It's not easy to stand out from the Neapolitan pizzerias that are now legion in Paris, and yetAgata has opened its doors in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, giving the plump, quilted-edged pizza back its letters of nobility. Behind the place are Italian cuisine pros Gabriel Kalinowski and Raphaël Tadres, ex-partners of Iovine's, along with Bruno Ferrari and Jean-Baptiste Maillet, who have imagined a chic and refined temple to pizza in the tumultuous boulevard Saint-Germain.
And in the kitchen, who better than a Neapolitan pizza chef himself, Gennaro Esposito, to bring out pizzas in the purest Neapolitan tradition, in collaboration with chef John Damasco, formerly of Eataly. With, of course, a focus on good, high-quality ingredients, such as Sardinian pecorino, Pugliese tomatoes and Calabrian spianata, all sourced from the other side of the Alps.
As expected, Neapolitan pizza is the queen of the menu, with classic recipes (12€-18€), led by margherita and 4 cheeses, but also more unusual recipes (17€-21€), like this Di Zucca pizza (pumpkin cream, fior di latte, guanciale, parmesan fondue, olive oil ; 18€) or this Pistacchiosa pizza (focaccia, mortadella, stracciatella di buffala, pistachio granella, pistachio pesto, basil; 20€).
Let's face it, generosity is the order of the day at Agata' s: the pizzas are all copiously topped, the dough, airy and slightly elastic, is perfectly cooked - unlike the vast majority of Neapolitan pizzas, which bathe once the straciatella has melted - and the ingredients, chosen with care, reveal their flavors without taking precedence over one another.
But there's more to the restaurant than its pizzas, with a focus on the antipasti you'd expect from an Italian restaurant: vitello tonnato, arancini, eggplant stuffed with ricotta, and a selection of Italian cheeses and charcuterie, burrata from Puglia with black truffle cream (16€) or a generous plate of crispy fried calamari (18€) to dip happily in a homemade basil mayonnaise while sipping one of the clever drinks on the menu, such as the Agata 168 cocktail (dark rum, white peach purée, elderflower syrup, cointreau, soda water ; 14€) or the Etna Margarita cocktail (thyme-infused tequila, lime juice, bergamot purée, mandarin syrup, Amara; 14€).
Unfortunately for us, we break down before the desserts. But we can already see ourselves savoring one of the restaurant's sweet creations (Paris-Bronte, tiramisu) on its large terrace , sunny on sunny days and covered when it's cold, or even opting for the exclusive pastries created by pastry chef Jeffrey Cagnes for Agata.
Agata is already proving to be one of Saint-Germain-des-Prés's best-sellers for anyone dreaming of fine Neapolitan pizzas.
Location
Agata
168 Boulevard Saint-Germain
75006 Paris 6
Official website
agata-pizzeria.com
