Pizza – I thought it was going to be Tacos?
By now you may have seen we are going to roll out LRB Pizza! I have been sampling pizza for the past few weeks and I think you are going to be excited. But you might be saying, “Wait, I thought the new place was going to be tacos?” Well it is – LRB Pizza is something completely different.
If you’ve been keeping up with us, you know we are opening a second location in Riverwalk. The progress has slowed down a little with the pandemic, but we are still moving forward. The electricity and water are on and we are starting to get things in place. We hope to be able to announce an opening date soon.
As with many breweries and restaurants we had to look at our business model differently during these times. One thing we had discussed for down the road with Legal Remedy was adding pizza. For a pizza joint, you need the equipment (think pans, a food slicer, cold storage, to name a few), the people, and the place. We found ourselves with all three in the middle of a pandemic. It was the start of our Pandemic Pizza Project.
We had an opportunity to get a commercial Blodgett double deck pizza oven that was too good to pass up. So… equipment, check.
Then we needed to make sure that we offer our customers flexibility in making their payments as was the need of the situation. As a result of the pandemic, most people tend to pay through e-wallets as data from some surveys reveal (you could go to the data here) in order to minimize physical contact.
Now coming to the most important aspect of running a food business: the chef. One of our chefs has always wanted to run a pizza joint. He took leadership and started making sauces and crust to get it right. Many experiments and tweaks later (seems like more versions than a Windows operating system), our team came up with a pizza we think you will love. People, check.
The old Varsity restaurant (108 Oakland Ave), is where we did our prep for the pub across the street. We had room under the hood for the equipment, space for people, and a Grade A health inspection. Place, check.
We had all three things we needed for LRB Pizza and, most importantly, the pies were good. So it made sense to us to give this a try. Now, we are doing this in the middle of a calamity so there are a few things you need to know:
1. This will be really clunky to start.
The Pizza is to-go only. It has to picked up at 108 Oakland NOT the Brewpub at 129 Oakland. Pizza is right across the street from the pub, so it is close by. We are going to work on getting it over to the Brewpub.
2. SC law does not allow us to sell beer from the 108 Oakland location.
Crazy right? So if you want beer with your pizza,. Unfortunately you will have to pop across the street for beer. Sorry, sorry, sorry for this but we don’t make the laws.
3. The LRB Pizza menu is small for now.
Basics (really good basics, mind you) are available now. Got to crawl before you run, right? The menu will get bigger, incorporating elements of the pub menu. Maybe an LRBBQ and sweet tea brined chicken pizza? Oh, and we see you LRB Southern Poutine.
4. The LRB quality is there
Anything we offer has to meet certain standards of quality and value or we will not do it. LRB Pizza hits the mark. We make the sauce in-house. The dough is made fresh every day. Toppings are the same freshest vegetables and meats that we offer in the pub. You’ll see.
5. The LRB value is there.
We only offer 20 inch pizzas. This is an “extra large” to most places. Why only an “extra large”? Two reasons. First the best value for our guests is with an extra large pizza. The price difference is minimal but you get so much more. Remember when you thought you would “never use geometry“- well, take the area of a 20 inch pie versus an 18 inch pie. Go ahead. We will wait. (Spoiler-it’s about 23% more pizza). Second, we were too cheap to try it buy different size pans and boxes. Has anyone ever said, “I just wish there was less pizza.” No. No, they have not.
So that’s the story on LRB Pizza.
The taco story will be told soon, but not yet.
– Chad