In my family, every Friday night was pizza night. My vote was always for this super no frills kind of place in Stamford CT, famous for super thin crust pies and this spicy oil that I would practically drench my pizza in. Pizza has been a through line in my life, carrying me through a cross country move to San Diego as a teenager where I worked at Luigi’s Pizzeria to lockdown in 2020 when I experimented with my dough recipes and rediscovered my love for cooking. So much so that I pursued and secured a position at the highly renowned Quarter Sheets Pizza.

One afternoon, I started waxing poetic to the owner about a very special pizza place back home in Connecticut and we decided to try to recreate the magic from my childhood. We worked on dough recipes for months and as we got closer to perfecting the recipe, I realized that something was missing.  So we experimented to create the perfect hot oil and once it was on the pies, I was instantly transported to my childhood. We put the bar pies on the menu and they were selling out almost instantly, and suddenly everyone was asking for the hot oil and not just for their pizzas but to add a kick to their salads, pastas and meatballs. I’m so thrilled to share this with you.