After I become old, I’d prefer to consider that there will probably be only a few issues I must make me blissful. Give me carbohydrates, a very good painkiller cocktail, Beyoncé’s farewell tour album, Scrabble, and considerably frequent social interplay.
My grama, who simply turned 90 in September, wholeheartedly agrees, arguing that it’s life’s simplest and unassuming pleasures that preserve her so upbeat and optimistic. However as we celebrated her monumental birthday, I realized that her happiness got here within the type of an apple pizza, ready solely a block away by a red-brick home-turned-”specialty shoppe” known as Nation Fashion.
This humble dessert has change into so beloved, so famend amongst her assisted dwelling facility’s residents that you simply’d suppose it was a pseudonym for a star or legendary creature who roams the halls and items everybody flowers and hundred-dollar payments each day.
In fact, as a meals author and connoisseur of all issues scrumptious, I had to do this well-known dish for myself, so I walked over to the shop and ordered a pie to deliver again to my eagerly-awaiting grama, her pals, and my prolonged household.
The decision? A delightfully easy, but flavorful play on basic apple pie with a uniquely flaky and crunchy crust, sweetened cream cheese base, apple pie filling topping, and a layer of streusel that coated the mouth like a buttery sand. It was gone inside minutes, loved by cousins who “mmmed” and “ahhhed” in unison and agreed that this was, certainly, “actually, actually good pizza.”
So within the spirit of journalism (and my relentless curiosity), I reached out to the institution that brings a lot pleasure to my grama and her neighbors. I needed to get its backstory and, on the very least, I wanted the staff to know simply how a lot of a optimistic influence a seemingly insignificant menu merchandise had on a gaggle of hungry elders.
Zachary Adams, proprietor of Nation Fashion, confirmed that he and his household are well-aware of my grama and her pizza-loving posse’s obsession together with his pizza.
“We have now a protracted historical past [with the building],” he says. “It brings us a lot satisfaction to offer consolation meals for our neighbors. A number of pizzas and friendships have been made.”
In truth, the Nation Fashion model has offered this aforementioned consolation to the Bridgeville neighborhood for nearly 30 years. Adams and his household bought the store in 2008 to “deliver it again to its outdated glory” and replace the native staple to compete with surrounding companies.
“We applied higher know-how and improved customer support,” he provides. “This has actually helped our small store compete. We have now our personal branded AP for ordering on-the-go. We additionally host our menu on each third-party supply platform.”
Regardless of modernizing the day-to-day workflow and operations, Adams nonetheless credit a lot of the restaurant’s success to their authentic recipes.
“We’ve not modified,” he says. “We put together our pizzas the identical method as they did 30 years in the past.”
When requested concerning the apple pizza particularly, which displays a pattern amongst quick meals joints venturing into dessert pizza territory, Adams claims that it’s a Nation Fashion-original.
“It was created within the early ‘90s by the unique homeowners and now we have eight extra [sweet] flavors starting from blueberry to Oreo,” he reveals.
However what actually units the pizza other than neighborhood competitors is its distinct crust that flakes like a brioche, but crunches like a cracker.
“Our crust is a raised Syrian flatbread made in-house daily. Even higher, you should buy our pizza crusts at choose grocery shops all through the realm and make pizza at dwelling.”
This similar crust can be used as a basis for a few of the retailer’s inventive savory pies, just like the Italian Pierogi which incorporates potato, butter, romano cheese, spiced tomato, and sautéed onions, or the Broccoli and Cauliflower, a six-cheese sauce topped with the vegetable stalks mozzarella, and provolone.
Nation Fashion additionally prides themselves on having one of many “most intensive vegan pizza menus” in Pittsburgh—fairly an accolade in a city that loves meat and is the birthplace to the well-known condiments that high them.
In a social media-dominated period the place everybody seemingly rushes to get in on the most recent meals pattern or innovation, typically it’s worthwhile to pause and recognize treasures that aren’t concocted for the sake of going viral. Or a minimum of that’s what grama taught me throughout my final journey. In any case, whereas the apple pizza may be a part of the ranks of unicorn Frappuccinos, corn ribs, and baked feta pastas on TikTok, that’s not its function. As an alternative, it exists to humbly deliver pleasure to a neighborhood that finds pleasure within the small stuff. And once I get to an age the place I’m too outdated to tie my footwear, it’s the small stuff, like an apple pizza that brings a whole neighborhood collectively, that I hope to by no means take without any consideration.
Share a easy pleasure with us within the feedback beneath.