Daily Slice gives a quick snapshot each weekday of a different slice or pie that the folks at the Serious Eats empire have enjoyed lately.
Few people come to Las Vegas specifically for the pizza. Fortunately for us pizzaphiles, the city is dotted with reputable pies such as Grimaldi's, Dom DeMarco's and the VPN kitchen of Settebello. But when craving a Neapolitian-style pizza on the Strip, the options dwindle to just one: D.O.C.G. at the Cosmopolitan.
Already the King of Spaghetti, Scott Conant's pizza genius manifests in the The D.O.C.G. ($18). The pizza is slathered in a thick bubbly blanket of Fonduta—a velvety blend of Fontina cheese, cream, truffle shaving and truffle oil. A gently cooked duck egg sits atop the charred cheese. My friends and I literally cooed over the buttery truffle scent rising from this pie. The leopard-spotting foretells of the good crust—delicately crisp just along the edge, lightly fermented, and supple throughout. The springy crust falls limply when picked up, releasing a dredge of runny duck yolk on the plate. But the wet mess is quickly sopped up with the chewy pizza bones.
The Margherita ($15) is classic. But like most things in Vegas, this pie is over embellished. The crust isn't stretched quite thin enough, creating a thick chewy base. The milky buffalo mozzarella is applied with a heavy hand, although the overabundance brings out the flavor of this otherwise mild cheese. Semi-dried basil leaves, along with the majority of the cheese, drifts toward the middle, creating tip-heavy slices. Flush with crushed San Marzano tomatoes, surprisingly, the pies doesn't get soggy.
Areas on the underside of the crust are overly charred, but it doesn't have the bitter burned flavor of an overcooked pizza. Despite the slightly too thick crust, this is by far the best pizza you'll get on the Strip. D.O.C.G.'s refreshingly casual atmosphere—free from flashing lights and clinking of slot machines—and well-made cocktails, makes this one of my favorite haunts in Las Vegas.
D.O.C.G. Enoteca
3708 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Las Vegas NV 89109 (map)
702-698-7000; cosmopolitanlasvegas.com