U.S.A. The Original Grilled Pizza

I’ll never forget the first time I tasted grilled pizza. The year was 1985, and the place was Al Forno restaurant in Providence, Rhode Island. The waitress set before me a rectangle of dough, cracker crisp at the edges, smokily singed on the bottom, moistly chewy in the center, and simply topped with puddles of fresh tomato sauce, a dusting of grated cheese, and a handful of chopped fresh basil. It was everything pizza should be—and more—boasting the primeval smoke flavor of Indian tandoori breads combined with the puffy moistness of freshly baked pita. It was love at first bite.