EAST HARTFORD — For 33 years the Mahlis family has been providing New England-style Greek pizza, first by Tony Mahlis and then his son Michael, who took over eight years ago.
“My dad was a factory worker,” Michael Mahlis said.
His father would work in a factory in Bristol full-time during the day, and then work at a pizza shop at night, Mahlis said.
“He liked the business and he wanted to venture out on his own,” Mahlis said.
His dad, along with wife Helen, bought a storefront on Silver Lane, then moved up the street to its current location at 310 Silver Lane.
“My dad built it up, made it really successful.”
Mahlis said he joined the family business when he was 17, but eventually wanted to venture out n his own.
“I enjoyed food service,” he said. “I wanted to move on and do finer dining.”
Mahlis said he studied at Manchester Community College for a year before attending the Culinary Institute of America for two years in Hyde Park, New York.
“That was a really great experience,” he said. “I came out of there with a lot of knowledge, ready to go.”
After returning to Queen Pizza immediately after graduating, Mahlis moved on to working at Apricots in Farmington and later, Max Restaurant Group. Then his father asked a favor of him.
“When my dad moved the operation up here, he asked for my help,” Mahlis said. “I decided fine dining is one thing, but being with your people, I felt like I really belonged here. I stuck with it and when my dad was ready to retire, he gave me the option to take over the place. At the time I was thinking of opening up my own restaurant. I have no regrets. I love the customers, the community. This is where I belong.”
Though Mahlis has fine dining training and expertise, he learned quickly that bringing unfamiliar foods to the menu wasn’t going to go over well with customers.
“When I first got out of culinary school, I came back to work for my dad and made some pasta dishes, things I thought people would want,” he said. “People weren’t familiar with the food and it just wasn’t what they want when they come to a pizza shop. They want spaghetti and meatballs and chicken parmesan.”
What his expertise did bring was a knowledge of what is necessary for a quality product and ensuring consistency and that everyone will get the same great dish every time they come back.
“For me, it’s more about quality of ingredients,” he said, regarding what his training brought to the restaurant. “You never want to cheap out. I always tend to go to the higher-level products. People don’t understand there’s 10 different kinds of pepperoni. You can by the stuff that’s $1.75 a pound, our you can buy the stuff that’s $2.80 a pound and there’s a big difference between the two.”
Staff training is also important to him.
“I put an emphasis on training with staff and how they interact with customers,” Mahlis said. “It’s kind of a lost art.”
The only food changes Mahlis said he really made were adding some hamburgers to the menu as well as transitioning from frozen and canned soups to homemade soups.
“What we’re really known for, obviously, is our pizza,” he said, “what is called New England, or Greek pizza. What it really is, is a shallow pan pizza. You stretch the dough out in the pan. It takes a little longer than a normal hand tossed pizza. The meats we’re using aren’t cooked. They’re cooked right on the pizza. That gives it a different flavor.”
A favorite with customers is the Queen Special Pizza, with cheese, peppers, onions, hamburger, sausage, mushrooms, and pepperoni.
Another dish Queen Pizza is known for, he said, is their Thursday special lasagna.
“People are gaga about it,” he said.
The secret to Queen Pizza’s food, he said, is their sauce, which his dad developed over time.
“My dad developed the recipe a long time ago and I stick with it,” he said. “It’s very popular. We’re known for our marinara sauce. Sauce is a big thing here. A lot of our dishes are centered around that sauce. What makes the chicken parm pop, is the sauce. We use high quality tomato products. It’s well-balanced.”
Other popular menu items include the classic cheeseburger, the parmesan burger, and the barbecue burger,
The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t put too much of a damper on Queen Pizza, having initially started with take out, before adding curbside pick-up. Minimal seating is available, but not many people are taking advantage of it at the moment, Mahlis said.
“We’ve been doing pretty well,” Mahlis said. “We’ve been down about 15-20%. I’ve been able to keep all of my staff. It’s not the end of the world. I’m doing what I can. Pizza is recession and pandemic proof. People will always want pizza.”
To ensure safety, he said he follows CDC guidelines and keeps the customers educated through social media about changes in safety protocols.
“People will argue with that,” he said. “Some people want to make it an issue. Don’t take it personally … 99 percent of the time everyone is understanding. Then there’s that one guy.”
January 07, 2021 at 09:54PM
https://ift.tt/3pYCcNr
Queen Pizza thriving with Greek-style pie; East Hartford shop's owner has classical culinary training - Journal Inquirer
https://ift.tt/2CPpHAw
Pie
Hallo kami dari DEWALOTTO ingin membagikan rejeki kepada anda semua hanya dengan bermain bersama kami yuk silahkan buktikan sendiri ya..
ReplyDeleteADD WA +855 888765575 Terima Kasih admint...:)