The oven does more than pizza
The wood oven is the loudest thing in the kitchen and it is not only making pizza. The meatballs, the veal chop and half the sides go through it too.
Most people assume the wood oven is here for the pizza. It is, and the pizza is worth the trip. But if you read the menu closely you will find the oven turning up in places that have nothing to do with dough.
Start with the meatballs
The Polpette al Sugo are wood-fired oven roasted before they go anywhere near the sauce: veal, beef, pork and lamb, then slow-cooked in San Marzano DOP tomato and finished with reggiano. Roasting them first is what puts a proper crust on the outside, and it is why they taste of more than tomato.
Then look at the secondi
The Cotoletta di Vitello alla Parmigiana is a sixteen-ounce breaded veal chop broiled in that oven with San Marzano and burrata. At brunch the Pollo alla Parmigiana takes the same route. A live fire does something to melted cheese that a salamander cannot quite manage, and this is where you notice.
And most of the contorni
Three of the five sides come out of it. Patate Arrosto with rosemary, garlic and olive oil. Rapini al Forno and Asparagi al Forno, both with garlic and lemon. Vegetables roasted over wood pick up a little smoke and a lot of char, and they stop being the dutiful part of the order.
What to do about it
Ask for a side you would not usually bother with. Order the rapini alongside a pasta and see what the fire has done to it. Then have a pizza anyway, because the oven is very good at its day job too.