Along with another location in Cherry Hill, this Westmont, NJ spot is 1 of 2 Bricco Coal Fired pizzerias, which could be the beginning of several future franchises. They use domestically produced anthracite coal, which evidently burns cleaner than wood in their incredibly expensive custom-made oven that requires a 2-hour pre-lighting process & hourly monitoring of the intensely high heat. Their unique dough is aged longer in the fermentation process for better taste & to help form a thin & crispier crust. These pies are cooked incredibly fast, like less than 5 minutes; but the taste & texture comes out very similar to wood-fired pizza. Fairly firm despite a somewhat soft consistency, the undercarriage is beautifully blackened, along with a reasonably charred crust that packs modest crunch. Slightly burnt in some areas, the dough is moderately tasty but the lack of crisp contributes to the disappointing texture. There must be more than mozzarella in this cheese blend; the flavor is unpleasantly funky, like a strong combination of sharp provolone & pecorino romano. Similar to subpar Philly pizza cheese, the taste just isn’t to my liking. The consistency was creamy enough & melted well but the foul flavor made this hard for me to enjoy. A seemingly puréed plain tomato paste, the sauce is rather splotchy in typical tomato pie fashion; not particularly sweet or savory, the volume is a little low & lacks seasoning as well, rendering a bland & dulled flavor. Overpowered by the unusually pungent cheese, the taste of the sauce is buried. Overall, the dough is a tad too soft, the cheese has a less than desirable flavor & the sauce has a taste far too subtle to detect. Aesthetics over substance, this pie looks pretty good from afar; but unfortunately it’s far from good. I’d love to know what cheese they mixed with the mozz cause I’d advise them never to do that again. This is essentially a coal-fired faux tomato pie from a wannabe future franchise that’s as much Philly as it is South Jersey.
