Happy Birthday Pizza

If I had wanted to, I could have spent my birthday in Italy. It's only about an hour away. But I didn't. It was a Tuesday. I had to go to work. And I don't have a car. Or know where I'm going. Instead, I went out to dinner.


My most wonderful boyfriend took the train in just for the occasion. I gathered advice from former expats as well as people in my office on a great place to get some dinner. There is no shortage of great places to get dinner in Geneva. The city caters to those on an expense account and prices and food quality reflect that. I was looking for something a bit less gastronomic and a bit more no-wallet-regrets. As a bonus, I wanted to partake in the heavy Italian heritage in Geneva.


We went to a little Italian place called L'Incontro. I'd been told by two people to have the Pasta Sicilliano. It has eggplant in it, commonly called the much more eloquent word "aubergine". I rarely turn down aubergines, but walking in I walked by table after table of tempting pizzas.

Pizza has been my favorite food for years. I can hardly resist it. I could eat it everyday of the year. Arris's, Shakespeare's, Ian's, Dewey's, even Godfather's and Pizza Hut. I love it. The pasta sicilliano would have to wait. I wanted pizza for my birthday.

I ordered something that had "jambon" on it - stands for ham, although it really doesn't resemble ham ala lunchmeat. The other ingredients were a bit of a mystery as the ingredients were listed in Italian and French. Good thing I know English and German.

Tim and I sipped our Montipulciano and chatted and I noticed that pizza is a knife and fork affair in L'Incontro. When our pizza's arrived, I knew why. It's really just a light thin dough with a melt of goodness on top. While the edge crust is crispy, everything in the middle is melty gooey wonderful. And in true European fashion, where convenience is an afterthought (if a thought at all), the pizzas are not cut, but served as one big uncut pie. Knives and forks definately required.

I ate my rand0m-melty-stuff pizza, lost in it's yummy goodness and Tim ate his, which he also enjoyed. Next time I may need to skip the pasta sicciliano again as I'm ordering Tim's pizza. Right in the middle, shining to the world, rested a sunny-side up egg, cooked right along with the cheese, jambon and whatever else was on there. Brilliant Italians. Eggs on pizza. Like a little gift to the pizza-eater....or the birthday girl...or the birthday girl's boyfriend. Regardless, just brilliant.