Hi Again,
So we did it--last Saturday, Sept. 6th, we opened for the public and so far, so good! On opening night we were slammed, mainly because an article came out that day in the Charlotte Observer about us. The punch line was: "Reputations are at stake." You can see that article at www.charlotteobserver.com then search the archives for Pie Town (the article ran on Saturday, September 6th). Anyway, I had a slight moment of panic when the printer started spitting out order after order--it was like a long scroll of adding machine paper that just kept coming and coming. But Executive Chef Tim Groody and our pizzaiolo team kept their calm and for five hours just kept making pizza after pizza until we ran out of dough. There were a few glitches--some burned pizzas, a few doughs that ripped and were unuseable, but, all in all, many fewer mistakes than I feared. The crowd seemed happy and we were still standing at the end. I was impressed how our team kept their focus and, despite their fatigue, even had enough left in the tank to mix dough for the next day. Oh, to be young again....
For the record, none of this would have been possible without the efforts of Pierre Bader, the restaurateur who made it happen, and Chef Tim Groody. I couldn't have asked for a better partnership team. Our front of the house managers and servers were amazing, especially learning the menu in such little time and setting up the restaurant so beautifully. And, of course, the kitchen staff: Chris, Jeremy, Michelle, Jeff, Aaron, and Tiffany. I'll write more about them all in the future, but for now I will just say that we had an excellent first week and, last night, when I brought some guests in for dinner, the pizzas were executed perfectly--the learning curve has been fast and inspiring and our goal is to make every pizza to this level of excellence. We put some photos up for the team that show pizzas from Pizzeria Bianco, Mozza, Delphina, and other benchmark artisan pizzerias and I was so pleased to see that we are now turning out pizzas that look and taste every bit as good as the ones in the photos. The trick now will be to execute at this level of excellence night after night for years to come.
Okay, now I can get back to the new book. Will be setting up the recipe testers mailbox within the week--stay tuned....
May Your Bread Always Rise,
Peter
