When the moon hits your eye

Like a big pizza pie

Thats amore!

        Harry Warren and Jack Brooks

    They havent started serving full-moon pizza yet; but with Chi Tran and Jim Chrietzbergs ingenuity, creativity and attention to detail, I wouldnt put it past them.

    They are, however, serving the best pizza youll get on the Peninsula in a parking lot, across from Waikiki Beach at Cape Disappointment. This is no food truck event either; they have a complete Italian-style wood-fired oven, a pile of aged apple wood, and a kitchen full of top-of-the-line ingredients. (They even import their flour, but more on that in a moment.) They serve pizza, homemade deserts, seafood and beverages.

    

Serious Pizza … plus

    Chi and Jim are Serious Pizza Plus and that is an understatement these two are seriously dedicated and they know what theyre doing. As Jim, retired from a financial services career, tells it, We are big on getting exercise and whenever wed go to any kind of park, it doesnt take very long, if youre observant, to see a parent or a grandparent say to a kid, No, you cannot have this, or She cant eat this junk! Its a hot dog [or a dippy dog] or cotton candy you know, what you generally get at a park.

    When you think about it, Jim continued, the state parks have some of the most beautiful places in the world so why shouldnt they have pretty food?

    The two of them got to thinking this over and realized there was a market niche going unserved. A lot of families and a lot of women go camping but they dont necessary want to go camping and cooking, said Jim. An RV has a small kitchen. And we all know about campfire cooking it can be fun if you like smoke in your eyes, pancakes raw on one side, burnt on the other, and Indian frybread.

    Jim and Chi knew theyd hit on something that could also interest them. We wanted to reinvent ourselves, get into something that would be fun in a good place to live. We started talking about what would be a food people at parks would like and dont bring when theyre camping.

    Id thought I was never getting into the food business, Jim continued, but my wife always wanted to. Chi is from Vietnam and is, as Jim said, what would be characterized as a super taster. She can identify things in food I cant even taste. They make the perfect team: Jim has the business sense and Chi has the cooking talent.

    

Location location location

    What is striking about the Chi-Jim duo is how much thought and effort has gone into their business. Lots of people have creative ideas, but it takes a special tenacity to make them work.

    They started by researching state parks. They knew they wanted a place with the right volume of campers; a place where those campers would have a sophisticated attitude about food; and a place close to where they wanted to live. Then they knew theyd need a park management team that would get what they were trying to do.

    Chi and Jim found all of that at Cape Disappointment. On the top of their list is, the view and we like little communities. We knew wed also need a park manager looking at how to differentiate their park over other parks. We went to Cape D first this is a special park and I crunched the numbers. Everything lined up.

    

What makes pizza serious?

    At the same time they began researching product options. Our pizza is made with an Italian flour its shipped from Italy to our wholesaler who brings it to Portland to someone who brings it out here.

    Serious pizzas are made with Caputo Tipo 00 white flour, ground very fine and a lot of other ingredients that Chi has been working on for a long time. As Forno Bravo, an Italian wood-fired oven maker, says on their website, Antico Molino Caputo Tipo 00 Pizza Flour is very silky and soft. If you are used to throwing your pizzas, you will see that the dough needs gentle handling.

    Watching Chi work the dough, you see exactly what theyre talking about. She takes a round from a drawer and gently pulls and stretches it with her fists and knuckles to bring it to the right circumference. She doesnt exactly throw it but she lifts and spins it, almost tenderly, before placing it on the cooking surface.

    They use Grande mozzarella, a cheese- maker known for its quality. (As a long-time foodie, I knew one of Grandes product development representatives in Berkeley. She had a wood-fired oven in her home kitchen talk about serious!)

    Chi uses CasCioppo Brothers sausage again, only the best. These guys started their family firm in Ballard in 1973. Brother Sam, after not making it as a cook on Alaska fishing boats, came home and did what every self-respecting American has done or dreamed of doing he went into business for himself. CasCioppo is known for Italian style meat products. Jim added, We asked them to make us a custom low sodium sausage and to knock off the additives.

    Everything is in the details Chi has a certain way that shell layer ingredients. Then I spent a year looking at ovens. You cant use an electric oven here and gas just wouldnt work, not for what we wanted to do. They ordered a special-made Italian oven in which they burn only cured apple wood.

    

The details

    Chi is the master of the flames, It is 700-800 degrees in the oven, she says, The pies take only three minutes to bake. I squint into the heat as she places my pizza in just the right spot on the stone floor of the oven to the right of the fire. She watches my pie carefully, then turns it and tilts her metal paddle up to shield the top so the heat crisps only the crust edge.

    I cant begin to describe all the astounding combos of flavors they offer (including a vegan choice). Ill only mention that a friend and I devoured an Earth Pie olive oil, onion, Gorgonzola cheese, fresh tomatoes, basil, drizzled with balsamic vinegar while watching one of the most amazing sunsets ever; and the pizza was better than the sunset.

    Jim also sent along a small container of salt for the fresh tomatoes and a special home-made ice cream They also make their own cannoli, crème brulee and vanilla, chocolate and coffee ice cream.

    Be ready for a wait repeat customers have been in the know for a couple years now but, I promise, you wont be disappointed at Cape Disappointment. (Call Jim or Chi to order 642-3060 or text 783-1999.)