Pizzeria 712 is officially the new awesome

My brother-in-law Joseph and his business partner Colton have done it! They've successfully opened their restaurant in Orem called Pizzeria 712! I've mostly had to hear about all the details from family but I've been able to participate in my own special ways.

Joseph & Colton come to San Francisco in June 2006 to research and Bex and I tag along.

Steve and Betsy conduct their own independent upscale pizzeria research in San Francisco in Spring 2007.

That whole "participation by proxy" thing ended this week when Steve and I were in Utah visiting my family for Christmas. We were lucky enough to have dinner and lunch the following day at Pizzeria 712.

They pride themselves on using local sustainably farmed produce, meats and cheeses whenever possible. If you don't know who Alice Waters is, you should read about her online...this quote of hers is on a large chalkboard inside the restaurant and it sums up Pizzeria 712 very well.


Thursday night Suzy, Steve and I set out for our dinner adventure.


Since Steve and I live in San Francisco and rarely get to visit the restaurant we decided to order lots, try it all and take the leftovers home. We looked over the menu.


For starters they bring you homemade hummus with Joseph's freshly baked pita bread. So delicious. We also ordered the short rib & polenta (one of the best thing I've ever tasted in my life) and the beet salad with homemade ricotta cheese.


They were also running a mac & cheese special...our lucky night.


Speck pizza.


Tomato, mozzarella & basil pizza.


Suzy enjoying the carmelized onion, potato, rosemary and fontina pizza.


To finish our meal we shared the homemade deconstructed s'more.


Colton & Joseph were too busy to talk to us...almost. We cornered them at the counter for a minute to thank them for the fantastic meal and congratulate them on their success.


Since we were staying the night in Provo we figured we better hit up P712 for lunch the next day because the lunch menu includes items (namely panini & soup) that aren't on the dinner menu. Here are some shots of the front of the restaurant...it was WAY too cold the night before to be bothered with picture posing in the freeeezing temps.



We started our lunch with Colton's amazing brocoli soup.


Then Steve ordered the braised beef panini and I ordered the ham, white cheddar and pear mustard panini and we shared.


This is Brian. Brian is also an important part of the P712 crew. Brian keeps things going in the front of the house while Colton & Joseph see to the rest.


Where the magic happens.


We showed up for lunch right before they were closing to prep for dinner so things were slow enough that Steve and I got a lesson in wood burning ovens from the masters themselves.


Congratulations Joseph & Colton for reaching your goal!!! I'm so excited for you both! 2008 will be an amazing year I'm sure. Here is a link to the P712 blog and other interesting/useful info.