Pizza Today - July 2019 - 35

of pizza and then we put a show on for the
sodas."
The enhanced experience, says Mendelsohn, rests on some significant investments: an old-school style soda fountain,
eight or so house-made syrups made fresh
each morning, ingredients sourced from
area farms, pun-riddled drink names ("We
Heard It Through the Grape Soda") and
little flourishes. "The cherry one gets a
maraschino cherry on it, our pineapple one
gets a slice of pineapple. We do different
things. Yes we've invested a lot in it because
we wanted to make it a feature."
Of house-made syrups, she stresses,
"I find when you make them yourself it
produces an extra flavor." And the artisanal
aspect seems to be paying off. We, The
Pizza has received a shoutout in The Washington Post for hipster originality, plus this
high praise from a Tasting Table reviewer:
"'Don't Forget Your Ginger Roots' is like
drinkable candy with real ginger heat that
obliterates its commercial competition."
For interested proprietors, Mendelsohn's
advice is to start small - maybe resist

investing in the fancy soda fountain at first.
"If people are really loving them, then you
can expand."

3: SEASONAL, SMALL-BATCH, CHEFINSPIRED - Frankly Pizza, Kensington,

Maryland
Frank Linn, whose cozy pizza place
frequently earns a spot on area "best of "
lists and references to house-made soda,
noticed the craft soda trend picking up in
restaurants since around 2007. He long
wanted to make it and now, with his own
restaurant his approach is probably best
described as "chef-driven," involving simple
tools (steam juicer, carbonator, small soda
jerk-style tap) and a seasonal rotation of
flavors. Linn might serve anything from
guava, blood orange, blackberry mojito and
pineapple lemongrass flavors; and says his
biggest sellers are simple - vanilla cream
and cherry fizz.
While craft sodas make a profit, Linn
admits making them is time-consuming.
Costs are also higher than for commercial
products (35 to 40 cents a soda compared
to mere pennies), and require chefs to

do initial groundwork, like deciding on a
percentage of salt-sugar-juice ratios. "Do
your homework, taste everything. As for
the business, make sure you're aiming at a
crowd that's going to accept what you're
making."
So why do this? Linn's reasons are chefinspired. "First of all, I'm trying to provide
something unique and different as I am a
chef. I believe if you have a restaurant you
should make everything." He also talks
about lower sugar counts, better ingredients
and intense flavor. "Literally, my wife will
go and pick strawberries and I'll steam
them and make strawberry soda."
Finally, particularly outside of the alcohol
beverage category, Linn sees craft soda as
the perfect accompaniment for pizza. "I
think water's too bland for pizza, you need
something to stand up. Our pizza is super
flavorful, it needs something vibrant. So the
vibrant flavors of soda really go well with it,
you know?" n
CONNIE JESKE CRANE is

freelance writer.

a Canadian

CLICK.EXPLORE.CONNECT.

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