Scotts Valley pizzeria gets fired up the old-school way
Domino’s may have the word “pizza” in its title, but those doughy, calorie-rich wheels on their menu are a far cry from the original pizzas served in Naples, Italy. Neapolitan pizzas have a thin, almost cracker-like dough, and stick to very simple, basic toppings. The other piece of the traditional pizza puzzle is the wood-fire oven, which cooks faster and at a much higher temperature than standard ovens.
Pat and Mariah Flanagan modeled their Scotts Valley pizzeria Wood Fire Woodie after a Neapolitan-style pizzeria. The couple started out selling pizza as a catering company in 2007, but opened the restaurant in 2012, advertising the wood-fire oven right there in the title. We interviewed Pat about their business.
GT: What’s so great about wood fire pizza?
Pat Flanagan: It’s the only way to go as far as pizza, ’cause you have the intense heat of the wood. It’s nice to get that char on there from the wood fire. You’re also going to get a slight smoky flavor to it. Once the dough hits the really hot heat then it quickly expands, and you get that really nice crust. There’s a lot of others out there that use gas wood fire ovens. It’s not the same thing. You’re not getting any intensity of just using wood.
Are you an avid surfer? Those pizza names (“The Barrel,” “Hang Ten”) suggest you are.
I’ve been surfing since I was 12. I used to surf over here all the time. I grew up in Los Gatos, but I would always surf in Santa Cruz.
Is the Kona Gold basically your version of a Hawaiian?
Yeah. It’s our top seller as far as type of pizza. We used applewood smoked bacon. We always use fresh pineapples. We always marinate our onions too that are on the pizza.
What about your sauce?
We hand crush all the tomatoes. They’re harvesting all the tomatoes right now. We get them at their peak ripeness and we have it throughout the whole year. We do some garlic and other spices, but it’s always fresh. It’s not too strong.
3105B Scotts Valley Drive, Scotts Valley; 316-9001.
