Pizza, Beer Collab A Nod To Roots, Passion Of 2 New Lenox Biz Owners

NEW LENOX, IL — They had run into each other a couple of times, usually just in passing at a local coffee shop. But two New Lenox business owners always had a hunch they'd whip up a little something special together, and it's about to come to fruition.

Arrowhead Ales Brewing Company owner Mike Bacon, along with Pizza di Farfalla owner Giovanni Oriente, have melded minds to create a unique beer and pizza pairing set to debut Saturday, Nov. 18 at a Pizza and Pilsner Patio Party.

"I picked up real quick on his passion for what he does," Bacon said of meeting Oriente. "I thought we had a lot in common when it comes to our small business ideas, passion for high quality things."

Oriente recalled similar encounters, the most recent just six weeks ago.

"We should do something together," he remembers telling Bacon. "Pizza and beer sounds awesome."

Within weeks, Oriente found himself at the brewery, mulling over ideas, tossing around tastes and preferences in beer and pizza.

"It was centered around the beer," Oriente said, "we started there."

The beer part seemed simple to Oriente—something light and crisp.

"It seemed right to do something on the lighter side," he said. "Light brew, pizza, tend to go hand-in-hand."

Thinking back to the influences of his upbringing by Italian immigrant parents, Oriente thought an Italian pilsner would be appropriate.

"... because of the things that our brand represents," Oriente said. "It’s very heavy on the family, Italian influences."

Brewed to be "a little bit more hoppy than its classic counterpart," Bacon describes an Italian pilsner as a light, crisp and refreshing beer—ideal to drink alongside a rich meal.

"Just a good, solid pilsner beer that would go well with pizza," Bacon said.

As the two took next steps in planning, Oriente started thinking pizza, and what got him to where he is today—owner of a gourmet pizza business with a growing reputation for pizza "different than anything else," as Bacon described.

Born in Blue Island, Oriente's roots are Italian and south side, and his mother was a huge influence in his culinary pursuits.

"Mom was an amazing cook," he said, "and the primary inspiration to everything I do in the kitchen. Some of my best memories of my mom are her making/baking something in our basement kitchen."

Yep—a basement kitchen. It might sound odd, he said, but it was common in their family. And it inspired the name of the beer to be featured at Arrowhead: Nonna's Basement Kitchen.

Cooked fresh that day to accompany the beer release, Oriente will dish out his hand-stretched crusts and pan crust pizza creations, also tributes to his days spent watching his mom in the kitchen.

"It just takes me back to my mom whipping up some sort of random dough, putting in a pan, letting it proof, keep stretching it throughout the day until you get this fluffy dough," he said. "It’s intended to be a little bit sloppy, so we go heavier on the sauce. It’s intended to be this nostalgic, unique type of pizza style, that I don’t think many people have typically had."

Called the Nonna Pan Pizza, it's become a customer favorite for Oriente, who mostly does private events and cooks out of mobile pizza ovens, but also has a bit more permanent space inside Gost Coffee in New Lenox.

Baked fresh at Arrowhead that day, customers can taste the best Oriente has to offer.

"It’s become a really popular seller on our menu when we put it on," Oriente said, of the pan crust.

"... They’re gonna be killer, they’re going to be really good."

Everything about the event has fallen into place in a way that's nostalgic for Oriente—down to the label designed by Matt Sharp. Oriente hopped on the phone with Sharp, rolling around ideas and details about his past. Oriente grew up working in his uncle's south side pizzerias.

"He had pretty successful pizzerias for 40 years," Oriente said, "so that’s where we worked to earn our extra money."

The labels mimic white paper bags pizzas were slipped inside, with a gleeful chef carrying out a piping hot pie. Themed merch will also be available for purchase.

"He did it perfectly," Oriente said. "I love everything about it."

Born in Blue Island but raised in Homer Glen, Oriente and his wife also lived in Lockport before finding their way to New Lenox, where his siblings live, he said.

"One day I strolled in to Gost Coffee, told Dan (Bednarz) that I had an idea of subleasing some space to do a part-time pizza kitchen," Oriente said of Pizza di Farfalla's beginnings. "I had been starting the pizza brand as a business of mine."

He started branching out, popping out pizzas at pop-up and private events. Word began to spread, and he's become increasingly popular. He first was serving pizzas just at Gost, but then expanded to Hickory Creek Brewing in the same strip mall. When Gost looked to expand its space, Bednarz offered him space in the kitchen. He was considering it, he said, when he was involved in a car crash that totaled his car and shook up his life.

"'If I don't do it now, I'll never do it,'" Oriente said he thought at the time.

He'll mark his one-year anniversary in that space inside Gost on Nov. 26.

"We’ve been rocking pizzas every Saturday since then," he said.

With a full-time job as chief financial officer of a staffing firm, Oriente said he wouldn't be able to run the business without the support of his family: wife Kristin and two sons, 6 and 8 years old.

A family man himself, Manhattan resident Bacon sees a lot of himself in Oriente. He's happy to help out a local entrepreneur who's bringing something unique to customers' tables. As excited as Oriente is about the event, Bacon matches his enthusiasm.

"He’s told me how pumped he is probably about 100 times," he said, laughing. "I’m really pumped, too.

"I just like doing this stuff, because if I was doing the same beers, same foods, day in and day out, I’d just get bored. I love coming across these local people who like to get together and do something fun, think outside the box."

And the pizza, Bacon said—"you just don’t find ‘em like that around here."

The party is set for 2 to 5 p.m. in the partially enclosed patio space at Arrowhead Ales Brewing, 2101 Calistoga Dr. Live music will be provided by Cheryl Rodey.

"We’re just going to have a big party out there," Bacon said. "It seemed like a good time to put pizza and beer together."

Bacon said he's eager to spotlight Oriente's work, and Oriente said he's been thrilled to see the collaboration come to life as another unforgettable chapter of his business' story.

"It’s kinda become a reincarnation of the family business we all kinda grew up in," he said, of Pizza di Farfalla. "It’s been a crazy ride."