Photos by Richard Maack Kicker pizza loaded with spicy Calabrian peppers and soppressata salami

This Scottsdale eatery’s savory starters, salads and wood-fired pies leave little room for leftovers.

The fetching glass lamps hanging over the five-stool bar at this sleek North Scottsdale restaurant are totally unrelated to its given name: LAMP Wood Oven Pizzeria. My enthusiastic server explained that LAMP is an acronym for first-time restaurateurs Lindsay and Matt Pilato, who obtained his pizza pedigree at the Scuola Italiana Pizzaioli Academy in San Francisco.
 
In any case, there’s ample illumination to behold the fire-engine-red, mosaic tiled wood-burning oven that sits in the middle of this modern, slightly noisy space, churning out traditional, plate-size Neapolitan-style pizzas. The 17 pizzas, ranging from $9 to $16, are terrific, with puffy crusts holding enough salt to give them flavor and texture, and thin centers (wet on the red-sauced pizzas and moist enough on the white pizzas). LAMP uses top-notch ingredients, including a combination of fresh mozzarella, pecorino and parmigiano-reggiano, with a final drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

When I asked for a box to take leftover slices home, my server said, “They don’t travel well,” but I had no problem downing the Margherita topped with slenderly sliced pepperoni ($14) for breakfast the next morning. On my next visit, there were no leftovers from the red-sauced L.P. (Lindsay’s namesake), topped with capers, Sicilian black olives and plump, white anchovies ($15), or the white rapini, with toasted pine nuts, garlic, ricotta, chile flakes and singed broccoli rabe ($15).

arugula and white bean salad with fig-Sambuca bruschetta

Starters and salads are well-crafted, too. For example, the moist, dense mignulata ($6) – a regional version of scacciata, the homey Sicilian bread stuffed with cauliflower, sausage and pecorino –  is practically a meal in itself. And the lusty, warm, Sambuca-drenched figs draped over goat cheese-smeared bruschetta ($9) are sweet, crunchy and utterly delicious.

The grape and Gorgonzola salad ($9) is a fine example of sweet and salty, and the arugula and white bean salad ($9) is pitch-perfect, dressed with just enough tangy red wine vinaigrette and finished with shaved parmigiano-reggiano.

Don’t fill up on the savory delights, because LAMP’s handful of milkshakes ($6) – including a dreamy Nutella, topped with a toasted marshmallow – are worth the trip alone.

You can add LAMP to the list of local pie places worth seeking out. Just plan on devouring it there.

inside LAMP Wood Oven Pizzeria

DETAILS
LAMP Wood Oven Pizzeria
Cuisine: Pizza
Address: 8900 E. Pinnacle Peak Rd., Scottsdale
Phone: 480-292-8773
Website: lamppizza.com
Hours: 4:30-9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday and Sunday; 4:30-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Closed Mondays. Open for lunch beginning in late February/early March.
Highlights: Mignulata ($6), fig-Sambuca bruschetta ($9), arugula and white bean salad ($9), The L.P. pizza ($15), Nutella milkshake ($6).