Varasano's Pizzeria

After getting my serious pizza fix on yesterday at Antico Pizza Napoletana, it seemed only right to revisit Varasano’s Pizzeria — the restaurant that, when it opened eight months ago, set off a new dialogue in this city.

Hype collides with reality, and Varasano's Pizzeria serves piatti mediocri. There are pies worth the $10 to $15 you'll spend -- the "nucci" is a prettily charred-and-blistered combination of Emmental cheese with olives, arugula, capicola and herbs, and tangy Swiss cheese makes another appearance on a not-too-sweet pizza with caramelized onions. But often the pizzas are soggy and laden -- and worse, inconsistent. A "New Haven clam" pie touts clams, mussels, lots of garlic and either a white or red sauce, at one offering limp and lifeless and at another much more appropriately crisped.