Thirty-five-year food industry veteran Sandro Costanza’s restaurant career began as a server in Milano, Italy, where he was born and raised. He says that over time his focus evolved toward learning the back-of-house food preparation side of the business as well as developing a special proclivity for pizza.
Deciding to nurture that passion, he returned to Italy after years living locally and took a class in Naples to perfect his pizza prowess.
In 2017, he opened La Bufala Pizzeria in Abbott Square along with his wife, Luciana, serving the thin, airy and bubbly crust Neapolitan-style pies he learned how to make. Their signature is the spicy Diavola with pepperoni, Italian salami and Calabrian pepper and the classic Margherita is also popular.
Sandro’s favorite is the Del Capo with smoked bacon and caramelized onion, Luciana’s fave is the vegetarian Piperina with shishito peppers and ricotta cheese and a popular recurring special is a mixed mushroom pizza with white porcini cream sauce.
Salads have options of Caesar, mixed greens, Mediterranean and mozzarella burrata with arugula and cherry tomatoes, and they also serve pasta like ricotta cheese gnocchi with pesto and rigatoni with red sauce and meatballs. Everything is made in-house, including the pizza dough using imported Italian flour, and a scratch-made, perfected-over-time tiramisu is for dessert.
Describe your industry evolution.
SANDRO COSTANZA: I started in restaurants as a server for the first few years, and noticed that I was gaining passion for food. I found myself talking and working more and more with the kitchen, learning about food from them. I gravitated toward wanting to know how all the food was prepared and how it came together. I was especially inspired by the creative process of food making, finding myself enjoying making it more than serving it.
Tell me about your pizza process
Learning to make Neapolitan-style pizza in my class in Italy really inspired me, especially the speed at which the pizzas would cook. Guests there were really excited for their pizzas, knowing they would be ready quickly—almost instantly. Similarly, our pizzas here at La Bufala are baked in an approximately 750-degree oven and cook completely in about 90 seconds. Cooking a pizza this fast keeps the integrity and freshness of the toppings, perfectly melts the cheese and keeps the bottom crispy.
725 Front Street, Santa Cruz, 831-999-0301; pizzerialabufala.com
