Courtesy Rockwell Beer Co.
"Soon" as in Monday, August 31
Burgers and beer are a classic combo—and one that Rockwell Beer Company has perfected under the direction of chef Gerard Craft.
Next Monday, August 31, Rockwell will expand its menu to offer another classic combo: pizza and beer.
Craft, the James Beard Award–winning chef behind Brasserie, Taste, Sardella, and Pastaria, has parked his mobile Renato wood-fired pizza oven outside Rockwell. In years past, Craft carted the oven to Nashville for pizza pop-ups before opening a second location of Pastaria there in 2017. More recently, the mobile oven has been used to cater private events and parties; with fewer of those happening during the pandemic, though, Craft decided to make use of it at Rockwell.
Kevin A. Roberts
“We're going to start in the beginning just doing some Pastaria pizza pop-ups, with this Monday being the first one,” Craft says. “And we're keeping it pretty simple: We'll do a house-made pepperoni, margherita, and a kid's cheese pizza. From there, we'll start playing around and seeing what we can do.”
The pizza oven is parked near the brewery’s patio, and guests can order pizzas from the same walk-up window where Rockwell’s burgers and fried chicken sandwiches are sold. Pizzas will be served in to-go boxes and can be enjoyed on the patio, inside the tasting room at socially distanced tables, or taken to go. The mobile oven is, of course, smaller than what’s used at Pastaria, so Craft says it can only bake two pizzas at a time—yet with such extreme heat, it only takes about two minutes to finish each pie.
The pizza pop-ups will be co-managed by Justin McMillen, culinary director for Craft’s restaurant group, Niche Food Group. “The two of us will be making pizzas all night,” Craft says. “We're doing a limited amount for now; we're not gonna go crazy the first time. We’re just going to see what the desire for it is.”
Craft also says Rockwell guests can expect some new and fun ice cream flavors, including a roasted banana soft-serve swirled with malted chocolate and topped with Magic Shell. “It was unreal; it was so good,” Craft says with a laugh.
Courtesy Pastaria Deli & Wine
Meanwhile, at Sardella, Craft notes that the new Italian sandwich and deli menu (which we’d like to suggest unofficially dubbing Sardelli) is going strong. Introduced earlier this summer, the menu features stacked Italian sandwiches made with high-quality meats and cheeses and bread from Union Loafers. The sandwiches are technically sold out of Pastaria, which is connected to Sardella, under the name Pastaria Deli & Wine, but the sandwiches are prepared in the Sardella kitchen.
“We're getting to do some exciting new things there,” Craft says. “I think that's the thing about [the pandemic]; it's just kind of forcing you to think about the things that you really love. And these simple Italian sandwiches that we love in Italy is something that we've actually talked about doing for a couple of years. I think the greatest compliment I had was, one person told me, ‘This is the kind of sandwich you get at, like, 4 p.m. in Italy with an Aperol spritz.’ That is 100 percent the place we were going for.”
