Pioneering Pizzas

Pizza is popping up in all kinds of unexpected places and in nontraditional forms.

These days, it seems everyone wants a piece of the pie: Fresh pizza is not only rolling into non-pizzerias coast to coast (think quick-serve sandwich shops and grocery stores), it’s also taking on fresh toppers and sauces as part of a Renaissance in specialty pizza.

“At the end of the day, pizza is a food that everybody understands. It’s part of the American diet. It’s fun. And that’s why there’s interest in inventing and reinventing pizza,” says Scott Cohen, executive chef at two San Antonio, Texas, restaurants, Las Canarias at Omni La Mansion del Rio Hotel and Pesca on the River at the Watermark Hotel.

Quick-serve restaurants like Subway, Dunkin’ Donuts, Cosi, and Panera have launched or are testing pizzas—some are traditional while others are fancy or ethnic. Meanwhile, pizza chains are rolling out new dessert and specialty pizzas and installing high-speed ovens to compete more effectively with drive-thrus. “There are so many outlets selling fresh pizza, it’s becoming omnipresent,” says food expert Joyce Weinberg, president of New York Food Tours and Events.

Several trends have intersected to create this perfect little storm for the beloved pizza pie. For one, it’s an ideal artisan-style food, as well as a perfect host for trendy organic and local foods, from corn to eggplant. And for the health-conscious, as with sandwiches, diners can get protein, veggies, dairy, grains, and carbs all in one. And pizza works for a variety of diners—especially the pickiest of eaters, the kids, which is a big part of some chains’ decision to add it to menus. It’s economical, and it can be easily made with existing equipment and ingredients, in many cases. Pizza can dress up very easily with high-end meats, veggies, fruits, cheeses, and herbed crusts. And it can be topped in ways that work for people on special diets, like vegetarians.

“Americans crave carbs and as you know, we crave convenience above all else,” Weinburg says. “Pizza can be eaten sitting or standing up and even while walking (as every New Yorker knows.) Moms like to serve their families pizza because, unlike most sandwiches, it’s hot, so moms feel like they’re serving their family a relatively healthy square meal if they put a specialty pizza on the table. Most men and kids will eat cooked veggies on a pizza—not so if they’re on a plate by themselves.”

Weinburg—who gives restaurant and pizzeria tours in pizza-loving New York City—first noticed the specialty pizza resurgence about three years ago in The Big Apple, and now it’s full steam ahead. There’s even a Connecticut caterer who only does pizza, driving his Big Green Truck to parties and making pizzas on the spot in a wood-fired oven.

Part of what’s driving the specialty-pizza trend is the resurgence of artisan or handmade foods throughout the U.S., something that, applied to pizza, Weinburg calls pizza rustica, an industry in itself. “People are discovering that the old way of doing things—using premium fresh ingredients, hand tossing dough, using a real wood-fired or coal-fired oven—produces a warm, deliciously scented restaurant and the best pizza product,” she says.

New pizzerias, which are easier to open and require less staffing than fuller-menu restaurants, are cropping up everywhere in a town that’s already pizza-saturated, she says. Such New York restaurants as Pinch on Park Avenue sell pizza by the inch. Others sell by the pound (versus the slice or pie), following in the Italian tradition of pizza by the meter, a practice that delivers more rectangular or square (taglio) than triangular slices.

Others, like L’asso, are making thin-crust pizzas the Old World way, to strict Italian standards. Some of the traditional-style specialty pizzerias rely on simple traditions from Naples, Italy, “wonderful extra-virgin olive oil, using great flour specifically for pizza dough, using Santa Marzano tomato sauce, fresh basil, fresh pesto, and, of course, fresh mozzarella cheese,

preferably real buffalo mozzarella, made from the milk of water buffalos from Italy,” Weinburg says. Sullivan Street Bakery in Manhattan sells traditional Roman-style pizza: handmade dough covered with olive oil and fresh mushrooms, leeks or zucchini—and no cheese.

White pizzas—where pesto, butter, garlic and other sauces replace tomato sauce—are also becoming more prevalent. The use of non-tomato sauces frees up pizza’s taste range immensely. There’s teriyaki with smoked salmon and capers, garlic sauce and shrimp, barbecue sauce and chicken, and on and on.

Most men and kids will eat cooked veggies on a pizza.”

Toppings are becoming more creative, and pizzas are going ethnic and regional. “People want to try to put everything they can consume on a pizza,” Weinburg says. “One of the most important trends is using fresh, locally grown ingredients on pizzas. From local corn and eggplant to locally caught oysters and shrimp, this is what makes a pizza local, makes it belong to a region or town.”

Good bacon is reemerging as a popular topping, and Weinburg’s seeing grilled pizzas (charmarks and all) cropping up, too

Cohen, the Texas chef, makes a popular Pizza La Dier, featured in his upcoming Texas Hill Country Cookbook, that’s emblematic of one aspect of the pizza resurgence. With caramelized onions and Nicoise olives over leftover dough, usually from croissants, it’s rustic, specialized, and high end.

“Pizza’s just one of those things people like experimenting with,” Cohen says. “You can make it with whatever’s left over. Take steak and you’ve got Philly cheese-steak pizza. I’ve put foie gras on pizza, and rhubarb marmalade with a little shaved Mimolette-style cheese and duck confit. I can think of a million different things to make just out of leftovers.”

Cohen recently visited Argentina, and he’s predicting that we’ll soon be seeing pizzas that, for sauce, use that country’s beloved chimichurri sauce (a pesto-like marinade of parsley, garlic, paprika, and oregano) topped with asada (grilled beef), chorizo, or blood sausage.
Quick-serves are rushing into the pizza business because it’s a big, sure-fire market. People of all ages love pizza and most can afford it, even if it’s premium–price, Weinburg says. Plus, pizza doesn’t require fancy techniques or large kitchens.

“It’s obvious why bread and sandwich chains are getting into the specialty pizza biz; they want to use their existing revenue base, i.e. bread, and expand their product offerings to existing customers and attract new customers,” Weinburg says. “Dough is cheap and versatile. Money is made by putting specialty and premium ingredients on the dough.”

The specialty pizza craze really started in the early 1980s and is credited to California Pizza Kitchen, which is now No. 6 among pizza companies, with $25 million in gross sales in 2005. The company’s bestseller—then and now—is barbecued chicken pizza. “They proved that we’ll like anything delicious stuck on top of a freshly baked pizza dough,” Weinburg says. California Pizza Kitchen, however, has an eat-in concept, with takeout comprising only about 15 percent of business and delivery only 3 percent.

“It’s a ripe opportunity for other quick-service chains,” Weinburg says.
Panera launched its Crispani line of pizzas in August 2006, offering seven varieties of fresh-dough pizza cooked in the chains’ stone-deck ovens. The high-end pizzas are made with organic tomato sauce and include such standards as pepperoni and three cheese, along with barbecue chicken, sausage, roasted red and yellow peppers, and crimini and Shiitake mushrooms. The pizzas are large enough to share, and diners can add soup and salad to the side, “which makes for a good dinner meal,” says Andrew Carlson, spokesman for the Richmond Heights, Missouri, company.

Like other sandwich shops that have entered the pizza game, Panera already had ingredients and appropriate ovens on hand, and felt the pizza option went well with its other menu items. “For us, it’s just a natural extension of our lineup,” says Carlson.

New pizza lines are traditional and inventive. Some of them include:

Cosi, a high-end sandwich chain, launched a shareable flatbread pizza in such varieties as Margherita (mozzarella, basil, tomato), spinach and tomato, and four cheese (mozzarella, Asiago, Romano, gorgonzola).

Bear Rock Café, another high-end, fresh-sandwich concept, recently launched its hand-tossed Pizzeta gourmet flatbread pizzas, a $7.99 crispy-crust line that includes barbecue chicken as well as some creative combinations. The roasted vegetable Pizzeta, for instance, is topped with roasted eggplant, three cheeses (mozzarella, provolone, cheddar), roasted red peppers and onions, mushrooms, and tomatoes. The Greek Chicken Pizzeta uses a Kalamata olive spread beneath grilled chicken, roasted red peppers, spinach, three cheeses, and Feta sprinkles.
Einstein Brothers Bagels’ pizza bagel is available in five flavors, including cheesy garlic herb, andouille sausage, and spinach and mushroom, among others

The 70-unit Charlotte, North Carolina–based Salsarita’s Fresh Cantina earlier this year launched made-to-order Mexican pizzas on 10-inch tortilla shells in veggie, barbecue chicken, and white-pizza varieties. More variations are coming in 2008. The $4.99, 10-inch pizzas are cooked in high-speed forced-convection-heating ovens that bakes pizzas in as little as 25 seconds.

Traditional pizza is also, in some cases, becoming faster, a move that companies believe will position them to better compete with drive-thru window offerings, particularly at lunchtime. Little Caesar’s sells an immediately available Hot-N-Ready pepperoni pizza, and Papa John’s last spring rolled out high-speed ovens in a third of its stores, cutting cooking time from six-and-a-half minutes to four-and-a-half minutes. The timesavings allow Papa John’s to promise made-to-order pizzas in less than 10 minutes. Papa John’s also sells specialty pizzas periodically; in the fall, it offered Tuscan pizzas that included six cheeses spiced with Italian herbs on a thin crust or Roma meats like Italian sausage and salami. Coffee and doughnut chain Dunkin’ Donuts has been test-marketing a traditional pizza that’s out in 90 seconds. Subway’s new line of pizzas also joins the fast-feeder trend.

Dough is cheap and versatile. Money is made by putting specialty and premium ingredients on the dough.”

Local pizzerias don’t seem to be hurt by the influx of pizza at other quick-service restaurants. In fact, some are seeing business increase due to national advertising for specialty pizzas, including Papa John’s recurring specials, which are heavily publicized.

“Everyone’s trying to come up with something newer and fancier, and it’s actually good for business,” says Craig Greening, owner of Crusted Creations, a family-owned pizzeria in Traverse City, Michigan. “It’s generated more interest and more repeat sales.” In fact, Greening’s store is located three doors from a Subway shop in a strip mall, and he finds himself selling takeout slices to diners who then join friends for lunch at Subway.

Like pizza sellers everywhere, Gooding’s cooking up specialty varieties regularly. “When people think of pizza they think of pepperoni, but the trend is specialty pizza,” he says. “Everyone’s trying chicken barbecue, ranch, and the pesto pizzas. The higher-end pizzas are getting more popular. Papa John’s was the first to do a Philly steak pizza. Domino’s is doing that Oreo cookie thing. We won’t be doing that one.” Greening’s best-selling specialty pizzas are barbecue chicken and chicken Alfredo. His worst? The chicken Caesar with red onions and grated Parmesan. And the seasonal hit is taco pizza, but in summer only.

Chains that toast subs likely already have the equipment and most ingredients on hand to make pizzas, making it fairly easy to add it to the menu without adding to costs. These pizzas tend to be aimed at different customers, those who want a single serving, another menu option, or people with children who are normally nuts about pizza, but not so much about fancy or healthy sandwiches. Pizzerias, on the other hand, cater more to group dining, family occasions, and delivery.

Subway’s eight-inch pizza, for example, is personal size. It starts with a frozen crust, and then is topped with meatball sub sauce, cheese, veggies, and meats already on hand. The suggested price is $2.99, plus $1 for meat toppings, says spokesman Kevin Kane.

“The whole thing with us is the choice, offering the choice,” Kane says. “We had the ovens there. They have the vegetables in front of them, and the sauce, and it just seemed like, ‘Hey, let’s try pizza.’ It’s about options. If I’m thinking of a sandwich piled with vegetables and I have my kid with me, and they’re not thinking that, well, it’s one more thing that they will eat.”