The 7 Good Years: How Fabrica in Rehovot Reinvents Neapolitan Pizza
Oron Amar prepares authentic and meticulous Neapolitan pizza at Fabrica according to all the rules, long before it conquered the Israeli palate. 7 years on the main street of Rehovot, and he is still moving forward, refining the dough and its toppings to perfection, offering a one-of-a-kind tasting menu in the country and turning this small place into a magnificent one-man institution.
The missile fragments that hit Rehovot last March did not land on the central Herzl Street, but with the light rail infrastructure works here, the area definitely looks like it is after an attack. The road to the pedestrian mall that is destined to pass here when everything is finished may be paved with good intentions, but at the moment it is a sanitary and traffic hazard that makes the many businesses in the area prisoners. Shops, cafes, bars, and restaurants that just want to make a living and work lack the infrastructure, space, and real possibility to provide those who come to them with an atmosphere that is less chaotic. It is undoubtedly a frustrating trap.
Inside this celebrating mess, also at Fabrica, an urban pizza institution, they are trying to continue and operate as if everything is fine. I arrived here to celebrate 7 years of activity for a place that serves real Neapolitan pizza, according to all the meticulous rules, since 2019, long before it became common knowledge. Oron Amar, the owner and pizzaiolo, was a relative pioneer, and was very careful about the right raw materials, as complicated as it was to obtain them at the time, alongside places like the wonderful Pizza Fresca that did it even earlier. Then came the big wave of thin pizzas in the Neapolitan style that became the rulers of the field in the country.
The space of Fabrica is tiny. Most of it is taken up by a huge and impressive oven that made its way here from Italy. Next to it is a small open kitchen where two employees and Amar crowd and prepare all the dishes at a pace. Therefore, the seating places here are mostly outside. On normal days it might be pleasant and comfortable, but in the peak of the Israeli summer and in combination with barriers and construction fences, it is hard to be charmed. We sat at a table where all that separates it from more than 30 degrees of heat is a fan trying to give a fight, and we started ordering. Unlike the weather, the service here is beyond pleasant and friendly. They really do everything here to try to skip over all the mines around. Sometimes it succeeds and even when it doesn't, one must give credit to the team for the effort.
Perfecting the Dough
The pizza here was marked as a promise from the first day. Since then, Amar has worked systematically to perfect his performance more and more. Recently he also fulfilled a fantasy of years and decided to serve at Fabrica a full tasting meal of 7 dishes based on pizzas and his personal interpretations of complex Italian doughs, which are not always familiar to the Israeli audience.
The menu of Fabrica includes some appetizers like salads and vegetable dishes alongside variations on pizza dough, a variety of classic pizzas, and a section of more innovative pizzas, unique to the place, for those who are looking for something completely different in their pizza. We started the evening with a classic appetizer of Caprese salad and one of roasted corn with pecorino cheese cream, Taleggio cheese, and chili. The Caprese, which included beautiful tomato varieties that painted the work counter in the place in spectacular red, was basic and excellent. All that is needed in such a salad is a combination of good mozzarella, quality tomatoes (and no less important, that they be at the right temperature and not from the refrigerator), successful balsamic, and olive oil that takes itself seriously. Everyone was here.
The corn dish was a bit more complex but stuttered. The fresh and sweet corn was successful, the cheese sauce next to it was very intense, and together they tried to balance each other with a kick of spiciness from the chili. It is nice, although it aspires a bit higher than the final taste, which does not manage to be completely harmonious. An impressive and beautiful dish, but not one of the dishes that run out first at the table.
The appetizers had an invested look, but the pizzas that followed them are really the reason why it is worth coming to Rehovot especially, standing in the impossible traffic jams, sitting in the heat outside, and feeling at times like at a construction site. Fabrica's pizzas are that good. Even those who supposedly think that the peak time of Neapolitan pizzas in Israel has passed (now a wave of New York pizzas is taking over the industry), cannot deny the authentic attraction of an Italian pizza that is done well. Fabrica's dough has been perfected over the years to a masterpiece. It is especially juicy, full of flavors, no bite in it is meaningless. It carries the toppings well, which, unlike many other Neapolitan pizzas in the country, are served here with immense generosity.
Competing for the title of the best pizza we tried here were the classic Margherita, a case study for the quality of any pizzeria wherever it is, and the Puttanesca pizza, which received reinforcement from Ortiz anchovies and Kalamata olives. Both were fantastic, the choice between them depends solely on personal preferences. The Margherita is modest but royal, boasting a balanced and spot-on San Marzano tomato sauce, alongside quality mozzarella. Every bite in the combination between the two proved for the millionth time why they are so good together. Opposite the heavenly pairing stood the salty-umami-excellent sting of the quality anchovies and Kalamata olives. There was no one winner because there is no absolute truth here. Both are pizzas that justify going to a restaurant.
The Iconic Pizza
Alongside the familiar, minimalist, and so good pizzas that there is nothing to innovate in them, there are some pizzas here that are different in the landscape, which have become identified over the years only with Fabrica. The iconic pizza here brings to expression not only Amar as a pizzaiolo, but also the history of the city where he chose to found the business and also his personal background with the Yemenite kitchen. This is a greenish pizza called Kerem HaTeimanim, and it is a combination between Italy and the flavors of Yemen, between mozzarella and aromatic samneh, with pecorino, cream of the past, and a sauce of cilantro and chopped shallots. A bite that at first glance seems devoid of any logic, but it is impossible to resist the surprise it brings with it, and the fact that it is not only surprising, but also tasty. After chewing a mouthful of pizza dough with the scent of kubaneh, it feels strange that they didn't think of this combination before. After all, the Yemenite kitchen and invested doughs go hand in hand, so why not pizza dough actually?
Between the pizzas, we were also kindly served a taste of the special dishes that can be eaten here as part of the new tasting meal. We tasted Fiori di Zucchini, a pizza triangle in the Montanara technique, which actually combines frying the dough with light baking, twice. This is a triangle served with a fried egg and zucchini flowers, when the juicy dough changes its texture to be crispier and the combination with the liquid yolk and the cheeses turns everything into a very excessive experience. Another taste was of a relatively thin crispy dough that combines frying with steaming several times, and on it aioli, pickled tuna, and pickled peppers. An intriguing and more refined bite than the previous one, with a crispy and interesting dough.
We finished with two desserts: a Vietnamese chocolate mousse with a creamy and rich texture and in combination with light whipped cream and salted caramel sauce, which was not necessary when everything around is so good. This is an elegant dark chocolate mousse that met an especially high bar, and would not shame any chef restaurant. There was also panna cotta with a little berry sauce and again that same salted caramel, which also here took over the refined panna cotta, which was in a precise texture and in moderate and correct sweetness. It would be better for both desserts, that they stand more on their own, without the unnecessary trendy addition of the salted caramel.
Fabrica enjoys the built-in advantage of satisfying the human craving in the basic and tasty form of an excellent Margherita pizza. Amar could have settled for specializing in a fantastic pizza and nothing more, but he did not stop there. Despite Corona, wars, ups and downs, Fabrica has become over the years a mini-institution of traditional Italian food, with a local Israeli twist. This is a place that is a one-man show full of confidence, in a restaurant, in a concept that does not suit everyone and in his city. Today you can still find here some of the best Neapolitan pizzas in the country, and next to them improvements like the unique meal that brings to another level the acquaintance with pizza dough, meticulous appetizers, and excellent desserts. This is no longer just a pizzeria that you come to in order to eat a good Neapolitan and that's it. This is a restaurant that challenges itself and runs for long distances. If within a few years this place offers such successful food, it is intriguing to see what other wonderful things can be seen here 7 years ahead. Hopefully, by then, the renewed and renovated pedestrian mall will also match the level of the kitchen.
