Pizzaiolo

Pizzaiolo 5008 Telegraph Ave., Oakland  (510) 652-4888

The minimalist menu at the Temescal district’s newest hot spot changes daily, but expect to savor bucatini with pork ragout, oven-roasted Monterey squid with aioli, Bellwether Farms sheep’s ricotta with prosciutto, or a salad of toma al tartufo cheese with arugula and hazelnuts. Pizzas are thin-crusted, blistered beauties ranging from the classic Margherita with mozzarella di bufala to specials topped with homemade sausage or a cod ragout with capers.

The daily special is often a succulent dish such as rosé-braised beef short ribs with salsa verde. Desserts are simple: panna cotta, affogato (vanilla ice cream “drowned” in a shot of espresso), almond olive oil cake with cherries, or bowls of seasonal fruit.

Chef-owner Charlie Hallowell, a former Chez Panisse cook and pizza-maker (pizzaiolo means pizza-maker), makes his pies in a traditional Neopolitan style. He’s a dad and has created an environment in which families and couples are equally at home. Butter-yellow tiled walls mix with stretches of exposed brick and paint-washed plaster. The restored 130-year-old Douglas fir floor and bench seating at some of the tables lend the feel of a classic osteria.

With its rustic Italian décor and lively, original, reasonably priced menu, Pizzaiolo is proof that the Temescal dining scene is, if not arrived, on its way. Dinner daily.