Molly's Summer Salad Pizza
The crust, as always, was cooked to semi-blackened perfection and coated in a thin layer of garlic butter in lieu of marinara sauce. Next, a creamy layer of fontina cheese — with generous portions of tomato and prosciutto — made up the bulk of the dish. Finally, the surface of the pie was garnished with leafy arugula and shredded Parmesan and drizzled in lemon basil dressing.
The crunch of the crust, the gooey cheese and the almost weightless salad on top created a diverse range of textures as well as tastes. The peppery prosciutto and cheese would be sufficient to keep anyone warm even in the dead of a brutal Hanover winter, but the chilled salad topping complimented this feeling well. The balance is what makes the Summer Salad Pizza the perfect culinary embodiment of the onset of summer, in all its natural beauty.
Molly’s pizzas are by no means small, but the pizza has a light enough feel to make it manageable. Perhaps without the prosciutto, which somehow snuck into an item claiming to be mostly salad, it would lack substance, but it is certainly a healthy meal. I was pleasantly surprised to finish my pie with a clean plate, feeling neither hungry nor bloated.
Perhaps a lesser restaurant would take a standard mozzarella-and-red-sauce pizza, throw some lettuce, tomato and seasoning on top, tack the word “salad” onto the title and call it a day — but not Molly’s. The Fontina and arugula are welcome deviations from the norm, and every topping is present in overly generous portions. And the ambience only further enhances the experience, as every customer can enjoy his or her meal in the beautiful yet unassuming, cozy family restaurant.
5/5 Stars.