Why A Pizza Joint In Texas Charges $1,000 For A Side Of Ranch Dressing
Yes, you read that right. A grand for a side of ranch. Jay Jerrier, the owner of the restaurant, doesn't condone the mixing of the creamy dressing with his pizza, so with a wink and a nod, he makes it nearly impossible for his customers to do it.
The pricey option has been around for awhile. Jerrier told Eater he purchased a glass case (a la fire extinguishers) to place the ranch in, and then hung the $1000 price tag next to it.
Most of the regular patrons at Cane Rosso knows it's all in good fun, but the expensive menu item started picking up traction when it appeared in a Reddit thread earlier this month. The debate received 900+ comments, some of them unhappy with Jerrier, some defending him.
Eater interviewed Jerrier about his now infamous $1000 side of ranch dressing:
The Reddit thread got pretty heated. It seemed like some of them were trying to paint you as the "Pizza Nazi."
"Everybody [on Reddit] seems to assume we're the worst people in the world, like how dare they tell me how to eat my pizza! Dude, it's a joke. Relax.
"I really don't know how you could look at [the glass case of ranch] and not automatically know it was a joke. I guess without understanding our whole body of work and what our 'bit' is… I don't know. It was pretty funny how people did take it really seriously and were super offended."
He has a hunch that a "the ranch belt" exists, states like Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and "probably Ohio" make it up, but customers in Texas and those who visit his New York restaurant, Zoli's, don't typically ask to dip their pizza in creamy salad dressing.
Jerrier says even with the opposition from some Redditors, the price tag won't be negotiated down anytime soon.
"For some reason ranch dressing on hot melty cheese just seems weird to me," he told Eater. "My friend Paulie Gee who runs Paulie Gee's in Brooklyn, his new thing is to have cold salted butter with his pizza crust. Now that's a good idea."