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Pizza Bones bakes its 14-inch round pies in a wood-fired oven and currently partners with Sub Rosa Bakery for grains and Tomten Farm for produce.
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Pizza Bones co-founder Ashley Patino stands outside Sub Rosa Bakery in Church Hill.
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Co-founder Ben Burakoff at a Pizza Bones pop-up at Sub Rosa Bakery
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Signs showcase Pizza Bones offerings during a pop-up at Sub Rosa.
Pizza, at its heart, is a people-pleaser, a food almost universally enjoyed in this country that evokes a flood of memories from sleepovers and soccer parties to “let’s grab a pie and beer” with friends and pizza nights with the family.
For Ashley Patino, currently making pastries for Recluse Roasting Project, and Ben Burakoff of Barrel Thief Wine Shop & Cafe, the accessibility of pizza is precisely what drove their desire to launch Pizza Bones, a pop-up series that they hope to transition to a full-fledged restaurant.
“It brings people together, that’s the best part,” Patino says. “Few foods like that the majority of people like."
The venture also arose from their shared love for dough. “As you bake, even at your house, you learn the dough is clearly the most important thing,” Patino says. “It’s like the vehicle."
But both believe that every ingredient matters. “All of the details, all the parts are moving at the same time, and it’s about having this wider picture, and they all contribute,” Burakoff says.
The duo’s pizza dreams came about at the same time but did not involve each other initially. Ashley, the planner, began working at Sub Rosa Bakery five years ago. While there, she met Burakoff, who had recently launched his own pizza pop-up series, Pizza 2000, that he hosted at the bakery. The two quickly became friends, and Patino shared ideas of her own pie venture, dubbed Pizza Bones, and her goal of opening it by 2020.
Burakoff's connection to Sub Rosa began after meeting co-owner Evin Dogu when they worked together at a bakery in New York. After hearing about the masterful execution of breads at Sub Rosa, he soon relocated to Virginia to join be a part of the heirloom grain-using, wood-fired oven-baking, James Beard Award-nominated brother-and-sister operation.
In the back of his mind, Burakoff says, he began to think, "I can keep doing this, and if I do, it’s going to be a pizza place."
He adds, “I’m not sure I totally knew that at the time in my own words why, but [pizza is] casual, comfortable; everybody is welcome, and everybody relates to it. If you poll this room and people could access their inner 5-year-old and were asked what their favorite food is, eight out of nine would say pizza.”
In 2015 Burakoff departed Richmond to travel to India, and post-VCU Patino went to San Francisco, where she landed a job at Tartine Bakery, considered among the country's best.
Years later they both returned to Richmond, and after reconnecting they realized that instead of carrying out independent pizza visions, they could join forces.
“We thought, together we can build something greater than separately,” Patino says.
Between those first Sub Rosa days and today, some serious R&D occurred, including pizza tours at home and abroad. They paid visits to Farm & Sparrow bakery in North Carolina, from owner Dave Bauer, who focuses on Appalachian grains and later opened All Souls Pizza; made stops in California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, Oregon and Tennessee; explored the pizza mecca, New York, with stops at Di Fara Pizza, Emily Pizza, Scarr’s Pizza, Una Pizza Napoletana, Roberta’s Pizza, Rubirosa, Lombardi and Prince St. Pizza; and they even noshed internationally in Italy, Denmark and Iceland.
In addition to Burakoff's experiments with Pizza 2000, the process allowed them to figure out what they want and what matters most to them. Pizza Bones bakes its 14-inch round pizzas in a wood-fired oven with a lower temperature and longer baking time, describing the pies as a cross between New York and Neapolitan styles. Their dough is a unique blend of white flour and whole and/or heirloom grains that are milled and sifted at Sub Rosa.
Burakoff notes that diners should stay tuned, because until Pizza Bones opens its doors, its pizza plans are not set in stone. “This is pizza of the mind, and we know what we’re looking for, but also discovering things, so it keeps evolving.”
He and Patino have already hosted a handful of pop-ups and are currently searching for a brick-and-mortar location, eyeing the Jackson Ward neighborhood in particular. Prior pop-up menus have included slices of cheese, sausage and pepper, pesto and tomato, and Caesar salad pizzas.
Although Patino and Burakoff are passionate about pizza, the two strive for a balance between being serious and having fun, and they want their future space, as well as their pies, to do the same.
“That’s exactly how I feel about the sour cream and onion potato chip pizza we did,” explains Burakoff of the intriguing creation, which consisted of a yogurt base with lime and lemon zest, grated onions, garlic, and thinly sliced scallions, topped with crunched up Route 11 sour cream and onion potato chips.
“The things I draw from are the things that shocked me when I ate them, in a good way, and those are the things that stuck with me and bright spots and the memories that are so strong.”
Pizza Bones' next pop-up will be held from 6 p.m. until sellout on Nov. 10 at The Jasper. Patino and Burakoff will be joined by chef Jeremy Dutra to offer square slices topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, tzatziki, lamb gyro meat, fenugreek hot sauce and turnip pickles, along with a vegan option.
