Earlier this week an article popped up in my Facebook newsfeed that immediately piqued my interest. The article, written by the Boston Globe, was about a new pizza place that opened in Newton Corner run by twin brothers Max and Leo Candidus, who like me, grew up in Newton.
After reading the glowing review, I decided to check it out on Thursday night during my weekly dinner with my best friend from college. A new place, freshly made pizza, in my hometown and run by two handsome brothers? No brainer.
Thursday night my friend and I each got home from work and rushed into my car to head across the bridge to Newton Corner. Max and Leo's is located on Washington Street, right off the Newton/Watertown exit of the Mass Pike. Those of you that eat wings at Buff's Pub, it's just a few doors down. We parked in the lot behind Uno's and walked over.
As we approached Max and Leo's I noticed that you could see the blazing hot pizza oven from the street. Talk about advertising!
The Globe article warned that Max and Leo's was a small place with limited seating so when we opened the door, we were hoping for the best.
Lucky for us there were exactly two seats left for dinner and we snagged them right away.
Max and Leo's coal fired pizza oven and open kitchen occupies the back half of the space.
They have two tables in the front on the right side of the place (one in the window and one against the bar), a bar that seats about six, and then a counter on the opposite side that seats another five. That's where we wound up.
From our seats I noticed they were using pizza spatulas for chalkboards! How cute.
After we sat down Max and Leo's only got more crowded. For only being open two months, the brothers already have quite the following! People were more than willing to wait.
As the line grew, one of the brothers came out with one of their speciality pizzas, the Brooksy (a white pizza with grilled chicken, caramelized onions, wild mushrooms, mascarpone and mozzarella cheese), and offered these patient diners a slice while they waited. How nice is that? Since we hadn't yet seen any menus, my friend grabbed a piece too while we waited.
On this particular night Max and Leo's had one person working front of the house and she wore many hats - hostess, waitress, bartender and bus girl. She was working hard!
She delivered us menus and asked if we'd like something to drink. Since the wine list wasn't on the menu, we asked her what was available (both red and white) and she recited every wine offering with ease. I decided on the Montepulciano and my friend on the Pinot Grigio.
Our wine was delivered quickly and we were both thrilled with our selections.
Wine in hand we looked over the menu. I couldn't help but notice that line at the top of the menu that reads, "All our pizzas are cooked well done."
Reporter Sheryl Julian covered this in the Boston Globe article saying:
"You have to decide if this pizza is for you. The top of the menu reads: 'All Our Pizzas are cooked WELL DONE.' By that, identical twins Maximilian 'Max' Candidus and Pantaleon 'Leo' Candidus really mean blistered, with plenty of charred spots. The crust is thin and so incredibly crisp you can almost hear a crackle when you bite into it. If pizza can be described as exquisite, this is exquisite pizza."
Sheryl's review recommended the arugula salad to start, so we decided to trust her and give it a whirl.
When the salad arrived both of our eyes got wide. It looked so fresh, came in a huge portion and we couldn't wait to dig in.
The salad was a heaping portion of arugula, mixed with shaved parmesan cheese, roasted corn and a lemon dressing. You don't usually see corn on this type of salad and it was a nice, welcomed touch of sweetness.
For dinner we decided to sample two of the pizzas. Our first choice was the margarita and our second was the L'Umina which is a white pizza with sliced pears, caramelized onions, basil, ricotta cheese and prosciutto. Since I am a vegetarian, I asked the waitress if it would be possible to get the pizza with the prosciutto on just half (why should my friend have to suffer?). With zero hesitation she said, "Yes, of course! Absolutely no problem at all." Excellent!
While we were waiting for our pizza one of the people waiting in line to be seated noticed me taking pictures and we got to talking and he said he'd already been to Max and Leo's three times! He started telling us about all of the pizzas he had tried already and why he loved each one. He also sang the praises of the chicken wings, saying they make two delicious varieties and the wings taste extra hot right out of the coal oven. It seems Max and Leo have no problem converting people to their coal oven religion!
Our pizzas arrived and we were completely overwhelmed by how outstanding they looked and smelled!
We both started with a slice of the L'Umina pizza. The ricotta cheese was so fresh and creamy and the combination of the pears and caramelized onions gave the pie a sweetness that was heavenly. Not going to lie to you, one of the best slices of pizza I've ever had.
We were so in love with the L'Umina we didn't want to cheat on it with the margarita! We thought there was simply no way this other pie could taste as good, but . . . we were wrong! The margarita had a fresh tomato sauce that honestly tasted like they pureed the tomatoes, put them on the pizza and delivered it right to us all within one minute. I couldn't get over how fresh the sauce was! That bold tomato flavor was fantastic.
The sauce paired with the creamy mozzarella cheese and the chopped basil was out of this world.
Clearly we had big eyes. Half way through each of our pies we had to tap out.
We actually had a full five minute conversation about whether we should risk that overly full feeling to keep going because we didn't want to leave any behind!
We asked the waitress if we could have two boxes so we could divide up our riches. We each went home with four slices and I was already plotting how soon I could eat them.
Max and Leo's is a true gem. First, I love that these two Newton boys opened a shop in their (and my) hometown. Giving back to your own community is the greatest thing a business owner can do and these two really raised the bar. Second, their food is exceptional. From the wine list, to the beautiful salads to the insanely delicious coal fired pizza, the twins have found the secret sauce (pun intended).
Support the twins by following Max and Leo's on Facebook and Twitter and do yourself a favor and go and experience the food yourself. Max and Leo's is located at 325 Washington Street in Newton Corner.
