Following on from Eating in Padua Part 2 Trattoria al Bigolaro, I asked my aunt to take us to a pizzeria for dinner. We drove to the Montegrotto Terme region of Padua to try our luck at Ristorante Pizzeria El Gaucho. As soon as we drive into the restaurant’s complex, everything is noticeably different. The carpark is all cobblestones, and the restaurant building itself has been built with large stones. The restaurant is huge but packed with diners that night. We luckily manage to get a table for the three of us without a reservation, noting that it’s 10pm!
Located in the Euganean Hills, El Gaucho was established in 1985 and offers over 100 pizzas on the menu. 100! They can make the pizza dough using kamut or wholemeal flour for an additional charge.
We both love the decor inside from the stone walls, bronze pipes, and cosy atmosphere. This place would be great in winter! Tables are topped with packaged bread sticks, olive oil, and salt and pepper.
My aunt orders a small carafe of Rabosello (€3.50), a sparkling rosé which I take a sip of and surprisingly enjoy. The grape variety raboso are grown in the Veneto region. She orders a carafe of white wine Bianco Colli (€3) from Piedmont. We also get bottled water for the table (€2.70).
There are so many pizzas I wanted to try as I flicked through the pages and pages of pizzas on the menu. I’m thankful for the English menus, but my eyes kind of glazed over and I stopped taking in the information. Overwhelmed is the word.
I order the Padovana (€9) with tomato, mozzarella, gorgonzola, sausage and mushrooms, which is topped with grana cheese. I love the pizza dough – thin but has puffy edges, has a nice chewy elasticity to it yet is still firm enough to hold all the toppings. The gorgonzola isn’t too stinky and rich, it’s actually really subtle but adds a nice bite to the pizza.
Mr FPJ chooses the quattro stagioni with tomato, mushrooms, olives, artichoke, ham and mozzarella (€7.70). No complaints.
My aunt chose her favourite, the parigina with tomato and mozzarella, which is then topped with raw prosciutto di parma. Minimal and simple but OH SO GOOD.
On another night, my aunt took us to try another pizza place, that’s much smaller and slightly different, but without a booking we couldn’t get in. So she rang up EL Gaucho who had room for us at 10.00pm (yes everyone seems to eat at this time in Europe), so we booked ourselves back in. We absolutely love the pizzas here.
It was late so Mr FPJ and I told our aunt that we would only order two things – one pizza and one pasta (to mix things up) between the three of us. But of course, my aunt sneakily ordered another pizza. There’s always so much food!
I choose the Santa Fe (€9) a pizza with tomato, mozzarella, eggplant, sausage and mushrooms, which is topped with grana cheese. My aunt orders the Lulu (€10.50) with tomato, mozzarella, gorgonzola and mushrooms, which is then finished with soppressa salami, nuts and rocket. The pizzas and pizza bases are just as good as we remember.
I also choose the spaghetti alla scoglio (€11.50). I realised we’d only ever ordered bigoli, fettucine, or gnocchi during the Italian leg of our trip, so this was our only try of spaghetti. It’s 10.30/10.45pm by the time all the food arrives, I’m sleepy, the restaurant is packed and loud with people chatting away, my aunt and Mr FPJ are talking about something, and I have my first bite of this dish and am forever changed as my eyes widen. I will never forget this moment. This dish is outstanding. Hands down the best seafood pasta dish of my life. The seafood is fresh, the prawns are large, the mussels are plump and juicy, the sauce is a taste of the ocean mixed with garlic, tomato and olive oil. The spaghetti has clearly been tossed through with the seafood as every strand of spaghetti is coated in this amazing flavour. I’m not sure what else is in it, but WOW.
Not only are the pizzas amazing at this pizzeria, but the pasta too! We never had any room left to try out the desserts, but hopefully one day I’ll get to it.
Note there’s a cover charge (coperto) of €2 per person.
Ristorante Pizzeria El Gaucho
Via Risorgimento, 4, 35036 Montegrotto Terme PD, Italy
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