Three quick bites to enhance your pizza game
ONE
Balance is what pizza is all about. The right amount of sauce and cheese will make or break your slice. Depending on what your dough can hold, it’s crucial to maintain a balance that enhances your dough with every bite.
Balance has a lot to do with the secret of the slice, but is it also the secret of life? Finding a balance through all the odds and ends of the day is what keeps a head on straight right?
Being a restaurant owner is wild. It’s fucking hard. People think it’s probably pretty cool to have your own restaurant. Guess what? It is, but it can also suck pretty hard. Managing a team and keeping everyone happy is a daunting task. I lose time with my family, I take on other people’s emotions constantly, and I am always thinking about how I can do things better.
It’s a 24 hour job. There is no calling out, no taking time off, it’s a constant struggle from one thing to the next. Balance is very important and, without Andrew at Hot Tongue and Jeremy at Purgatory, instead of walking on a tightrope I’d have to become an expert in fire walking.
Everyday is a balancing act. We push ourselves to unknown limits and hope to bounce back every time. Some days are harder to bounce back from, but those are always the ones that create a little more give in that sling shot so you can shoot yourself farther the next time.
TWO
Ken Forkish wrote a great book on bread making that turned 10 this week: Flour Water Salt Yeast is a wonderful book.
His book, The Elements of Pizza is beautiful as well!
I am a huge advocate for learning the art of bread baking. I think delving into that world continues to make me not only a better pizza cook but a better person.
THREE
“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius, and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”
Marilyn Monroe
Maybe it’s not the balance that I yearn for, but the chaos of running a restaurant is exactly where I want to be. The unpredictable, the drama, the people, the highs and the lows.
Even as a consultant I say anyone who says they know exactly what they are doing is lying. We are all making it up as we go along, that’s the secret. Some people are just more convincing liars.
EXTRA SLICE: Sometimes it’s all in the stars and that is where I want to be. FLY AWAY!
