First imagine the most wonderful grilled ham and cheese sandwich.  Now take it upmarket, by substituting Prosciutto and Fontina for the ham and cheese, add caramelized onions, and season with a dash of oregano and a drizzle of aged balsamic vinegar.  Finally, instead of stacking it all between two slices of bread, put the whole kit-and-caboodle on a thin and crispy Roman-style pizza (baked in a 500 degree oven for three minutes) and you’ve got the tantalizing Pizza Romana Bianca al Prosciutto Cotto at Due Forni Pizza and Wine.

Open for a little more than a year, Due Forni, the chic gourmet Italian eatery with the dark woods and walls painted with color-saturated murals depicting scenes from Sergio Leone’s classic “Spaghetti Westerns” (think: anything scored by Ennio Morricone, such as A Fistful of Dollars, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly) has taken the Southwest side of the Las Vegas Valley, by storm, and hasn’t let go.

How I’ve managed to go a year with this gem garnering nary a blip on my radar is nothing short of a source of personal shame.  Fortunately, I have friends who are always looking-out for me, vis-à-vis suggesting potential topics for my readers.  This one was clearly a winner, so, here it ‘tis…

With its simple, one-page menu, Due Forni offers everything from a super garlicky Caesar Salad made with hearts of romaine, herb croutons, parmesan, and garlic vinaigrette (I opted to add chopped chicken breast to mine), to a simply sublime Polpette (oven-baked turkey meatballs with San Marzano tomatoes and melted parmesan), and a flavorful Polipo (braised Mediterranean octopus, served Livornese-style, with braised San Marzano tomatoes).

There’s also a Mozzarella Bar featuring three styles of Bufala Mozzarella from Campania - classica, affuicata, and stracciatella - of which I tried the latter (described, quite accurately, as “soft and creamy”), with sides of basil pesto and roasted tomatoes.

But where Due Forni really shines is its pizzas.  Offering both the Pizza Romana (as described, above) and the Pizza Napoletana (light and chewy, the crust is thicker than that of the Romana, and is baked in a Neapolitan pizza oven, at 900 degrees, for a mere minute and a half).

The dessert menu looked fantastic, but I was on such a carb-high that all I could muster was a double-espresso, lest I lapse into a food-coma.

As a bonus, the staff was particularly friendly and helpful (when I spilled a bit of tomato on my white shirt, our waiter was Gianni-on-the-Spot, with a clean napkin and a glass of club soda).

To riff on Clint Eastwood, as ‘Monco’ in For a Few Dollars More: “Due Forni seems like a pretty good place for a pizza, to me.”

Due Forni
Click HERE for info

Get into it!