Es P'Dal

Artisan pizza and local wine. Perfect pairing

With a happy and convinced stomach, we can say that we have just tasted one of the best pizzas we have eaten in a long time.

Author: Aina Coll

Photographer: Travel To Zero

Pizza has the gift of bringing us together. Who doesn't fancy one after a seemingly neverending day at work, after a Sunday on the couch after a good party or on a –at last – Friday, with the only excuse of meeting together around the table of our favorite restaurant? How Pizza does it – that thing of drawing a smile on our faces and suddenly becoming a great plan – is more difficult to explain. Maybe it's the power of the dough or maybe it's the tasty combination of ingredients that stimulates the feeling of pleasure. Pure dopamine. Who knows.

What we do know for sure now is that at Es P'DAL, in Binissalem, they know how to execute that skill masterfully. We discovered it one day in October, encouraged by multiple recommendations – everyone who tries a pizza here recommends it – and a Mallorcan stone façade flanked by two wine barrels welcomes us. Today the terrace at number 8 Passeig des Born is not set up - perhaps because it has been raining - but we go inside to get a table and see for ourselves how much truth there is in the compliments the pizzas that are cooked here receive.

The high ceilings, the exposed stone arches and a decoration with a certain industrial air but warm and welcoming welcomes us. The bar, long and made of wood, extends on one side and is presided over by a very large number 23 that proudly announces the anniversary of this restaurant that for a long time was an essential alternative music pub in the afternoons and evenings of the Raiguer. We take a seat and get ready to enjoy.

We come for pizza and pizza we will eat, but we browse through a much longer and more complete menu than we had imagined: salads, pa amb olis, hamburgers, croquettes and suggestions of the day coexist with pizzas for all tastes -many of them vegetarian, such as Solidària, Dolça or Tardor, by the way- in which seasonal produce and a powerful local flavor prevail.

After scrutinizing the offer – reading carefully and deciding takes time because temptation overflows the menu – we finally let the waiter recommend something to us. We are told that the Pizza Lombardia is the one that always provokes the most interest and that there are many who come here to try this special preparation. We've been curious, so let's set off to Lombardy without thinking about it.

We had a cold beer in mind to drink, but knowing the selection of wines in the restaurant and that, of course, we are in one of the wine villages par excellence of the island, we asked for advice. The answer comes to our table served by the glass and it is also, of course, local: a red Supernova from the Ca'n Verdura winery  becomes the perfect pairing for a pizza that does not take long to come to our table.

The pizza lombardia has burrata, bresaola, pesto, jam, olives and arugula on an artisanal dough and surprisingly dark by xeixa flour, a wheat native to Mallorca that in recent times seems to be regaining the prominence it had lost in Mallorcan gastronomy. The combination of the sweetness of the jam and the bresaola is pure magic, and the contrast that the pizza interprets with the soft and enveloping flavor of the Mantonegro of Ca'n Verdura round off the success. With a happy and convinced stomach, we can say that we have just tasted one of the best pizzas we have eaten in a long time.

Before saying goodbye, we chatted for a while with Ramón, one of the restaurant's partners, who explained the long history of Es P'Dal. Once a cocktail pub and beer garden – the imprint persists on a shelf full of records and in the music of the Strokes and the Beatles that has been played during dinner – and now an authentic pizzeria with a strong local identity, Es P'Dal has won us over and we celebrate its long life with a tote bag that Ramon gives us on the occasion of the anniversary of the place.

The cloth bag reads: "Espai on poder gaudir d'una copa de vi. Antic pub de música alternativa. Lloc on compartir bon menjar. Aturada obligado per Sa Vermada" (English translation: A space to enjoy a glass of wine. Former alternative music pub. A place to share a good meal. Must visit during the Sa Vermada (town fair). Direct and accurate, we can't think of a more accurate description for a place that we include in our particular must of pizzerias on the island and to which we will return, for sure, before the popular festival that pays tribute to the town's winemaking tradition is celebrated. We can't wait for September.