Pizzahacker
“Top Shelf” Margherita Pizza – Dry-Farmed Early Girl Tomato Sauce, Fresh Mozzarella, Basil, Bariani Olive Oil, Smoked Salt, Grana Padano
Ohio Pizza – Pepperoni, Provolone Cheese, Peperoncini, Mozzarella Cheese, Tomato Sauce, Oregano, Grana Padano
Whether one technically calls it a part of The Mission or Bernal Heights there is no debating Pizzahacker’s place amongst The Bay Area’s most celebrated Pies, Jeff Krupman’s days of baking Pizzas in parks a thing of the past as his Restaurant at 3299 Mission Street continues to generate lines from Tuesday through Sunday.
Tucked away between Valencia and 29th, a narrow doorway and simple lettering on glass the only indication of what’s inside, it is just prior to 5:00pm that guests begin to line up, a steady rain on this particular evening keeping numbers down early though the chalkboard waitlist had already started by six.
Using a modified version of Tartine’s Bread Dough, Krupman readily admitting Chad Robertson’s impact on Pizzas dating back to his time cooking on the “Franken-Weber” it is seated at picnic tables inside an old bank that guests are invited to choose from eight Pies and two Salads, sub-$20 pricing for piping hot rounds featuring top-quality ingredients a veritable steal considering San Francisco’s otherwise exorbitant prices.
Opting for Wild Yeast and Whole Wheat as part of the formula, decisions that give Pizzahacker’s Pies a heritage look and tangy notes not dissimilar from Sourdough, it is cut into triangles that Krupman’s “Top Shelf” Margherita forms the basis of comparison to others, locally grown Tomatoes simply crushed and stewed with hand-torn Basil and flakes of Sea Salt that brighten fresh Mozz plus shavings of Grana to finish.
Skipping a wood oven in favor of bricks, cook times longer but Dough more evenly baked from edge to center, it was looking seasonally that “Ohio” arrived next, the oblong cut of a Chicago Bar Pie an odd decision leaving one slice without any cornicione but the combination of Pepperoni, Provolone and Peperoncini all playing well off a medium-blister and lengthy fermentation that renders each bite light and crisp.
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