Pecora Negra

Pecora Negra is Mauro Colagreco's pizzeria — the third arm of his Menton constellation, opened on Quai Gordon Bennett directly above the harbour, and the most casual of his Menton properties. The format is Neapolitan-style wood-fired pizza, antipasti, salads, and a short cocktail bar, all priced for a midweek dinner that the working population of Menton can actually afford.

The pizza programme is taken seriously. Sourdough is fermented over forty-eight hours; the wood-fired oven runs at four hundred and sixty degrees Celsius; the toppings come from the same supplier list that Mirazur uses (Italian buffalo mozzarella, San Marzano tomatoes, Iberico ham, Menton lemons). The Pecora Negra house pizza — black olive, anchovy, capers, lemon zest — is the order. The antipasti programme is unusually serious for a pizzeria of this register.

The room — sixty seats inside, sixty more on the harbourside terrace in summer, the open kitchen and pizza ovens visible from every table — is intentionally lively. The wine list is Italian-leaning with a strong Provençal rosé section; cocktails are well-made; and service is fast and bilingual. On a summer night the terrace is one of the more agreeable cheap dinners on the Riviera.

Pecora Negra exists because Colagreco wanted somewhere in Menton to take his family on a Sunday night without making a project of it. The result is a pizzeria operating at the level a serious chef would want, with the prices a small Riviera town can support. The terrace fills first; the indoor room fills second; the booking is a relatively easy one.

Pecora Negra is a casual first-date dinner with a built-in conversation pace. The harbour terrace at golden hour, two pizzas to share, a half-bottle of Provençal rosé, and the market-side energy that does the social work for you. For a date that doesn't want the formality of Mirazur or the showtime of Casa Fuego, this is the most comfortable third option in the Colagreco family.