Pico, pizza your way

By Flavia Tomaello, https://flaviatomaello.blog/, Instagram @flavia.tomaello

Naples gave the world pizza as we know it, a disk of fermented dough, baked over high heat, with tomato, mozzarella and a few drops of olive oil like any ceremony. That recipe traveled the planet and was transformed into a thousand different versions, but in its purest form it continues to respond to the same logic, a pizza, a diner, a choice. The problem is that choosing is often the most difficult part of the experience. Anyone who has sat in front of an endless menu, hesitating between the usual margherita and that new combination that sounds tempting, knows what it’s like to stare at the menu without being able to decide.

From that universal frustration, an idea was born in Copenhagen that ended up changing the way people eat pizza in the city. In 2019, the first Pico location opened its doors, on Skyttegade street, in the heart of the Nørrebro neighborhood, with a simple premise: stop forcing diners to choose a single pizza and instead offer them the possibility of trying several at the same time. The name of the project is, in itself, a statement of identity, Pico arises from uniting Pizza and Copenhagen, a way of making it clear that it is a proposal designed from and for the city.

The central idea of ​​Pico is as simple as it is effective, instead of serving a large pizza, the house proposes small sourdough pizzas, just the right size to share or to combine among several on the same table. The signature dish is the Pico Trío, a selection of three different mini pizzas that solves, in one fell swoop, the dilemma of having to decide on just one option. The menu combines undisputed classics, such as the Margherita and the Capricciosa, with much more daring combinations, inspired by other dishes of international street cuisine, such as a version of Sloppy Joe or a reinterpretation of the Vietnamese Bánh Mì brought to the Neapolitan pizza format. To accompany it, the house proposes dipping the crust in homemade sauces designed especially for that, the so-called crust dips, a custom that has become a hallmark of the place.

Neapolitan by origin, Danish by spirit

What started as a single restaurant grew quickly. Today Pico has six stores distributed throughout different neighborhoods of Copenhagen, Nørrebro, Vesterbro, Nordvest, Valby, Amager and Brønshøj, and in all of them the same philosophy that defined the project from day one is maintained: good raw materials, a carefully thought-out craft and an informal atmosphere that invites you to stay. The brand itself summarizes that spirit with a phrase that works almost as a letter of introduction, «we have all been there, staring at an endless menu without being able to decide. We got tired of it. So we did something about it.»

The gastronomic proposal does not end with pizza. Pico also offers vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options, designed so that no one is left out of the experience, and the drinks menu accompanies that same carefree spirit, with a selection of natural wines, cocktails and beers from the renowned Danish brewery To Øl. The result is a proposal designed both for a quick meal with friends and for a longer dinner in a group, with an atmosphere that in all the establishments remains relaxed and unpretentious, although the technique behind each pizza is, deep down, much more serious than the informal atmosphere lets on.

That combination of quality and spontaneity is probably the key to Pico’s growth in recent years. The house not only multiplied its number of stores within Copenhagen, but also added services designed to adapt to different forms of consumption, from take away to catering proposals and special menus for groups and celebrations, including its own application that allows you to order takeout and accumulate benefits on each purchase. Recognition from local critics was not long in coming either, one of its establishments, Vesterbro, was included in this year’s Falstaff guide to restaurants and bistros in the city, an important boost in a gastronomic scene as demanding as the Danish one.

Pico’s expansion also shaped its relationship with the neighborhood. Each of the six establishments retains its own identity, linked to the area where it operates, but they all share the same open kitchen, the same tableware designed to be shared in the center of the table and the same vocation of receiving both a single diner and a large group that comes to celebrate something. This versatility made Pico as valid an option for a quick weekday lunch as it was for a birthday celebration with several tables joined together, something unusual in a pizzeria designed, in principle, for the individual format.

The commitment to inclusion is also part of the house’s DNA. In addition to the vegetarian and vegan options, Pico developed a gluten-free sourdough designed so that celiac diners can join in the same experience of sharing mini pizzas without sacrificing flavor or texture, a development that the house itself highlights as one of the strong points of its menu. That combination of classic recipes, unexpected versions and alternatives for all types of diets is, ultimately, what allowed Pico to establish itself as more than just a neighborhood pizzeria.

Behind the informality of its establishments there is, in short, a fairly clear underlying idea, that of discussing the traditional format of pizza without resigning either the quality of the sourdough or the rigor of the pizza craft. Pico took something as classic as a Neapolitan pizza and reformulated it in miniature, designed to share, to try several times, so as not to have to choose between tradition and the desire to experiment. That small gesture, that of reducing the size of the plate to enlarge the possibilities of the table, ended up becoming one of the most recognizable gastronomic postcards of today’s Copenhagen, that of a plate that, although it may seem small, leaves absolutely nothing out.

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