Living in Texas can make finding great pizza a struggle; the east coast has spoiled me with easy access to delicious pizza, but now I have found Bufalina — an authentic Italian style pizza restaurant which mimics a typical place you would eat at in Italy. Bufalina features both red and white pizzas unlike anything else in Austin right now. Bufalina opens for dinner at 5:30P.M. every day and there is usually already a line. If you get there around six then you will usually have to wait around an hour and a half, but it’s totally worth it. Located on 1519 E Cesar Chavez St, it is just an easy drive downtown.

Once you enter the cramped space the smell of fresh pizza fills your nostrils. The first thing you notice is the giant ceramic pizza oven tucked away in the back of the room. The owner and chef of Bufalina brought the oven back with him from Italy after spending years studying the art of crafting authentic pizza. You take your seat at a candlelit table very close to your fellow diners further enhancing your experience of eating in an authentic Italian restaurant. There is a choice of many typical appetizers but the one that really stands out is “today’s mozzarella.” It is hand crafted daily and served with only an olive oil drizzle and a few leaves of basil. As soon as I saw it I knew that it was the real deal: true Italian mozzarella with layers of cheese that just melt in your mouth.

The pizza menu has daily changes depending on the ingredients they have that day but recurring favorites include margherita and talegio, a white pizza with sausage, mozzarella and scallion. The red pizzas have a sweet tomato sauce paired with the melted mozzarella and choices of roasted peppers, mushroom, caramelized onion and arugula, just to name a few. Picking a favorite is too challenging — they are all so amazing. A whole pizza can effortlessly be finished by a single person and it is easy on your wallet, only costing around $15.

End your night with a fresh gelato of varying flavors. Make the trip downtown to experience the best Italian pizza in Austin; I have already been back twice. You will not regret it.