The Pizza Bones pop-up blends Neapolitan-style crust with a distinct Santa Cruz twist

Santa Cruz is a pizza city. There are dozens of eating places, slice stands and pop-ups all through the county serving all the things from easy pizza pies to regional kinds from Detroit and New York made with ardour and delight. With such a lot of pizza at your fingertips, it may be tough to distinguish between an honest slice and an distinctive slice.

However at Pizza Bones, a brand new pop-up from cooks Desmond Schneider and Jacob Wilkins, it is clear from the second the attractive, thin-crust pie slides onto the desk that what you are about to chew into will blow your socks off.

The crust itself packs a ton of flavour, with a crisp backside and large heat-kissed bubbles across the edges completed with a wave of Parmesan. It isn’t one thing you need to depart behind, and that is the concept, Wilkins says.

“In my household, ‘pizza bones’ was the identify given to the items of leftover crust if the crust was too dry, or if you happen to wished to plow by way of as a lot of the pizza as potential in order that the crust was left,” Wilkins says. The pop-up’s Instagram deal with, @nopizzabones, is a message to followers that his pizza is sweet throughout.

Schneider and Wilkins launched Pizza Bones this spring and shortly gained a following at their month-to-month pop-ups at Madson Vineyard on Santa Cruz’s west aspect. Two years in the past, the 2 met whereas Schneider was the chef at Alderwood Santa Cruz and Wilkins was a buyer on the opposite aspect of the chef’s desk. They bonded over their shared Midwestern backgrounds and love of punk music, and determined to work collectively.

Quickly they had been promoting by 60 pizzas a day, then 80. Now, the frequency of Pizza Bones pop-ups is growing from month-to-month to weekly, each Monday night in Madson from 4 to eight p.m. or offered out.

“The true factor that makes it particular is the dough,” Wilkins says. Schneider and Wilkins name their pies “Neapolitan-ish,” as a result of though their recipe is impressed by Italian dough and makes use of high-quality flour milled from heirloom wheat imported from Naples, Italy, their course of differs from conventional strategies. The three-day course of begins with mixing a liquid combination of flour, water, yeast and honey to type a extremely hydrating dough. This ends in a crispier crust and bigger, pillowier bubbles. “We do not observe the proofing methodology or fermentation guidelines of conventional Neapolitan pizza,” Schneider explains. “We use what works for us in the environment to create the flavour and elegance we love.”

The result’s a thin-crust pie cooked inside seconds in a high-heat oven just like conventional Neapolitan pizza, however with sufficient construction to help a beneficiant quantity of toppings.

Whereas Neapolitan pizza could also be crammed with recent mozzarella and a dollop of tomato sauce, Pizza Bones’ pies are crammed with seasonal, domestically sourced components and many cheese. Lengthy strands of melted mozzarella as you’re taking a chew will make the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ eyes bulge out – you do not see that in Italy.

Schneider’s toppings are additionally very American, or extra particularly Santa Cruzan, with most of them sourced from close by farms and farmers markets. On a latest go to, the salty, candy, and spicy Veggie Piggie Pie ($26) was topped with Jimmy Nardello peppers, recent figs, thick pork stomach, and a piping scorching Calabrian honey; The vegetable-focused Backyard Delight ($25) had walnut pesto, basil, thinly sliced ​​zucchini, candy tomatoes and Kalamata olives, and was completed with a candy pepper French dressing.

The Maitake Blanco Pizza ($28), a mushroom pizza, appeared deceptively easy however filled with large taste with a traditional French sobey sauce with butter, onions and cream, and fragrant smoked mushrooms topped with recent arugula drizzled with lemon juice.

“Every little thing that California has to supply, particularly on this space, is so extraordinary, and to have pizza as a solution to showcase that and my culinary perspective is a lot enjoyable,” Schneider says. “It’s enjoyable to collaborate with somebody like Jake and make an important friendship alongside the best way.” “.

However Schneider and Wilkins additionally create nods to the classics. “We glance to Mom Nature for inspiration,” Wilkins says, “however I do some conventional Midwestern issues like gourmand pizza with simply sausage, pink onions and inexperienced peppers. However with a twist — how will we layer it or how will we serve it?” The Zesty Pepperoni Pizza ($23), a traditional pepperoni pizza, is their hottest pizza.

There are plans to finally do extra. Each Schneider and Wilkins focus full-time on pop-ups and catering occasions and hope to discover a brick-and-mortar location for Pizza Bones sooner or later. “Pizza Bones took place very organically and got here from a spot of pure enjoyable and a need to make good meals and join with the neighborhood,” Schneider says.

Extra data on Instagram at @nopizzabones And madsonwines.com.

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