With my two sons back for the holidays, we explored a new restaurant. My older son is not quite a foodie, but his interest in experiencing different places has grown. Bufalina Due was on my radar a while ago, but we never went there until last week. It’s an intimate restaurant specializing in Neapolitan Pizzas.

As I explained yesterday, I’m in test mode with my newest camera, the Leica D-Lux 8, and this outing was the perfect place to experiment. The point-and-shoot is small enough to take pictures in a place like this without attracting attention. It has adequate in-lens stabilization and a fast f1.7 to f2.8 lens, which allows me to shoot in these dark conditions.

The restaurant is not much larger than you see here, shooting this from the front, near the entrance.

The outside facade is small and straightforward. Because the camera was not in field focus mode, it focused on the cars, so the sign is slightly soft. I shot all photos at 1/8 second, usually my default for low-light conditions. All pictures were sharp without camera shake.

Bufalina Due was packed, and we waited 10 minutes to get a table. It had noticeably cleared as we left, and I captured the first picture.

The wine menu was as extensive as the simple food menu, which consisted of several varieties of pizza, two pasta dishes, and appetizers.

The impressive pizza oven was located dead center at the back.

We ordered three pizzas, margherita, pepperoni, and vodka arrabbiata — all were 12″ pies. All were fantastic and well-executed. The Neopolitan Pizzas were not quite at the level of Pink Mamma in Paris, but more than close enough for a local Austin joint.

Bufalina Due’s crust was doughy and crispy, while Pink Mamma’s added more airiness.

With a cropped Micro 4/3 sensor, you’re not going to get a very shallow depth of field. This is what it looks like at f2. The large apertures work well for low-light photography but not for throwing the background out of focus.

I only changed the white balance on the pizza oven shot. I added slight curves and exposure changes with minimal post-processing. I also added a bit more saturation to the pizza. I’m happy with the D-Lux 8 colors. They seem to require fewer adjustments than my Sony cameras.

The Leica D-Lux 8 is a low-key camera that worked well on my first restaurant outing. More to come.

As for the restaurant, everyone gave it two thumbs up. I suspect we will be going again. Highly recommended. Here is their website.

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