La Nostra Strada Pizzeria

La Nostra Strada Pizzeria in downtown De Pere opened this week, serving Italian street pizzas in what is my first experience with this style of pizzeria. I missed their soft open Wednesday night, but I couldn’t let another day go by without a visit. So, on my lunch break Thursday afternoon, I stopped in to pick up a few slices for my husband and I to try out.

Strada, as it goes by on Facebook, is conveniently located on Broadway street just a few blocks before the roundabout, and right next to Afogatto Bar. Day two, on a thursday afternoon, they had a small line waiting to grab slices for carry out. Social distancing was enforced with those little markers on the floor to tell you where to wait while others were ordering, and the short wait gave me enough time to admire the decoration inside the building.

I will always appreciate a new restaurant in an old building that maintains those gold painted, individual plate ceilings. They kept those around during whatever renovations needed to occur for them to set up the adorable interior of Strada. The seating area by the window, while not actively spaced for social distancing, is occupied by visitors in a way to maintain that distance either way. The front area of Strada doesn’t allow for as much spacing as some other locations have done since the 25% capacity order, but it looked to me that anyone visiting knew what they had to do to eat here safely. I also noticed a back room for seating and a bar along the back wall for individuals, so there is plenty of space for customers eating inside.

This Italian Street Pizza style location offers a case of pizzas every day, displayed as you enter the line. What’s there is what you can get, and if you’re ordering a full size for home, they display what you’re looking at on the wall so you know the sizes ahead of time. Given that my husband and I are interested in different types of pizza, I believe I will always be stopping in here for two different slices of pizza rather than a whole. All of the pictures I took while at Strada are displayed below, and after that is the actual review of what I ate.​

I took home a slice of their margherita pizza and their prosciutto and arugula pizza. The prosciutto and arugula pizza is, of course, a white pizza, so this was perfect for my tomato hating husband. I will always choose a margherita slice when I can get it, especially if it is of no consequence to said tomato hating husband. The way Strada does service will be great for my husband and I to have exactly what both of us want without having to sacrifice to the cravings of the other, so that's a huge plus!

I’ll begin with the crust. I’ve never had such a soft crust on any slice of pizza I’ve had in my entire life. I know much of this is due to the style that they wanted to serve, and they advertised on their facebook page that it ferments for more than 72 hours. I love that. I love knowing that so much care is going into the base of a pizza as much as the toppings. This long ferment provides some actual flavor to the crust itself, a little sour to balance with the acidic tomato sauce on the margherita pizza that I tried.

The sauce pairs wonderfully with the cheese they used on the margherita pizza. I swear there was some ricotta on there as well as mozzarella, but I can’t say for sure. Any pizza joint in town can make you a margherita pizza, but no one is going to serve it to you on as soft and pillowy a crust as what Strada managed to pull off over their 72 hours ferment. 

My husband insists that the prosciutto and arugula white pizza that I brought home for him is the best pizza he’s had in town. I can’t make the same proclamation because I believe that Strada’s pizza goes into a category of it’s own compared to the more traditional Americanized pizza establishments in Green Bay. I don’t know if anyone else gives their dough this level of attention. I don’t particularly taste it at the places we’ve tried so far since moving into town. What I do know is that Strada is unique in what it does, how it does it, and what they’ve got to offer.

During my short wait, the kitchen staff replenished at least three different types of pizza that are available in their case at the front of the store. I don’t know if they intend to rotate out some of these pizzas in the future as their business grows, but if I had the appetite, I would have brought a slice of all of them home to try. I truly believe that their current case set up has something for every kind of pizza eater, except of course gluten free or vegan eaters. Cheese is cheese, and dough that’s lovingly fermented for three straight days is going to have some gluten.

Please visit La Nostra Strada’s facebook page and give them a like to support a new local business. Opening during COVID-19 is as difficult a task as any business owner could tackle, but the way they’re doing business opens them up to so many possibilities. I know that I’ll be giving them a visit to satisfy the different pizza tastes in my house for a long time to come.

The beautiful weekend that’s here in Green Bay for November 7th and 8th is a great time to get out and support local businesses, especially in Downtown De Pere that is so walkable and gorgeous beside the river. Stop for pizza at La Nostra Strada, then go next door for dessert. Take yourself across the river for even more goodies. Lord knows that I’m going to find every chance I can to eat, drink, and shop local during this rare 70 degree spike in NOVEMBER.

If you’re reading this, lovely employees at La Nostra Strada, thank you for a lovely lunch and a truly memorable way of ordering and eating pizza. What you’re doing in there isn’t common in much of the Midwest, but it is so well suited to the world we live in at the moment. I’ll be back soon.

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