1785 Regina Way, Campbell, CA 95008 Phone: (408) 221-3858
We’re hosting a fundraising event for friends, neighbors, members, and donors of the Southwest YMCA. If you’re on that list, you are invited! Join us for a seated, all-you-can-eat pizza party, including wine, beer, salad, and dessert. We’ll feature our classic NY-style and Italian-style pizzas including several of our signature pies from the Regina color-wheel.
Reservations are required with a suggested donation of $75 per person, but of course you can donate whatever you like. There will be additional opportunities to donate at the event. You can make a reservation by calling or texting me, Jeff, at 408-221-3858. Please be sure that I have your name and number of guests. Payments can be made via Venmo (“Regina-Pizza”) or PayPal.Me/ReginaPizzaCampbell or at the event in the donation box with either cash or check.
Please RSVP by Wednesday, September 20, 2023.
To sign up for text-based event notifications to future events, register here.
A big thank you to our pizza staff and volunteers including Dave Portera, Matt Schafnitz, Ian McCaskell, and others.
Menu
New York Style Pizza – Baked in the Baker’s Pride Deck Oven Sourdough Crust, Organic Crushed Tomatoes, Grande East Coast Blend Mozzarella, Fresh Basil
Italian Style Pizza – Baked in the Wood-Fired Brick Oven (“Regina”) Sourdough Crust with Caputo flour.
RED – NY-Style Cheese. With classic toppings (including Pepperoni, Sausage, Mushrooms, Olives, Peppers, onions)
RED – Pizza Margherita . San Marzano Tomatoes, Fior di Latte, Fresh Basil, Olive Oil
Purple – Pizza Viola – Red Onion / Red Wine Reduction, Shaved Parm, Bacon, Organic Mushrooms – Wood-Fired
Salad – Caesar Salad
Dessert – TBD
Beverages – Beer, Wine, Sparkling Water
Posted inCommunity, Food, Pizza|TaggedPizza|Comments Off on Saturday, 9/23/23, 5pm-7:30pm, Private Event – Fundraiser for the Southwest YMCA
1785 Regina Way, Campbell, CA 95008 Phone: (408) 221-3858
Join us for a buffet-style, all-you-can-eat pizza party, including wine, beer, salad, and dessert. There will be live music featuring a local trio performing Irish, Country, Folk, and Rock music. Thanks in advance to Fra Drumm (guitar, vocals), Jerry McMillan (fiddle), and Paddy Drumm (guitar, vocals)!
Come any time and stay for as long as you like. This is a dine-in event (no take-out pizzas). Net proceeds will be donated to Second Harvest of Silicon Valley in memory of Carol’s father John Ross Jackson.
We’ll feature our classic NY-style and Italian-style pizzas including several of our signature pies from the Regina Pizza color wheel. This is a great chance to try a variety of pizzas, including our wood-fired Italian-style pizzas. These pizzas are best right out of the oven and don’t box well for take-out, so they are only available during dine-in parties.
Reservations are required with a suggested donation of $50 per person, but of course you can donate whatever you like. You can make a reservation by texting me, Jeff, at 408-221-3858. Please be sure that I have your name and number of guests. Payments can be made via Venmo (“Regina-Pizza”) or PayPal.Me/ReginaPizzaCampbell or at the event in the donation box via check or cash.
Please RSVP by Wednesday, August 27, 2023.
To sign up for text-based event notifications to future events, register here.
A big thank you to our volunteer pizza staff including Dave Portera, Keith & Heather Duffy, Matt Schafnitz, Ian McCaskell, Jack Weldon, and Mike Upton, and others.
Thank you to Loma Prieta Winery for their donation of Pinotage red wine for our event!
And thank you to Sam’s BBQ for their donation of Italian Sausage based on the old Carlino family / Time Market recipe!
Menu
New York Style Pizza – Baked in the Baker’s Pride Deck Oven Sourdough Crust, Organic Crushed Tomatoes, Grande East Coast Blend Mozzarella, Fresh Basil
Italian Style Pizza – Baked in the Wood-Fired Brick Oven (“Regina”) Sourdough Crust with Caputo flour, San Marzano Tomatoes, Fior di Latte, Fresh Basil
Red – Pizza Margherita&NY-Style Cheese. With classic toppings including Pepperoni, Sausage, Mushrooms, Olives, Peppers, Pineapple, Onions, …) – Both Ovens
Purple–Pizza Viola – Red Onion / Red Wine Reduction, Shaved Parmesan, Bacon, Organic Mushrooms – Wood-Fired
Yellow – Pizza Giallo – Fresh Pineapple Salsa, Shaved Parmesan Cheese, Prosciutto and Orange Bell Pepper – Wood Fired
White –Pizza Bianca – Fior di Latte, Olive Oil, Prosciutto, Basil – Wood-Fired
Salad – Caesar Salad
Desserts – Tiramisu, cake, …
Beverages – Beer, Wine (featuring Loma Prieta Pinotage), Sparking Water, Sodas, Water
We’re opening Regina Pizza on Saturday, May 27 for a fundraiser in support of the American Cancer Society’s Courageous Kids Day.
We’re taking reservations for dine-in with two seatings from 5-6:30 pm, and 6:30-8:00 pm, with 4 tables for 4 to 6 people. We’ll have a selection of drinks available plus desserts and maybe more! We are also taking reservations for take-away as usual with a pre-arranged pick-up time – reservation details and menu below.
About Courageous Kids Day
Courageous Kids Day is an amazing event that provides “a day away from cancer” free of charge to young cancer patients and their families throughout the state of California. Founded in 1989 and in partnership with California’s Great America, Courageous Kids Day takes place each year on Mother’s Day. It is a day of enjoying amusement park rides, a picnic lunch, arts and crafts, magicians, balloon animals, an obstacle course, family portraits and much more!
For more information, visit the Courageous Kids Day website.
Jeff Bierach, Pizzaiolo Carol Bierach, Baker
1785 Regina Way, Campbell, CA 95008 Phone / Text Orders: (408) 221-3858
Orders need to be scheduled in advance due to our limited availability. Please call or text to reserve a table or to arrange a pickup time. When texting, please make sure we have your name! You can pay with cash or make payment via PayPal.Me/ReginaPizzaCampbell or Venmo (“Regina-Pizza”). To sign up for text-based event notifications, register here.
We’d like to thank Sam Carlino and Sam’s BBQ for adding to the experience for this event with the donation of Italian Sausage based an old Carlino family recipe. This was available for years at the family-run Time Market which opened in 1938 on Bascom and West San Carlos in San Jose.
While we’re at it, a big thank you to our volunteer staff: Keith & Heather Duffy, Ian McCaskill, Matt Schnafnitz, Dave Portera, Mike Upton, Craig Bierach, Ken Mills, Cory & Debbie Gross
Menu
New York Style Pizza – 18” Extra Large Crust
Suggested Donation
Classic Cheese Pizza Sourdough Crust, Organic Crushed Tomatoes, Grande East Coast Blend Mozzarella, Fresh Basil
$25
Pepperoni (want mushrooms with that?) Cup & Char Pepperoni – we have a new supplier (Ezzo) – Give it a try!
$30
Sausage Mushroom Olive We’re featuring Italian Sausage from Sam’s BBQ, based on an old Carlino family recipe. Do you remember Time Market?
$30
Pineapple Vegetarian (Want it spicy? +Jalapeños) Pineapple, Mushroom, Olive, Bell Peppers, Onions
$30
Make Your Own (Why not have it your way?) Choose from the any of the toppings listed above.
$30
Dessert – Chocolate Cake Chocolate cake with chocolate ganache frosting
I started making pizza when I was 15, back in 1977. Scratch dough. Tomato paste. Mozzarella and salami. Cooked in a pan. In a crappy electric oven. Then eventually on a stone. And over the years I progressed to about as far as you could go in a home oven. I knew that someday I wanted to have a “real” pizza oven…In the interim, I dabbled with small portable propane ovens that were pretty good – a lot hotter than a home oven for sure – but still not the real thing.
First Pizza
In July 2017 I was visiting New York, and I made it out to Juliana’s in Brooklyn. This is Patsy Grimaldi’s second place, in his original location after the guys who bought Grimaldi’s moved it to the building next store. So, I introduce myself to Patsy, get a picture, and we start talking pizza. He asks me, “what kind of oven do you have?” And I’m stopped cold. “Nothing but portable propane ovens now. Someday I’ll have a real oven!”
When I got home from that trip, I started doing research. I had my wood-fired brick-oven installed in September, and I built my outdoor pizza kitchen around it by mid-November – in time for Pizza Christmas. By shear luck I built the oven area big enough to accommodate two ovens, and I picked up a Baker’s Pride 251 Gas Deck Oven a couple years ago. Having two pizza ovens is a thing.
Two Ovens
So back to my research about buying an oven. For years I had been visiting Mugnaini in Watsonville to buy pizza supplies (they have since moved to Healdsburg). I always assumed that someday I would own a Mugnaini oven. I buy oven tools from them and I own Andrea’s “The Art of Wood Fired Cooking” which is a great book! But I didn’t buy a Mugnaini oven. Why? As I did my research and found several additional manufacturers, one resonated with my thinking. I’ll go through my selection process below, and also highlight some of the key dimensions.
My first thought was, I don’t really have a dedicated space yet for a pizza oven. Maybe I should just get a better portable oven. Maybe one that burns wood. So that is two dimensions right there: portable vs. built-in, and gas vs. wood).
Portable or countertop ovens are not a bad idea. And for many of my friends who have a more casual idea about making pizza, this is likely a good route. Prices start from around $250 and range upward to $2500 and more. Some really good counter-top ovens for baking Italian-style pizza are available in the $400 – $500 range. Look at Roccbox and Ooni. A little larger, but still portable is the Forno Bravo Bella for around $2095. Similar in category is Forno Venetzia, from $1700 to $5000. One of my neighbors has a really nice outdoor kitchen using components from Alfresco Grills. The Alfresco pizza oven is gas with two temperature control zones. They also have a bunch of other nice outdoor kitchen equipment.
I ultimately decided that I wanted a “real” built-in oven. Like my dream of owning a Mugnaini. So I researched wood-fired ovens. I found three manufacturers local to Silicon Valley – Mugnaini, Forno Bravo, and Forno Piombo. Mugnaini I considered to be high-end, and expensive. Forno Bravo a little lower end, with more options, even portables and DIY kits. The thing that drove me away from the Mugnaini and Forno Bravo was their cast concrete domes. Yes, that gives you the perfect shaped dome. But cooking in a concrete dome just doesn’t have the same appeal to me as cooking in a wood-fired BRICK oven. The only oven that I found locally made, using just pure simple materials, was Forno Piombo. Pricing for these ovens will be around $10,000+ including shipping delivery. Another great part of the buying process for the Forno Piombo was their test-drive procedure at their demonstration kitchen in Napa. Having that hands-on experience made a big difference.
The next thing I will add to this decision matrix is, “what do you want to cook?” If you only want to make a small number of pizzas for family dinner or smaller-sized parties with friends, then the portables are a great option. If you go with a brick oven, the possibilities expand to cooking meats, vegetables, etc., in a wood-fired oven. Cooking at high temperature in a wood oven opens lots of possibilities. I do a lot with cast iron pans cooking at 700 degrees and with my Tuscan Grill for firing burgers and steaks over 1100-degree coals. Check out Andrea Mugnaini’s book on the Art of Wood-fired Cooking. And of course, Italian-style pizza at 800 degrees, cooked in about 90 seconds.
That said, what is it like to own and operate one of these wood ovens? It is a good bit of work! It takes a couple of hours at a minimum to heat the oven up. And you need to have a wood supplier who will provide you with decent sized wood – I still end up splitting a lot of it down.
If I had it to do over again, I would have purchased the larger-size oven. I have a 36”. They make a 42”. Even though the larger size takes longer to heat, it offers more thermal stability when you are cranking out pizzas and gives you that extra cooking area. The other thing, is now that I have my Baker’s Pride 251, 36” gas deck oven, I find it really easy just to go turn the knob and come back two hours later to start baking NY-Style pizza at 600 degrees. Ultimately, I like to use both ovens together. I can put 2-4 pizzas in the Baker’s Pride, cook them for 5 minutes, and then “finish” them at 800 degrees for about 20 seconds.
So, my final advice. If you’re new to making pizza I wouldn’t over-invest in an oven. The counter-top models make a great addition to an outdoor kitchen. You can always upgrade to a built-in wood-fired brick oven once you gain the experience.
Also, there a lot more pizza ovens out there. I think they are similar within each category and price range. But ultimately you need to find something that appeals to your needs, your environment, and your style.
-Jeff
Posted inBakery, Pizza|Comments Off on Buying a Pizza Oven