When Silvio Medoro first thought about opening a restaurant, he tested his recipes out on friends from his rock climbing and ESL classes.  He wasn’t sure whether the techniques he learned at his family’s bakery in Italy would translate to the American palate.  He needn’t have worried; five years hence, Silvio’s is still going strong, and has expanded.

Silvio’s isn’t your typical pizza joint.  First, there’s the display case packed with huge darkly-crusted loaves of bread, puff pastries, and cannoli.  Then there’s the rack of grow lights and basil-stuffed hydroponic pots. In fact, a lot of things here aren’t as you might expect: the pizzas are thin-crusted and delightfully crunchy, the calzones are deep-fried and gorgeous, a lot of the pasta is hand-made in-house using traditional methods, the sandwiches are esconced in house baked bread, and many ingredients are organic and locally grown. A closer inspection of the basil reveals that it’s not just for looks; Silvio’s actually harvests basil from their wall garden (now that’s local!).

If you knew Silvio’s before their February expansion, you may not have even noticed that they had pasta, or sandwiches.  Pizza was definitely the focus.  But the menu has also expanded, and they’ve added seasonal dishes.  You can even buy loaves of their potato bread, Pugliese, Ciabatta, and French baguettes.  Remember, this guy was raised as a baker.

Appetizers
Among the appetizers – yes, there are appetizers now – we were particularly taken with the Fried & Stuffed Olives.  They’re stuffed with beef and chicken, dipped in a crunchy crumb coating, and deep fried, making for a great treat.  The Mixed Platter includes those olives, a variety of antipasti, and some addictive little fried perch filets: the perfect thing to tempt a large group while the rest of the meal is prepared.

Pasta
Ah, the pasta!  The hand-made gnocchi were the group’s leading favorite. Firm without being heavy, these light pillows of potato are dressed in a butter and sage sauce and topped with parmesan.  If you think of gnocchi as sticky potato lumps, these will reform them in your mind.

The homemade egg noodles for the Fettuccine all’uovo con ragu’ are actually hand-made on a chitarra, a wooden frame strung with wire which originates in Silvio’s home region of Abruzzo (you press a flat sheet of dough down onto the wire, and create the noodles). We’d heard of these, but had never seen one until he brought it out for us to look at. The texture is different, and helps the sauce adhere to the pasta really well.

Calzones
Silvio’s calzones are deep-fried, which confuses some customers, but is apparently pretty standard in Italy.  If this leads you to believe that they’ll be greasy and heavy, you really need to try one.  The dough is deceptively light and stretchy, kind of like “elephant ears” but not sweet.  They were popular with our group, with several varied fillings.

Pizzas
Silvio’s pizza crusts, made with organic flour, are real Italian style — hearty but not doughy, thin with some big bubbles around the edges.  They’re more “well-done” than the American standard, with crispy edges and bottoms.  Toppings are mostly organic, and include some surprising items.

Seafood Pizza comes with tomato sauce, mozzarella, tuna, capers, shrimp, clams, crab legs and garlic. The Fantasy Pizza, with ham, fresh tomatoes, artichokes and asparagus, is topped with a generous layer of swiss and mozzarella. And the Truffle pizza, with its smoked mozzarella, shiitake mushrooms, and truffle oil, is fabulous.

One of the most unusual options is Arugula pizza, which is like a “salad pizza.” An olive-oil brushed crust is baked first, then peppery-bitter fresh arugula, fresh tomato slices, garlic, thick gratings of salty-delicious Romano cheese and a touch of prosciutto are heaped on top. It’s an utterly delicious combination. Comfortably stuffed at the end of our feast, as a large arugula pizza was served to the table next to us, one of our group said, “I’m hungry again.”

Desserts
The tiramisu is lovely, very light and not over-sweet.  Our favorite dessert is a tossup between the Nutella and Banana calzone and the Sweet Dream dessert pizza with Nutella and Custard tucked beneath a confectioner’s sugar-dusted crust.  Both of those are made to order, unlike the puff pastry options, and both can be shared.

Silvio’s uses organic and local ingredients whenever possible. Meat-eaters and vegetarians will find plenty to like, and even vegans and people on gluten free diets have lots of choices.  One note:  since everything’s made to order, it does take time.  (If you’re in a hurry, they also sell pizza by the slice.)

Lisa and Joe have been blogging about food in the Ann Arbor area (and points beyond) since 2004.  Check them out at www.kitchenchick.com.