Pizza Today - August 2019 - 54

food comes from and go from there."
Gore found a cozy little spot in the
revitalizing Italian Village and spent a year
and a half building his pizzeria. GoreMade
Pizza opened in September 2016.
The space is built for connectivity with
an open kitchen. Every table has a view of
the imported Italian dome oven. "I didn't
want to be in some hole making food and
not be able to connect with the people that
are consuming the food." There's a whimsical
patio in the back with a funky art car.
During Pizza Today's visit this
summer, just as many owners do from time
to time, Gore was filling for a server. While
chatting with Gore at the bar, he eyes were
always fixed on the customers beginning to
flow in. He excuses himself and sits down
next to patrons on a long banquet that
stretches the length of the restaurant, having
genuine conversation about the food. It's clear
to see that interior was designed for these
cozy interactions.
Gore returns to share more of the story

5 4 / P I Z Z AT O D AY. C O M / A U G U S T 2 0 1 9

of his business. As he details his menu, it's
evident he's encapsulating something special
and unique. "Our menu is really small, and
we only have six toppings that we use yearround and everything else changes." Every
pizza comes with fresh mozzarella. Its regular
toppings list includes pepperoni, sausage,
bacon, roasted mushroom, red onion and feta.
At the back of the restaurant is a black dryerase board with a list of seasonal toppings
and salads, including ingredients like white
cheddar, olives, piquante peppers, dippy egg,
caramelized onions and Shaorma chicken.
"Our rule is that if it grows in Ohio, we
only serve it when someone here is growing
it," he says, adding that the pizzeria doesn't
serve a classic Margherita pizza. "Basil is
hard to come by sometimes," he says. "People
expect a Neapolitan wood-fired pizza and we
just don't have that all of the time. Nor do I
want to artificially create that to support their
expectation. We expect things all the time
and we miss out of the fact that they are here
sometimes, and they are not here sometimes.
And when they are here, it's awesome and

when it's not, there is something else is here
and that is awesome. So as soon as you let go
of an ingredient, you get another ingredient.
It's important to connect to that."
Instilling the philosophy on the pizzeria's
menu requires the team to get creative.
"We have something we call 'Super Spice.'
Basically throughout pepper season, we get
cases of peppers, we'll put half of them aside
for dehydration," Gore says. "Because we are
local and seasonal, we only get spicy stuff a
very small window of time, so we dehydrate
the peppers and after pepper season we have
this one little shaker and that's around for
about five months."
Its most popular seasonal items debut
late summer and fall. "The No. 1 thing that
people want all the time is the butternut
squash sauce," he says. "It's a pureed butternut
squash base." During the winter season, Gore
says, they focus on meats, cheeses and root
vegetables.
GoreMade's menu has only four pizzas, like
Annie Social featuring bacon, red onion and
feta on an olive oil base. The Clintonvillain
http://www.marsalovens.com http://www.marsalovens.com http://www.PIZZATODAY.COM
Pizza Today - August 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pizza Today - August 2019
