Locale Profile: Diversi Ristorante & Pizzeria

On a recent afternoon, my mother-in-law, craving a little time with her grandsons, suggested that my husband, the kids and I meet she and her husband for a pizza at Diversi in Rolfe Square. Always looking for a reason not to cook, I accepted, and we met them on the street corner in front of the restaurant later that evening.

When we walked in the door, we were greeted warmly by several staff members standing in front of the restaurant’s eye-catching pizza oven, mosaiced with brown and white tiles. Last time I went out for pizza, it was at Chuck E. Cheese, so that pizza oven was a welcome sight. The restaurant was doing a brisk business for a Wednesday. Nearly every table was full and the take-out counter was busy. We took a seat on a long bench that lined the window so my littles could watch for fire trucks, and we dug into the menu.

The menu was small, but diverse – a couple of salads, including a tagliere with figs and honey that I’ll try next time, a couple of sandwiches and about eight pizza offerings with the option to build your own from 12 toppings. If you like your pizza complex and weighed down with toppings, this isn’t the place for you. Diversi instead keeps it simple, letting their ingredients speak for themselves. They had offerings like the champignon – mushrooms and basil – and the speck – prosciutto that they sliced right in front of you. They also offered a topping I’ve never seen at a pizza place before – smoked salmon – but one of my kids thinks he’s a mermaid right now, so no sea-dwelling creatures pass his lips these days. I can’t blame him. We went with the champignon and the pepperoni, which had a little American flag printed next to it on the menu.

The owner of Diversi, Giuseppe Tomassini, and much of his staff it seemed, recently arrived from Italy, bringing most of the restaurant’s equipment with them. And as a result, the atmosphere is very Italian. Children are smiled at and enjoyed. Friends of the restaurant gathered in the take-out area to chat, and diners were encouraged to linger over their meals. This is not a place to grab a quick bite.

In fact, at the recent ribbon-cutting, Cranston mayor Allan Fung shared ribbon-cutting responsibilities with the visiting mayor, Secondo Vitali, from the small town of Petritoli, Italy, where the Tomassinis hail from.

The pizzas arrived on large wooden boards and were served with a wooden paddle to smaller wooden boards. Each pizza was topped with crushed tomatoes, just enough cheese and plenty of toppings, including a bright hint of basil that perfectly complemented the champignon’s mushrooms. But the crust – this is where Diversi truly shines. Chewy and crisp with just enough salt: All the grown-ups fought over who got to sit next to my kids and eat their rejected crusts. Someday, they’ll learn.

We finished the pizzas and were offered dessert and suddenly my full children became hungry children again. The restaurant recently opened and several of their menu items aren’t yet available, so the crepe filled with banana and drizzled with caramel was just a tease. Instead, Tomassini came to our table and suggested we have the focaccia alla nutella, on the house. Again, we were served that perfect crust, this time topped with Nutella. We devoured the whole thing. After that perfect suggestion, when he returned and asked us to sample his cappuccino, we knew better than to turn him down. Besides, we needed something to do while I washed the Nutella from my toddler’s hair.

And oh, that cappuccino. The flavor took me right back to sitting in a cafe in Rome with my parents, because that was the last time I tasted a cappuccino so delicious. I asked Tomassini for his secret. “The Italian girl who made it!” he said, laughing.

Sated and washed of Nutella, we headed for the door and were bade goodbye by the same chorus of voices that greeted us. High on sugar and their grandparents’ indulgence, my kids ran off down the street and we chased them, shouting promises to the owner that we’d soon return.