If you're big into the nightlife scene, you already know that he V Lounge has an addicting menu of 12-inch, kiawe wood-fired authentic Neapolitan-style pizzas. I didn't know it. Why? Because they were previously only available in the bar from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. nightly!

Wassap wit dat!

Well, now the coveted pizza is available from 5 p.m. every night except Sundays so that people like me can enjoy it, too. I went to a pizza tasting last night so that I could see what the younger half of the population was eating!

Alejando "Aker" Briceno, the man with the mojo behind the pizza, was born in South America, graduated from culinary school in Spain and lived in Italy for a bit before moving to the United States. He worked as a pastry chef with Nobu and helped open the San Diego and Mexico restaurants before leaving the Waikiki location for the V Lounge.

I couldn't get a good shot of the traditional wood-burning stone oven, but trust me, it's the real deal. I didn't know anything about the pizza crust when I bit into it, but I could tell immediately it was different. There's a delicious chewiness to it (not tough), and a unique taste due to the kiawe wood flavor infusing into the dough as it bakes. I was told that it's not just the oven, but the special "double o" high-protein flour that Briceno uses as well.

The way to measure pizza quality across the board is to order the margherita style ($12) so you can taste the purity of the dough, tomato sauce, hand-pulled mozzarella and basil. Briceno's margherita pizza is pretty darn pure, all right.

I fell in love with the Prima pizza ($14), which features Pancetta di San Daniele, locally grown sweet onions, Hamakua Ali'i oyster mushrooms, thyme, parsley, homemade hand-pulled mozzarella, and...get this: they crack an egg over the top and drizzle it with truffle oil. The contrast of fresh and tangy flavors combined with the mellow and rich ingredients marry perfectly in your mouth. It's midnight and I want another piece, now that I'm fantasizing about it again.

Kaimana Pine, shown here, works with Ma'o Organic Farms in Waianae and explained that the V Lounge tries to use local products whenever possible. They do have other items on the menu and can create party plates for special events, which is where they can really showcase Ma'o Farms' produce. In fact, I had one of the most awesome salads last night, courtesy of Ma'o Farms, but I couldn't get a good shot to share with you!

Anyway, I hope you get a chance to try the pizza at the V Lounge, now that it's available at a decent hour. Please note that they're only making a finite number of pizzas per night, so if they run out of pizza by six, that's it--when it's gone, it's gone.

V Lounge
1344 Kona St.
Honolulu, HI 96814
808-955-2640

www.vloungehawaii.com

Tags: Alejando Briceno, Kaimana Pine, Mao Organic farms, pizza, V Lounge

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