Every year my "chicago" friends and I gather in Louisville to celebrate life and just a chance to be together. This year we decided to change things up. Typically we just go out to eat. I had heard that MozzaPi was delicious and the space was beautiful. I went to their website, and saw they had pizza making classes. They also have classes for making bread. We made a reservation for 8 to do the cooking class via reaching out through email. Lori was very quick to respond and gracious. There is no dinner service as of yet, so we had the entire place to ourselves!
This is a family run operation. Tom, the owner and head pizza making man, built the barn himself. He said, if it does not have an engine, he built it. The space is breathtaking. High ceilings, awesome light fixtures, a gorgeous copper wood-burning oven, and a gigantic grandfather clock that is flanked by enormous barn doors that fold open in the warmer months. The colors of the doors pay homage to the 2 train lines the run. Blue for one train line and red for the other train line. I totally geek out to small details like this.
When we first walked in, Tom was pulling out a homemade focaccia bread to start. Seriously, the best focaccia I have ever tasted. Lightly salted, cruchy outside, and fluffy inside. Wow.
Onto the class. The class was slated from 5-9 pm. We were ushered to the back room with scales where we each weighed out our flour, sugar, yeast, and poolish to create their recipe for dough. All while sipping on delicious Cabernet that MozzaPi hand picks. Once we had finished our dough, we headed out to the oven where some prepared dough was ready for us to make! We had options to make a margherita as well as a white sauce pie. A salad had been freshly tossed with a delicious ground mustard dressing. Tom showed us what to do and we all took our turns making pies and then quickly consuming them. There were a couple of pizza dough casualties, but everyone was so light hearted that it did not even matter. Everyone was having an awesome time creating and eating the fruits of our labor. Simple ingredients make for the best pizza, it turns out.
There were a few parents in the audience, and they were getting tired. One requested coffee and Tom got so excited! They roast beans in house and made us delicious espresso. I am not kidding. Everything about this experience was top notch. Nothing short of magical. The people of MozzaPi are so thoughtful. Not one part of this place or their food has not been deliberated over or detail left ignored. Once we were finished making pies, we partitioned our dough so we could take them home! How cool!?
Last but not least, when we were leaving he sent us home with breakfast breads. I get so excited for places that exist like this. MozzaPi oozes with love. I cannot say enough positive words about this place or the family that runs it. I hope that this is just the beginning of a very fruitful journey for them. I so look forward to coming in for their regular service!! read more