Firecracker Pizza & Beer debuts in The Grove this spring

Considering The Grove's rapid growth in recent years, it might come as a surprise to realize that there's not a dedicated pizzeria in the neighborhood. (Yes, the new Urban Research Brewery does have a pizza counter, though the focus there is primarily on beer.)

Enter Firecracker Pizza & Beer.

This spring, Atomic Cowboy owner Chip Schloss and Pi Pizzeria co-founder Frank Uible plan to open the 125-seat pizzeria at 4130 Manchester, in the vacant building across the street from Atomic Cowboy. Keeping with the spirit of The Grove, it will be different than most pizza joints—or fast-casual restaurants, for that matter.

“The Firecracker name evokes big celebrations, excitement, a sense of danger, something explosive and experiential,” Schloss says. “With food, it implies spiciness, which should resonate with [Millennials], who seek out unexpected twists and turns."

Here are five significant ways that it will stand apart from the crowd.

1.) The Craft-Casual Model:  “What I don’t like about fast-casual starts with the waiting," says Schloss. "If you take line time into account, fast-casual is not faster at all. You wait in line for five minutes, fumble through your order, sit down on an uncomfortable seat—if you can find a seat—the floors are dirty, you have to wipe the table off yourself, the lighting is too bright and the music is all wrong. Then you still have to wait five minutes for your food.”

So the duo came up with the concept of Craft-Casual (a term they’re trademarking, along with the Firecracker brand). In simple terms, it pairs crafted cuisine and craft beer with "informed service.” Customers are seated at tables, where a certified cicerone appears to take the orders. Appetizers, salads, and pizza follow in the typical fast-casual time frame. “Instead of standing in line all that time, the customer is sitting down, ideally enjoying a beer,” Schloss says. “It's the same pace as fast-casual, but more casual."

2.) The Beer: Cicerones will play a key role. “With a wall full of beers on tap, you need qualified people to explain the basics and the nuances, or it’s all a waste,” he says. “There are so many places that do pizza well and so many that do beer well, but not a lot that give equal weight to both. Our idea is to do pizza and beer together like never before.”

The beer system will be a focal point. “We wanted to create a sub-brand, a beer destination within the Firecracker bar," explains Schloss. The Boom Tap will include 60 draft beers—30 local, 20 regional, and 10 national brands—served in appropriate glassware. (No bottle or cans also means less waste.) The beer will be delivered via a system being developed with consultant and former Anheuser-Busch executive Patrick Morrissey of Brewnique Solutions. The system will use a patent-pending clean-free faucet and BrewClean faucet liner.

3.) The Chef: Former Scottish Arms chef Liz Schuster might be best known for Tenacious Eats, her series of "full-contact dining" experiences that pairs food with movies. She's lived and cooked cooked all over the world: Sicily, Japan, Hawaii, Australia, Thailand… She grew up in a German bakery on the South Side and is engaged to a pastry chef, so she’s familiar with various doughs and the vagaries of baking.

“She’s irreverent, she takes chances, and she loves rock and roll," says Schloss, "all of which fit the concept."

The chef-concept pairing couldn’t have been scripted better.

4.) The Menu: There will be different riffs on the dough, which will all be named after rock stars. The signature style, dubbed Sid Vicious, is “like no other pizza out there,” says Schloss, adding that the dough is made using a mother, or fermentation starter. (As Schuster says, "Sid needed a mother.") Other eccentric doughs—some dark, some grainy—will appear seasonally and follow the cycles of beer, with some using spent brewer’s grains.

The resulting pan-style crust will be thin but sturdy enough to support an array of unusual toppings and sauces. The house cheese will be scamorza, a Mozzarella-like Italian variety with “some elasticity, great melting characteristics, and a slightly smoky flavor,” says Schloss. Approximately 10 standard specialty pizzas will be offered, as well as seasonal offerings and specials (such as the ZZ Tots, topped with tater tots) and a rock 'n' roll pizza (with a portion of the proceeds allowing children who otherwise wouldn't be able to attend School of Rock to attend classes).

The pizzas will come from a Swedish-made, three-deck electric oven that can reach up to 930 degrees—as hot as a wood-fired oven. (It's the only brand that’s widely distributed in Italy, according to Schloss, and more eco-friendly than wood.) Pizzas will be baked and served on rectangular aluminum sheet pans.

A thoughtful program of condiments is planned as well. “The best pizza places in the world have the same two shakers on their tables," says Schloss, "so we wanted to innovate on the table as well by providing herbal sauces, spice blends, hot sauces, and super-hot sauces, which plays to the Firecracker theme.” (A retail area will provide the branded condiments for take-home use.)

Pizza prices will range from $15 to $40—“from value to splurge,” as Schloss puts it—and part of the restaurant will include a grab-and-go bar, where square slices will be priced in the $4 range. (Delivery is planned—even for the party-size pizza, which will arrive in a giant, 18-by-26-inch  box.)

The rest of the menu will consist of five salads and an equal number of appetizers, including a large-scale meatball with cheese inside that Schloss describes as "epically awesome.”

And for dessert, Firecracker has partnered with Clementine’s Naughty & Nice Creamery to create an old-time soda fountain in the space. It will be only spot in The Grove serving hand-crafted ice cream, frozen novelties, and fresh-baked cookies.

5.) The Atmosphere: The building's colorful mural (see time lapse here), which just earned TOKY an Addy Award nomination, fittingly encapsulates the fun and irreverence. (For the pyrotechnically challenged, Black Cat is a famous brand of firecracker.) Nick Adams of Mademan Design helped design the interior, which will include a mix of urban finishes: floor-to-ceiling windows; painted steel trusses; medium-density fiberboard painted to resemble black steel; sealed-shiny particle board; and pine planks finished using Shou Sugi Ban, an ancient Japanese wood treatment in which soft wood is preserved through repeated burning, scraping, and sanding. A large beer garden is planned for the rear of the building.

The vibe will be “a home-grown one-off—a sexy, boutique-style, properly lit destination that encourages customers to do more than simply eat and run,” says Schloss, noting that it could lure some customers to veer from the typical fast-casual restaurant. “Extended stays are important to us. We want to provide an environment where people will stick around and have another beer.”

The team behind Firecracker hopes to eventually open locations in other cities, “places with young, affluent, creative people, where great beer plus great pizza will resonate"—cities like Austin, Nashville, Denver, and Portland, which "incidentally all have a School of Rock.”