The Quest for Napoletana Authenticity at Odi's Pizzeria

Odi’s Pizzeria’s Quest for Napoletana Authenticity

Joseph Garza, owner of Odi's Pizzeria shares his journey to bringing Neapolitan-style pizza to the Coastal Bend.

photo of the pizza and pizza oven at Odi's Pizzeria

Photography by Deux Boheme

Pizza Napoletana is serious business — especially in the eyes of the Italian government, and for Joseph Garza, a Corpus Christi native, the descendant of grocery store owners and a Neapolitan-style pizza enthusiast. He took a dream of opening a food truck with his late brother and turned it into owning the first Pizzeria Napoletana in the Coastal Bend, Odi’s Pizzeria

After his initial taste of Neapolitan-style pizza at a wedding in Las Vegas, he proceeded to eat it three days in a row, and arrived back home determined to introduce this style of pizza to his community. One could say he is an “all or nothing” kind of person. Of the dueling “get it right” and “get it done” mentalities, Garza personifies “get it right.”  

Joseph Garza, owner of Odi’s | Photography by Deux Boheme

“To become a pizzaiolo — a chef who has been trained and specializes in making true, Italian-style pizzas — you need to understand how the pizza is constructed from beginning to end,” said Garza. After a trip to Los Angeles to learn from the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (VPN), which is Italy’s governing body that sets guidelines on what is considered authentic Napoletana-style pizza, Garza has learned a thing or two about the craft. Now, he feels Odi’s “offers an opportunity for anyone who cannot make it to Italy to try some pizza and pasta they would only experience in Italy.”  

In terms of its cooking method, ingredients and size, Napoletana-style pizza plays in a league of its own. The secret to the crisp, airy but chewy crust and perfectly melted cheese is the forno di Mattoni, the brick oven built directly into the restaurant in which the pizzas are fired directly on the brick at a temperature of 800-850 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately 90 seconds. 

Ingredients are a huge factor and can make or break the end result. Whole milk fior di latte, 00 flour imported from Napoli, Denominazione di Origine Protetta (DOP) pomodoro san Marzano and a 24-hour naturally fermented dough, with no added sugars or oil, are staples. Anything else is simply incorrect and threatens the integrity of what is considered to be the original pizza. Odi’s goes the extra mile and imports most of its ingredients from Italy or small Italian-owned companies in the U.S., including two of its last known family-owned cured meat producers.

The care and attention to detail has paid off: The VPN, an international organization representing some of the oldest families of pizza makers and the most famous Neapolitan pizzerias, visited Odi’s in September to teach staff members proper techniques and allowed them the ability to become VPN Certified. They will also hold the DOP certification, “which means that with regards to the pizza at Odi’s, it will be considered authentic in the eyes of the Italian government,” Garza proudly said. The President of VPN Americas, Pepe Miele, was Garza’s instructor, and will be flying to the Coastal Bend this November to present the certification. 

That might seem like a lot of hoops to jump through to create something that has trickled down to be in the same category as fast food. However, upon tasting the wood-fired masterpiece, a $5 hot-n-ready could not be further from what Pizza Napoletana represents. Ingredients matter; technique matters; cook-method matters; and the attention to detail is evident in every pie fired at Odi’s Pizzeria (soon to be “Authentic”) Napoletana.

Coming Soon to Odi’s 

  • Odi’s is currently working on bringing Roman-style pizza called “pizza alla pala” to its Sunday brunch menu.
  • A “sensory day,” where one day out of the month, individuals and kids can come make their own pizza and bread in a calming and relaxing environment, is on the horizon.  
  • Odi’s will introduce family-style dining so a family can share a big plate of pasta or a chef’s feature for Sunday dinner.
  • A build-your-own pasta bar is in the works to debut this fall.

6313 Wooldridge Road #10&11

@odipizzeria | (361) 356-6842