The First Taste of Pizzeria Mercato

With brown craft paper still on some windows, Pizzeria Mercato made its long awaited debut on Friday. Located about as far from the Carrboro Farmers’ Market as one can roll a winter squash with gusto, the “soft opening” of the much anticipated eatery was an opportunity to test the menu before a friendly group of invited guests. Folks not only contentedly nibbled on free, exceptional pizza, seasonal appetizers and mind-blowing gelato but also put the young wait staff to the test. With the exception of a fourth pizza that arrived long after the first three, a miscommunication that inspired heartfelt apologies, the service was topped only by the pizza. And dessert. And the comfortably artsy decor.

But it’s the pizza that everyone is asking about, so here goes: With the foundation of a thin, chewy crust whose flavor suggests a long and slow fermentation, Pizzeria Mercato easily meets expectations of “artisan” quality. Small surprise from the folks that brought you Magnolia Grill, where Mercato Chef Gabe Barker used to take baby naps on the pastry bench.

Gabe’s confident manner in making pizza came not from the elder Barkers but rather from his stint at San Francisco’s renowned Pizzeria Delfino, where he worked before returning home last year to open his own shop. He adds a Delfino touch – a last-minute dressing of panna, a creamy, slightly sweet sauce – to several of the personal-sized pizzas on the menu.Gabe looks like a tall version of his mother, Karen Baker, and possesses dad Ben Barker‘s deft touch with spare, intensely flavored ingredients. This was immediately apparent from the warm, marinated and roasted olives ($6) and fritti ($8), tender and oozy pimento-cheese-stuffed rice balls that could have been a cliché in less able hands.

Listen to Gabe talk about his culinary venture in our latest podcast –> LISTEN HERE.

As its name suggests, Mercato’s menu will vary seasonally. On this night, options ranged in price from $13 for the Margherita to $17 for the Funghi, a mix of savory mushrooms. Each was carried fast enough from oven to table that the enticing aroma of char made burnt bubbles in the crust a particular delicacy.

In addition to the Margherita, our table enjoyed the Mustard Greens ($15), with fragrant fennel sausage; the Panna ($14.50), garnished with fresh, peppery arugula; and the Carbonara ($16.50), which featured a barely set farm egg atop guanciale, pecorino and a liberal grating of black pepper. If you don’t use some crust to scrape glistening yolk from the serving dish, shame on you.

Dessert options included a trio of ice cream flavors that suggested Karen’s creative signature. The creamy vanilla gelato was luscious, as was the espresso, which was loaded with crunchy chunks of chocolate. The showstopper, however, was a vegan lemon-coconut sorbetto. Everyone we observed who tried it wore the same stunned expression of delight.

Guests could not be blamed for being slightly distracted from the food by the setting, which features rustic chestnut tables and colorful bench seatbacks made from salvaged wood by Jeff Knight of Knight Woodworks and Seth Burch of Durham’s Hollow Rock Construction. Other craftsman finishes were produced by Brian Plaster Design of Carrboro, which created all the metalwork, from the pizza box holder to the bike rack.

This post first appeared in Chapel Hill Magazine.

Barker-backed pizzeria likely coming to Carrboro

Chef Ben Barker is talking with Carrboro officials about something diners have been hoping to hear since he and wife Karen closed Magnolia Grill in Durham two years ago this month: They plan to open a pizzeria.

Barker told the INDY in January 2013 that such a venture was possible, so long as their son Gabe was in charge. Gabe has been honing his culinary and business management skills at restaurants on the West Coast.



Gabe Barker
(ilonausa.com photo)

Barker is not offended that a growing buzz is describing the place as “Carrboro’s Pizzeria Toro.”

“The Carrboro project is still in the early stages of development. We haven't even signed a lease,” Barker says. “What a wonderful compliment to be compared to Pizzeria Toro, though, a restaurant with operators that we are huge fans of and drive to Durham regularly for.”

This first appeared in Indy Week.

No-Knead Pizza: Part II

Yes, I know I just made pizza. And yes, it was really good. But the pies I made tonight were even better.

In advance of the publication My Pizza, Bon Appetit just published the updated version of Jim Lahey's justifiably famous no-knead pizza dough. The ratios are similar to the one I found from 2009, but for some reason this one worked came together right away, was full of lovely bubbles after the rise, and was easy to stretch into the finished product.

In fact, I was so confident of the outcome that we got a second pizza stone today.

There's not much to add since the photos say it all. Graham's pizza had white sauce, mozzarella and fresh ricotta; it was topped with a handful of arugula tossed in a lemony vinaigrette, but it was whisked away before I could snap a picture. The next one had white sauce, caramelized onions and some meaty mushrooms that had been simmered in sherry. It also had mozzarella, ricotta and arugula.

Tim craved red sauce so I cooked down some crushed organic tomatoes -- which turned out to be the best topping of all. It had mushrooms, some shredded leftover chicken and the same cheese combo.

I'm cooking the rest of the crushed tomatoes down now for tomorrow's lunch, which will be calzones made from the leftover dough.

First time's a charm with no-knead pizza

There is a curious temptation in things that are offered but vanish before you stake your claim. We've all had the experience staring down the last cookie on the plate, telling yourself you don't want it, or you'll save it for later -- until someone snatches it and you're sorry.

I felt that way when Food52 posted Jim Lahey's no-knead pizza dough as part of its Genius Recipe series, only to take it down following a request from Lahey's publisher, who understandably didn't want it circulating in advance of the release of My Pizza in March.

Before the post went dark, one reader slyly note that it can be found elsewhere, notably at Tasting Table, which posted it two years ago. It's reportedly been amended since then, but given the buzz it's generated  -- and Lahey's broad acclaim since his no-knead bread was first blessed by Mark Bittman in 2006 -- I figured it was worth a try.

It was. It's simple and, though you need to start the process the day before you bake, virtually hands-off until it's time to pat the sticky dough into shape. We made four personal-sized pizzas tonight -- two with arugula-pine nut pesto, a lucky leftover from Molly Steven's salmon entry in All About Roasting, and two with spoonfuls of Classico Creamy Alfredo lightly streaked with pesto. Both were topped with slices of fresh mozzarella and a scattering of home-canned tuna. Just before serving, sprinkle lightly with Maldon or other top-quality sea salt.

I couldn't resist tweaking the recipe linked above, so I used two cups of AP flour and one of white-wheat flour. I also substituted 2/3 cup of the water with leftover whey from my last batch of labneh, which imparted a mild but appealing tang.

The dough did not rise as much as I expected and, true to virtually every reference to the recipe I've seen online, it was wet and sticky. Given how much flour gets worked in at the end, I think I'll add an extra tablespoon or two on the front end next time.

While the linked instructions don't provide precise cooking directions, I preheated the oven to 500 degrees for about 40 minutes to let my pizza stone and a heavy comal get good and hot. I pressed the dough into shape atop parchment paper, which made transfer to the oven simple. The pizzas cooked on the stone were golden brown and crisp in seven minutes, but the pies baked on the comal were still a bit wet in the middle. If you've got a stone, this is a good time to use it.

Graham, who favors zpizza's cheese pizza dotted with fresh ricotta, declared them both a success -- and even preferred the pesto pizza.