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According to renowned pizzaiolo Tony Gemignani, “pizza is always about balance.” A good one offers a combination of flavors and textures without overcomplicating things. Ideally, “each bite should take you through a journey,” he said.
Slice House by Tony Gemignani’s own journey has seen the fast-casual pizzeria expand from its original location in San Francisco’s North Beach to numerous franchised branches. When the newest Slice House opens at The Village at San Antonio Center this weekend, its menu will include a special pizza created just for Mountain View.
Gemignani described The Apricot Fields pizza as sweet, savory and spicy, featuring Blenheim apricot jam, bacon, sausage, pesto, mozzarella, ricotta and Romano cheeses, red onion, hot honey, Tony’s Hot Pepper Oil, and oregano and garlic oil.
“It’s just a beautiful pizza,” he said.
It pays tribute to the area’s agricultural heritage, as well as to Gemignani’s own local background. He grew up on a family farm in Fremont, picking Blenheim apricots and Bing cherries, among other produce. Fresh out of high school, he began throwing pizzas at his brother’s restaurant in Castro Valley. He’s now opened numerous restaurants of his own (in the Bay Area and beyond, including Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, Dago Bagel and Pizza Rock), and, after making pizzas for more than three decades, it’s safe to say he’s an expert. In fact, he’s an official pizza champion, winning many competitions for his dough-tossing acrobatics in his early career, then moving on to earning awards for his pizzas themselves, including numerous titles from the World Pizza Championship in Italy. He’s also appeared on the Food Network, “The Tonight Show” and “Good Morning America.”
“Kind of like what the Harlem Globetrotters do with basketballs, I do with pizza,” he said. “But primarily now it’s more focused on food.”
Gemignani and Mountain View Slice House franchise owner Pritika Rajasanshi go way back — the two went to high school together in Fremont. Her love of apricots and spice is also reflected in The Apricot Fields’ flavor profile, and Gemignani tasked her with finding a local source for the apricots (ApricotKing, in Hollister).
Slice House offers a number of signature pizza options, including Gemignani’s award-winning Cal Italia (asiago, mozzarella, gorgonzola, fig jam, prosciutto di Parma, shaved Parmigiano, balsamic reduction), plus vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free choices, salads, pastas and more.
Customers can order pizzas in four different regional styles: New York (hand-stretched), Sicilian (focaccia-like crust), Grandma (Long Island-style pan pizza) and Detroit (square, cooked in steel pans). Offering all of these options is part of what makes Slice House stand out, according to Gemignani. He’s personally partial to the Detroit style, which he said he’s helped to popularize on the West Coast.
“I don’t think there’s anyone before me that brought it to California, before it became trendy,” he said. “It’s a style that people just love.”
He also takes pride in his dough, which he said is the foundation of any good pizza.
“We use starters in our dough, which is a little unique,” Gemignani said. “It makes your dough more flavorful, more aromatic. We always use a sourdough-type starter.”
Slice House’s Mountain View eatery has its grand opening on Saturday, May 18, at 11 a.m., and the first 50 customers can receive Slice House swag (a collapsible dog bowl or a baseball cap). Gemignani himself will be onsite from 2-4 p.m. to meet, greet and sign copies of his books “​​The Pizza Bible” and “The Pursuit of Pizza: Recipes from World Pizza Champions.”
“I’m pretty involved,” Gemignani said of the launch of Slice House’s latest franchise, “from the design of the kitchen to the interview process all the way to the build-outs and now to the opening day.”
Slice House by Tony Gemignani, 2565 California St., Suite 501, Mountain View; 650-966-7773; open Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Instagram: @SliceHouse.
Note: This version lists updated hours for the restaurant.