Ignore the sign above. Emilia's is now open to the public, though in limited capacity. [Photograph: Adam Kuban]
Early last month I had the pleasure of getting an early taste of Emilia's Pizzeria in Berkeley, California. If the pizza I had during that friends-and-family event is any indication of what it is now that Emilia's is in soft open mode, Berkeley residents are in for a treat. The refreshingly unpretentious non-Neapolitan pizzeria started operating in a limited capacity on Monday night. After the jump, Keith Freilich, Emilia's owner-pizzaman explains.
Emilia's Pizzeria
2995 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley CA 94705 (at Ashby Avenue; map); emiliaspizzeria.com Getting There: By car, it's at the corner of Shattuck and Ashby avenues; closest BART stop is the Ashby Avenue Station Pizza Style: Thin-crust, New York-coal-oven-esque Oven Type: A very hot Wolf "Pizza Grande" gas-fired oven The Skinny: Whether you're a whiny New Yorker looking for familiar-tasting pizza or someone who's never set foot in the Big Apple, the pizza at Emilia's is sure to shut you up and keep you stuffing your face
From an email message I received this morning:
Well, my plan has always been to do a very soft opening and gradually increase capacity and hours and offerings. Not only does it allow me to iron out the kinks while avoiding disasters (in theory), it also gives me the chance to meet the locals who will hopefully become regulars.
And I've already started. I had an almost-secret opening on Monday and did it again last night. Just dinner: slices and large pies, and only 3 kinds: regular, pepperoni, and sopressata. No credit cards yet and nobody to answer the phone yet. And I'm only making very small batches of dough for now—it's too painful to throw out a bunch of dough when you've made it by hand.
I might throw in a lunch tomorrow, depending on how many urgent things I can get done during the day today.
@slicemeister Announcing it on Slice definitely disqualifies it as a soft opening. I hope he's ready for the rush. I can definitely feel his pain regarding the trashing of the unused dough. BTW, I love how the outside blue tinged light contrasts with the warm glow inside the shop. Nice shot.
Well, the thought of ignoring Adam's email certainly crossed my mine. But, I figure I'll need to start selling enough pizzas to cover my cost of goods someday, so I can't keep it a secret forever. Plus, with the small batches I've been doing, there's only so deep in the weeds I could possibly get.
I really teed it up for the jinx however: my car broke down this a.m. (won't be fixed before tomorrow) and when I got to the store, I found one of my fridges had shut down overnight. So, I have to reprep a bunch of stuff, and I have no sopressata for tonight. Oh, the joys of running a business.
@f r y / Keith - A local pizzeria has that oven, i've made pizzas in it. At one point my measurement on that particular oven was 775*, this was at 12 noon.
Could never find any more info on it though. Nice oven.
I had my first slice sometime during the last week of August. I've gone by every day since hoping to find the place open. One of the top 3 pies I've had outside of the city, without a doubt. So glad you're finally open.
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6 Comments:
@slicemeister Announcing it on Slice definitely disqualifies it as a soft opening. I hope he's ready for the rush. I can definitely feel his pain regarding the trashing of the unused dough. BTW, I love how the outside blue tinged light contrasts with the warm glow inside the shop. Nice shot.
Ciao,
Paulie Gee
pauliegee at 2:16PM on 10/01/09
Well, the thought of ignoring Adam's email certainly crossed my mine. But, I figure I'll need to start selling enough pizzas to cover my cost of goods someday, so I can't keep it a secret forever. Plus, with the small batches I've been doing, there's only so deep in the weeds I could possibly get.
I really teed it up for the jinx however: my car broke down this a.m. (won't be fixed before tomorrow) and when I got to the store, I found one of my fridges had shut down overnight. So, I have to reprep a bunch of stuff, and I have no sopressata for tonight. Oh, the joys of running a business.
f r y at 5:59PM on 10/01/09
Just got back from my first visit. This is some solid pizza. Won't stay a secret for long...
Arjun at 9:52PM on 10/01/09
@f r y / Keith - A local pizzeria has that oven, i've made pizzas in it. At one point my measurement on that particular oven was 775*, this was at 12 noon.
Could never find any more info on it though. Nice oven.
Prairie at 12:14AM on 10/02/09
I had my first slice sometime during the last week of August. I've gone by every day since hoping to find the place open. One of the top 3 pies I've had outside of the city, without a doubt. So glad you're finally open.
ThreeSlicesADay at 9:11PM on 10/03/09
Arinel down the street is just as good. How you doing Ronnie. Where's Larry?
Pizzarotti at 11:16PM on 10/03/09