Pizza Today - May 2020 - 12

Meet The Maker

Q& A with
JAY FALK
Caliente Pizza and Draft House
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

How long have you been making pizzas?
I've been making pizzas for 20 years now. I
started to work at a local pizza shop when I was
15 years old.
Why pizza?
Pizza is the greatest food on the planet in my
eyes. It's always changing and evolving. Pizza
makers around the world are always looking for
new ideas and ways to make great pizza. Earlier
this year, three of us went to New York for
36 hours just to try eight new places. After
20 years it's still nice to get new prospective on
different takes on pizza.
What's your favorite pizza and why?
New York style - I love a good thin and
crispy pizza. It's amazing to see, with the basic
ingredients to make a cheese pizza, the vast
differences from shop to shop.
How did you learn your craft?
I took an after school job when I was 15 and
started by doing slices in a mall. A few months
later, I was being taught how to make pizza. Here
20 years later I'm still learning my craft. Going to
the Pizza Expo and competing was great to learn
new tricks and see how pizza is evolving from city
to city and from country to country.
What's been your biggest challenge with
pizza dough and how did you solve it?
There are always a lot of challenges with pizza
dough. Gum line, hydration and fermentation
times are ones that come to my mind at first. For
me, fermentation time is my biggest challenge. I
like to have between 72- to 96-hour fermentation
times. This becomes tricky on the weekends
when you are very busy and there is only so much
room in the walk in. For us, its always staying
ahead and making sure the days leading up to
weekend we really stock up.

What direction is pizza headed in
your view?
After going to Pizza Expo last year, I think
pizza is headed for exciting times. You see
people really trying new things everyday
there. I see highend seafood as possibly a
new trend with pizza. I also like to see newer
styles like Roman becoming so big. Five
years ago I had never even heard of it. Now
it has its own competition in Vegas. I work
for a company who refuses to stay stagnate
and are always trying to be ahead of the
curve, so I'm in a great place to continue to
evolve with times.

Any words of wisdom for other
makers right now going through this
very uncertain time?
It's unprecedented times for all of us. The
only words of wisdom I can suggest is taking
it day by day. That could mean so many
things, changing your staffing or changing
how much you order. The big thing we are
doing is extra marketing, just letting people
know we are open even if it's just takeout
or delivery. The city of Pittsburgh has been
fantastic in supporting local business during
this time, and I wanted to say a big thank
you to all of you.

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Pizza Today - May 2020

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