NATTY BY NATURE
Lauded Austin pizzeria heads to San Antonio for natural wine pop-up
Bufalina is known as much for its wine as its Neopolitan pizzas.
If you like toasting with a pét-nat or getting loopy on glou-glou, chances are you’ve made a pilgrimage to Austin’s Bufalina. If not, hail an Uber on November 5. The lauded pizzeria and low-intervention wine pioneer is coming to San Antonio for a one-day pop-up at Little Death.
Bufalina was part of the big bang of Capital City dining that turned the once-sleepy college town into a media darling, breaking out shortly after Top Chef winner Paul Qui opened his first brick-and-mortar and Aaron Franklin made Central Texas barbecue a national obsession. A former New York financial trader, owner Steven Dilley had little hospitality experience before opening his first pizzeria in East Austin. But he soon drew massive lines, especially during South by Southwest.
At the time, Neapolitan pizza was fairly uncommon in Austin, but Dilley didn’t make much of a show. The cramped space barely had room for the Stefano Ferrara oven, and plating was done inches from the guests. And somehow, Bufalina made space for a huge wine selection, tucked wherever they would fit.
The combination of gourmet pies and new-to-Austin wines brought Bufalina national acclaim from Zagat Guide, Condé Nast Traveler, and the New York Times. Dilley himself became a frequent headline. In 2017, Food & Wine tapped him as one of its Sommeliers of the Year.
Bufalina couldn’t have found a better local bedfellow than Little Death. Although San Antonio’s low-intervention revolution lagged behind Austin by a few years, both businesses made an impact by shifting Texas wine culture away from Lucchese boots to Converse All Stars.
San Antonians might want to head over to the St. Mary’s Strip as soon as possible for the sure-to-sell-out service. The pies will start coming out of the oven at 6 pm and the event promises special pours of natural wine. But, characteristically, neither Bufalina nor Little Death is making the pop-up into a big to-do.
“Pizza. Natty wine. Friends. This is the whole plan,” wrote Little Death in its Instagram announcement.
