Margherita

Margherita Close-Up

The Margherita

Appearance: 9/10, Napoli pies typically don't get much better looking than this. It has great leopard spotting on the crust, a vibrantly red pool of sauce, perfectly melted slices of fresh mozzarella, and just enough basil to represent all the colors of the Italian flag.
Crust: 8/10, Their dough is fantastic here. Nice and crisp on the outside, pillowy soft on the inside. It had a good amount of char but not too much and an even thinness until you get to the rim. I have only the tiniest of criticisms as I wish it had a tiny bit more salt to brighten it up.
Sauce: 10/10, I initially gave it a 9 but then realized that it was absolutely perfect, and I wouldn't change a thing. That's a 10 to me. The sauce was uncooked, as I think it should be on a Napoli pie, was made with high quality canned tomatoes, had a natural sweetness to it, and just enough olive oil and basil to give it depth. I'd drink it if I could. There was also a nice drizzle of olive oil over the whole pie to finish it after it came out of the oven.
Cheese: 9/10, This pizza was topped with seriously high-quality fresh mozzarella in nice, uniform, thin slices around the pie. It was perfectly chewy and had a nice squeak to it similar to a fresh cheese curd.
Cook: 9/10, Their Margherita was cooked just about perfect in a gorgeous wood-fired oven to a perfect crispness.
Overall: 45/50

So. Damn. Good! It's Napoli pizza as it should be done.

Red, White, and Blue

Look at those cherries!

Over the course of this pizza odyssey, my goal is to, whenever possible, get a Margherita or cheese pie, and then at least one other more exotic or otherwise non-plain pie. My choice for this particular outing was the Red, White, and Blue. It had what seemed like an olive oil base and was topped with sour cherries and chilis with blue and mozzarella cheeses. It was awesome. I REALLY liked the way the cherries paired with the blue cheese, and they complimented each other perfectly.

Appearance: 8/10, White pies aren't the best looking, but the crust was again perfect with good leopard spotting, and the cherries looked nice and enticing--an unusual topping I don't think I've ever had on a pizza.
Crust: 8/10, It was a repeat of the Margherita's rating. They have excellent dough here.
Sauce: 6/10, Tough to rate a white pizza for sauce, but it was perfectly adequate and not dry.
Cheese: 8/10, I wish they would have used more blue cheese as it was a bit subtle, and I was really hoping they would bring the funk, but it still was enough to balance out the cherries--what a great combination! Everything was rounded out by some high-quality low moisture mozzarella.
Cook: 9/10, I'm giving it the same rating as the Margherita. Just about perfect.
Overall: 39/50

This was a really awesome and unusual pie and I'm really glad we got it. It's always cool when a place brings some originality to go with the stellar favorites.

Baby Goat

This was the one that caught Meg's eye. although I'm really not sure why they call it the Baby Goat as it didn't have any goat cheese on it. It also wasn't stylized as The G.O.A.T. like it was up there with His Airness, Michael Jordan. Either way, though, it was absolutely fantastic.

Appearance: 8/10, The only thing this pie lacked in appearance was a bit more color. Hard to fault it for that though as it's simplistic nature is what made it taste so good.
Crust: 8/10, Same excellent dough with this one.
Sauce: 9/10, Man, do I really love their tomato sauce here. So simple and delicious.
Cheese: 9/10, For this pie, the cheese was really the star of the show. It had all the Italian heavy hitters: mozzarella, asiago, pecorino, and grana padana. Unlike the Margherita, the Baby Goat was covered all the way around by cheese. The cheese melted into the sauce perfectly and everything worked in harmony.
Cook: 9/10, Again, a just about perfect cook.
Overall: 43/50

If you're really into cheese and want a simple and delicious pie, this is a perfect alternative to a more traditional Margherita.

In conclusion, you should absolutely make the trip to downtown Cary and hit this place up and then go next door to Bond Brothers Brewing to get some of the best beer in the area. You won't be sorry!

-Brian

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Brian And Meg Eat Pizza