Pickles, Corn and Peaches On Pizza
A pizza is a blank page, a canvas. The only thing limiting your pizza is the barriers of your imagination.
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A pizza is a canvas that can hold the hopes and dreams of the pizza maker. Some stick to what they’ve always known. Filling in the space inside the crust with your classic sauce, cheese, pepperoni. This is comforting. This is familiar. But familiar and comfortable paintings don’t hang in the museum. Works of art that push boundaries and help interpret or better understand the world around us do.
Not to say I don’t enjoy a classic pie. The majority of my pizzas are plain cheese pizzas. Look at this spread from our visit to Two Fray’s / Spak last week. I’m eating the hits!
There are those that are pushing the boundaries of a plain pizza. But others choose the road less travel. They want you to reconsider what can go on top of a pizza. Pittsburgh is home to fusion cuisine. Typically putting various fried things on other things. Buffalo chicken pizza, French fries, classic items. I once worked at a pizza shop that served a buffalo chicken pizza with both fried chicken and French fries. It was obscene and also a top seller. The heart wants what the heart wants.
As Summer progresses in the city you’ll look for any relief. Days start out at 95% humidity and only 5 degrees cooler than the high, we look for daring and unique pizzas to break us out of this cycle of summer torment. Maybe changing things up and trying something new will break the curse of a wet and humid summer. Trying anything is better than suffering hopelessly.
In the midst of Summer there’s a couple of pizzas that might provide the refreshment you need as well as challenge your perspective of pizza. A nice mid-summer refresh.
Spak’s Pickle Pizza + Two Frays Pickle Kolsch
It’s Picklesburgh this week, but you don’t need a huge event that brings in outside vendors and charges obscene prices for pickle paraphernalia to enjoy pickles. The Spak Pickle pizza is available at Spak Bros. every day.
Spak’s Pickle Pizza is the perfect version of what you imagine the pickle pizza to be. It’s creamy, crunchy, and restrained. You won’t be overwhelmed by any one flavor, but the whole pie swirls into a beautiful majesty of creaminess, saltiness and deliciousness. It’s dill-focused pizza that’s awfully refreshing.
If you pick up a Spak Pickle pizza and head next door to Two Frays you can add an additional pickle element to your adventure: An ice cold Kolsch with a pickle. They have both alcohol and non-alcohol options to accommodate all drinkers. I’ve had both versions and I drinking a Kolsch sans pickle simply isn’t an option for me these days.
The Legendary Corn & Peach Pizza from Driftwood Oven is Back
You know we are halfway through summer when Driftwood Oven unveils their delicious peach and corn pizza. This pizza is appointment pizza. Start texting your group chats “You up? Time for Peach and Corn.” Rename your chats to “Peachies and Cornies” and start getting everyone hyped up.
This is an unusual pairing. The Western PA equivalent of ham and pineapple? Getting some locally grown corn and peaches. You could assemble this pizza yourself after a quick visit to your local farmer’s market!
I asked Neil Blazin, owner of Driftwood Oven, about the his take on the Peach and Corn pizza. “People love the peach and corn pie,” Neil said. “It was sort of inspired by street corn, but really just a fun summer harvest combo. Folks can be skeptical at first but once they try it, they’re generally hooked. A little sweet, a little spicy, nice and bright, it hits all the right flavor notes.”
It’s a rare and exciting pizza that people go wild for when it’s back on the menu. “Someone called it the driftwood McRib - it’s once a year and its popularity is growing every year,” Neil said.
Grab it from Driftwood Oven while you can. It usually stays on the menu for only a few weeks!
Michelangelo’s Pickle Pizza from Blue Sparrow
The Blue Sparrow Foodtruck has a number of pizzas on the menu across the whole spectrum of conformity. There’s the basic cheese, but every few months Luke adds another wacky pizza based on a beloved franchise.
One of the pizzas that pushes the boundaries has been on the menu since the Michelangelo’s Bacon Pickle Pizza.
Inspired by TMNT's Michelangelo's affinity for far out combinations of topping on his pizza, we bring you a pizza topped with the following: House Sweet and Spicy Pickles, Thick Cut Bacon, Miso Butter, parsley \ cilantro , and Mozzarella. Cowabunga.
The photo above doesn’t quite do it justice. It was from the early days of the Blue Sparrow Food Truck, but the crust has received a huge upgrade since they opened at Dancing Gnome.
East End Brewing Spicy Pickle Pizza
East End Brewing has been toiling away in their pocket of Larimer cooking up weekly experimental pizzas. Pizzas that hit the mark, push the boundaries of what a pizza can be and explore new and intriguing flavor combinations. For Picklesburgh they are going all in on pickles. They have pickle beer, pickle hummus and a new Spicy Pickle Pizza.
The Spicy Pickle Pizza has: Ranch sauce, mozz, cheddar, bacon or tvp bacon, banana peppers, dill pickles, dill, hot sauce drizzle.
This is an absurd looking pizza that pushes the limit of what you can put on top of a pizza crust without it caving in.
Iron Born Pickle Pizza
Some of the most extreme and creative pizzas can be found at Iron Born. Each pizza is carefully constructed to blend fine dining flavors into a rectangle piece of heaven. Their Vegas Pie is award wining pizza topped with sausage and has a fingerling potato crust. Even their most basic pies feel like an elevated cuisine.
If you are craving pickles on pizza you are in good hands with Iron Born. The pickle pizza available from Iron Born looks to also be available in their Strip District location and is topped with the following: Garlic Cream. Roasted Pickles. Raw Pickles. Ricotta Cheese. Romano. Sounds divine and totally crushable.
Expand Your Pizza Mindset
With Picklesburgh in full swing maybe it’s time to embrace the idea of pickles on pizza. There’s a number of shops offering up that option. Years ago a pizza shop could go viral by posting a pizza with a pickle drizzled with ranch. The fact that this has become normalized shows how pizza has evolved as a cuisine. What was once a rare occurrence could now be part of your regular pizza rotation.
What’s the next pickle of pizza? Will we see pizza makers look for other briny foods to add? Or will we see more fruit and cheese combinations like Driftwood Oven does with their peach and corn pizza? A majority of shops want to master the basics. But a lot of the newer shops simply want to experiment with what’s possible.
One place I didn’t call out in this list is Spirit. Their menu rotates with the season and whatever the chef is inspired by. Right now they have a banh mi inspired pizza, a pizza with candied jalapeños and a pizza with crab meat. The Bickle is an instant classic and has been a staple on their menu for a few years.
The Bickle elevates the pepperoni pizza by adding ranch dressing and candied jalapeño. A bit spicy, but the ranch is your savior. Once you have it you’ll crave it for months on end.
Lots of interesting pizza out there to get you through the summer heat.
I’m craving some pickle pizza now. Might have to grab one this weekend!
If you have a pizza you crave in the summer time let me know.
Pizza ya later!
-Dan Tallarico, Pizza Journalist
Nice piece, who knew peaches and corn would end up on a slice, are these dessert pizzas?