Rhody-Made Pizza Crusts Go Nationwide!

The Pizza Gourmet in Providence had been doing a good business for 10-plus years when co-owner Jack Parente and his son Mike got the idea, in 2010, that they could “grow” (Mike’s term) and sell their wood-grilled crusts as a separate business (the other owners are Dave Goulart and Josh Willey). So they’ve gone from grilling crusts in a friend’s backyard to opening a pizza joint to buying their own building in Central Falls. “Now we can crank out as many crusts as we get orders for,” Mike said. And that means enough for 700 retail accounts and 2,000 wholesale accounts along the East Coast, into the Midwest and now also on the West Coast. But the dough for the crusts is made the same way they’ve always made it: from non-GMO flour, water, kosher salt and yeast. During the proofing, the dough is put into buckets with a blend of olive and canola oils. After it’s pulled out three hours later and hand-spread onto pans, it’s grilled—30 seconds on each side—over maple and oak char-wood. The Pizza Gourmet offers both white and whole-wheat versions to go directly on your grill or oven rack, finished off with your favorite sauce and toppings. Available throughout Rhode Island: Whole Foods, Dave’s Marketplace and many independent grocers.

Choose from a wide variety of freshly prepared grilled pizzas at The Pizza Gourmet, 357 Hope St., Providence. 401.751.0355; ThePizzaGourmetRI.com. To make your own custom gourmet grilled pizza, find a Pizza Gourmet retailer near you at WoodGrilledPizzaCrusts.com.