During a recent weekday dinner hour, I stopped by Blaze Pizza's sunny Fremont, California, location.
The chain's modern architecture was influenced by fast-casual competitor Chipotle, Blaze Pizza's president and COO Jim Mizes told Business Insider. The restaurants have a sleek, urban feel with lots of stainless steel and reclaimed wood.
Executive chef and cofounder Bradford Kent greeted us at the door. Blaze Pizza's founders enlisted the help of the so-called "Pizza Whisperer" at the start.
A student of the food sciences, Chef Brad spent seven years perfecting his pizza dough before launching the Zagat-rated Olio Pizzeria in Santa Barbara, California. He joined the Blaze Pizza team because he believe artisanal pizza should be accessible to more than the privileged few.
And oh, what a dough! Kent's recipe combines three styles of dough, fermented over 24 hours, that are made continuously throughout the day at each restaurant.
Like Chipotle, Blaze Pizza uses an assembly-style format that lets guests customize a "signature pizza" from the menu board or create their own.
There are as many as seven cheeses, eight proteins, 20 vegetables, and four sauces to choose from. No matter how many toppings you add, the pizza costs just $7.95.*
*Prices vary by location.
Chef Brad takes pride in the brand's offerings. "Blaze didn't invent the assembly line," he told us. "They infused is with [the highest quality] culinary ingredients."
For my first pizza, I opted to build my own. Chef Brad took a slab of dough and placed it on this machine, which flattens and shapes its crust in the metal plate's rim.
Seconds later, he lifted the dough off the plate and placed it on a wood peel for transportation down the assembly line.
I chose the spicy red sauce, infused with fresh tomatoes, olive oil, cayenne, jalapeño, and California-grown heirloom garlic.
When it came time to pick toppings, Chef Brad encouraged me that "less is more." The meatballs, made with all-white turkey meat and portobello mushrooms, had me drooling.
Chef Brad said he tried 80 different mozzarellas before selecting this prized, tender shred for the restaurant.
To top it off, I added Italian sausage, chunks of zucchini, red onions, black olives, and a sprinkling of cilantro.
Blaze Pizza's thin-crust pies cook in just 180 seconds in this three-ton oven, outfitted with a stone hearth and open flames on three sides.
With a BTU range 15 times that of a home oven, "we're talking about a lot of firepower," Chef Brad says. He twirled the pizza several times so it didn't burn too much on one side.
Voilà! Three minutes later, my individual pizza emerged hot and crispy on the edges. The chef cut it into six slices and boxed it up.
My eyes rolled back at first bite, it was that good. I couldn't believe I was eating a fast-casual pizza. Thin, light on the sauce, pliable enough to be folded in half, and wood-fired, it reminded me of pies at my favorite Brooklyn pizzeria, Roberta's.
That's no coincidence, according to Chef Brad. "New Yorkers make food with grit," he said. "It's not because they have the best water. It's because someone back there [in the kitchen] gives a care."
I liked it so much, that I ordered a second pie to bring home. The Green Stripe, a pesto-sauced pizza topped with grilled chicken, arugula, roasted red peppers, chopped garlic, and mozzarella, was delicious even reheated in my oven.
I expect we'll be hearing lots more from King James' pizza chain.
You've seen Blaze Pizza...
