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A SLICE OF HEAVEN
Extraordinary pizza with a twist in Reno-Tahoe.
WRITTEN BY ANN LINDEMANN
PHOTOS BY CANDICE NYANDO
For many, pizza is the ultimate comfort food — accessible, affordable, and familiar. Now creative chefs in our region are tweaking this culinary standby and taking it to the next level. Banish your notions of greasy pies in cardboard boxes and imagine Slow Food-worthy creations featuring superlative crusts and organic, locally sourced toppings.
However, as much as pizza has changed, it has stayed the same. We still delight in gathering around a communal pie, when silverware is optional and gastronomic pretentiousness is nowhere to be found.
As with a hometown ball team, folks have strong alliances with their favorite pizza joints. So offering up a definitive guide to regional pizza just ain’t happening here. Rather, we’ve covered a few of the many distinctive places that are changing the way we regard this true American classic.
Call of the wild
Earnestly discussing the attributes of a fresh-out-of-the-oven Margherita masterpiece, chef/co-owner Ian Madan sounds more scientific than gastronomic.
“We are looking to achieve some blistering — or “leoparding” — on the edges of the pizzas, while keeping the bottom crusty, slightly charred, but not burned,” Madan explains. “The leoparding is achieved due to the fact that the dough has had time to develop proteins and flavors.”
But then this luscious pie’s siren call takes over, and he can’t help but expertly fold a slice and take a bite.
“Amazing — it’s everything you want in a pizza,” Madan proclaims with satisfaction.
Originally from the East Coast, Madan and his parents, Mike and Linda, opened SouthCreek Pizza Co. in 2013. The cornerstone of the restaurant is the authentic, made-in-Italy, red-tiled wood-fire brick oven that heats to 900 degrees F, baking pizzas in a mere 90 seconds.
The Neapolitan-style pizza crust is made with finely milled “00” flour imported from Italy. SouthCreek’s tomato sauce is simplicity defined: puréed fresh tomatoes and salt. The mozzarella is handmade by Madan each morning. Premium toppings include SarVecchio Parmesan, Niman Ranch bacon, and homemade sausage, to name just a few.
The menu features the Madans’ homage to their inspirational pizza mentors. There’s a nod to Campo restaurant in Reno, where Ian refined his pizza-making chops as a chef. The Madans also offer culinary shout-outs to Brooklyn’s Paulie Gee and New Jersey’s Nomad Pizza.
“Pizza dough is a great vessel for creativity with food,” Madan notes. “If you can imagine it, it might just work on a pizza!”
SouthCreek Pizza Co.
45 Foothill Road (South Creek Center), Reno
775-622-1620, http://www.Southcreekpizza.com
It’s in the dough
Pizza always is in style, and that is as true today as it was back in 1978 when Roger Diedrichsen opened the first Pizza Barn in a Fallon strip mall.
“I honestly had no clue what I was doing,” Diedrichsen recalls. “I was learning how to roll dough when we opened.”
Despite the steep learning curve, Diedrichsen and his two brothers quickly made a name for themselves in the regional pizza world, expanding to five Northern Nevada locations. Today, the regional chain is down to two locations: the flagship store in Fallon and one in Elko, which is owned by Diedrichsen’s brother, Lane.
“We make our dough from scratch and roll it out every day,” he says, adding that Pizza Barn uses an old-fashioned Baker’s Pride brick pizza oven.
Diedrichsen has seen a lot of changes in the toppings department.
“We have everything from A for artichoke to Z for zucchini now,” he says. “There’s no way we would have offered anything like that in the ’70s, ’80s, or even the ’90s.”
Still Diedrichsen admits that Fallon still is a pretty conservative community, where meat lovers’ pizzas reign. However, what’s notable is that the meat on that pizza is grass-fed ground beef from a local rancher, and the onions, green peppers, and spinach are from local, organic farmers.
“We have stuck with a winning dough and cheese blend and that hasn’t changed in 37 years,” he says. “My feeling is that you stick with the basics and don’t get cute with them.”
Pizza Barn
1981 W. Williams Ave. (Valley Plaza), Fallon
775-423-7155
Fresh ideas
Trevor Leppek and Ryan Goldhammer had a tasty vision when they opened the doors of Noble Pie Parlor back in 2010.
“We don’t want to serve anything that we wouldn’t want to eat ourselves,” Goldhammer says.
That statement translates into New York-style, artisan, brick-oven-fired pizzas crafted from an eighth-generation Sicilian dough recipe.
“We have a secret technique that is based upon an incredible amount of trial and error,” Leppek says. “You develop a personal feel for the dough, and a recipe can’t help with that.”
You’ll find no huge walk-in or freezer at Noble, as the owners pride themselves on offering fresh ingredients that are prepped and turned over quickly.
“Eighty to 90 percent of all our products are GMO-free and/or organic,” Goldhammer adds. “We like knowing where everything comes from. I know where those bell peppers came from, and I know where those onions were grown. And seriously, everything is house made, from our ranch dressing to our sausage.”
The pizza combinations range from classic to gourmet. Favorites include the T-Pane featuring caramelized fennel, onions, and apples topped with sausage, provolone, and aged pecorino, and the Resa Special, with sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, jalapeños, onions, pine nuts, spinach, and chèvre.
Noble Pie also offers gluten-free crusts and a vegan cheese option. Delivery is available in the downtown Reno area.
Noble Pie Parlor
239 W. Second St., Reno
775-622-9222, http://www.Noblepieparlor.com
That’s a good!
Four-star Yelp reviews are nice, but they don’t hold a candle to the kudos that Andy Peluso receives from old-timers when they try Peluso’s Apizza for the first time.
“We’ve had older Italians in the Reno community come in and say, ‘Oh, my gosh, I haven’t had this kind of sauce since my grandmother was alive,’ or ‘This dough reminds me of the dough my aunt made,’” Peluso says.
It’s no surprise that these discerning palates taste an authentic Italian flavor profile in everything from the dough and sauce to the homemade meatballs and sausage. In 1958, 5-year-old Peluso and his family emigrated from Naples, Italy, to New Haven, Conn. Peluso’s father, Carmine, worked at his uncle’s pizza shop during the day and moonlighted at night as a pastry chef. Eventually, the elder Peluso went out on his own with a distinctive, yeast-leavened pizza crust that they dubbed “the New Haven Neapolitan.”
“It’s part pastry dough, so it’s lighter and less dense,” Peluso explains. “It’s got a soft, distinct texture that’s different from other pizza doughs. For instance, I can’t toss it … it would rip.”
Peluso’s offers a wide variety of traditional pizza joint favorites made with top-quality ingredients, but Peluso and his staff encourage folks not to add more than two toppings, as that compromises the integrity of the pie. On the flipside, there are plenty of pizzas, such as the Clams Casino, Florentine, and APizza Bella, which take a page out of classic cookbooks from the old country.
“My father used to say, ‘A pizza is a plate that a meal is served on, and the best thing is that you can eat the plate!’”
Peluso’s Apizza
1201 California Ave., Reno
775-737-9731, http://www.Pelusoapizza.com
Frequent edible Reno-Tahoe contributor Ann Lindemann loved researching this tasty story. Her only complaint was that it was hard to control excessive mouth watering while writing about these luscious pies.
Resources
Additional restaurants that offer noteworthy pizzas in Reno-Tahoe
Bistro 7
7111 S. Virginia St., Reno
775-851-9463, http://www.Bistro7reno.com
Black Rock Pizza
2855 N. McCarran Blvd. (Sparks Mercantile), Sparks
775-356-1771, http://www.Blackrockpizza.com
Campo
50 N. Sierra St., Reno
775-737-9555, http://www.Camporeno.com
Fireside Pizza Co.
1985 Squaw Valley Road, Ste. 25, Olympic Valley
530-584-6150, http://www.Firesidepizza.com
Zia Lina
521 N. Lake Blvd., Tahoe City
530-581-0100, http://www.Zialinatahoe.com
