Before you even get to the pizza’s and hoagies, Rocca pulls you in with their style and atmosphere, something a lot of places don’t pay nearly enough attention to, or shortchange everyone to save a few bucks. A carafe of water at the table, original art on the walls, a non-traditional water glass–all of these things cost money, but they also show the owner cares about the environment he’s sharing with you. In a world of “good enough” any attempt to be better counts a lot.
The owner’s Pandora playlist is jazzy and bluesy and you can tell the Rocca intent from this giant Ray Charles mural.
On to the food. The pizza is traditional Neapolitan–hand tossed and wood-fired. The hoagies come out with crispy bread and very Italian stuffing enhanced by the local ingredients from Iverstine Farms and Maggie’s Mushrooms to name two of my favorites. (Rocca doesn’t beat you over the head with the farm to table theme, but they did name their meat lover’s pizza The Iverstine and they have a low key chalk board by the front door listing and thanking local suppliers.) The pepperoni pizza was lean and mean, with just enough marinara and mozzarella to compliment the fresh fired dough and pepperoni. And yes, a lot of pepperoni. It has a folding style crust, not super bready and certainly not board stiff so you really need to carefully fold each slice or lose toppings.
If I only had one word to sum up Rocca, that word would be commitment. They commit to the food. They commit to the guest. They commit to the space. “Good enough” isn’t good enough for Rocca.