Piero's Corner, Chef Gian Piero Mazzi's Italian on Franklin Farm Road in Herndon - Fairfax Location is Closed

[DanCole42]

Not sure if this should be its own thread or not, but the location in Herndon is now this: http://www.pieroscorner.com/. "Piero's Corner."

The fried calamari used more of the whole body of the squid, rather than the ubiquitous evenly-sized rings, and the marinara sauce was surprisingly spicy (in a good way).

The chicken parm was artfully presented, and used full, thick, and juicy breasts rather than pounded cutlets. The red sauce on the pasta was garlicky and bright.

I got the "valtellina" pizza: speck, tomato, mascarpone, and arugula. The flavors were incredible: the tomato sauce was deep, and rich, and earthy, and savory. The mascarpone was creamy, but neither overwhelmed nor soggified the pizza. The crust on the other hand was abysmal. It was soft, and flavorless, and utterly unworthy of its toppings. I'd venture to say it was undercooked, but really I think it was just cooked at too low of a temperature. They advertise "brick oven," which to me implies 600-900 degrees, but this couldn't have been cooked at higher than 400: the top was barely browned, and the bottom had absolutely zero structure.

The pedigree on the chef is impressive: he's actually Italian, spent time with Roberto Donna, helmed the Morrison House... The impression I got from this place was that there were little hints of a really good chef, but he's too constrained in conforming to strip-mall, suburban Italian to truly do anything great and has lost his passion. I'm not saying he needs to start serving octopus with lychee foam and sous vide heirloom plaintains, just that he has a prime chance to elevate those "strip mall classics" to something better.

Also, according to their website, the pizzas use "Sam Marzano" [sic] tomatoes. I'm not sure who this Sam guy is, but...

[DonRocks]

The crust on the other hand was abysmal. It was soft, and flavorless, and utterly unworthy of its toppings. I'd venture to say it was undercooked, but really I think it was just cooked at too low of a temperature. They advertise "brick oven," which to me implies 600-900 degrees, but this couldn't have been cooked at higher than 400: the top was barely browned, and the bottom had absolutely zero structure.

Piero's Corner has opened a second restaurant in Fairfax (in the old Carlos O'Kelly's space).

However, instead of advertising "brick oven pizza," they're advertising "coal oven pizza," in prominent letters on the well-lit sign outside.

Dan's crust was abysmal; mine was merely mediocre: flavorless, mercifully paper-thin inside the periphery, and with only the barest hint of "char" (it would be more accurate to call the char, "dark spots").

On the way out, just as I was opening the front door to leave, my young dining companion said, "Hey, wait a minute - look inside the oven!"

Inside the oven, there was not any coal that I could see, but there was plenty of wood burning.

[DonRocks]

Thanks to an astute member, I'm sorry to report that Piero's Corner in Fairfax is now Chop's Steakhouse.

The Fairfax Piero's Corner, on Route 236 in Fairfax, will always be special to me because I fibbed to my son on his 16th birthday, telling him they had a new chef that I wanted to try; when we walked in, a private dining area, full of his friends, was filled up and waiting for his first-and-only surprise party, and I got him good! I left and let him enjoy dinner with his friends.

Piero's Corner could not have been more accommodating for this special event.