Bio

Hi, my name is Michael Krikorian.

Growing up surrounded by a family with a strong appreciation for good food, I have always had a passion for cooking. At one point in high school, I seriously considered going to The Culinary Institute of America in upstate New York, but instead chose to attend Berklee College of Music for drumming- opting for a more practical career path (I know). While they sound like very different skills, I love cooking as much as I love playing music.

Throughout the years, I have always dabbled in making homemade bread and pasta. In 2013, my mother-in-law gave me a sour dough starter packet from San Francisco. Using it expanded my knowledge of bread making and ignited my curiosity to try harvesting my own sour dough starter at my home. I still use this same mother for my sourdough bread.

Around 2016, a fellow chef friend suggested I get the Flour Water Salt Yeast cookbook by Ken Forkish. This book and his recipe for pizza dough inspired me to fine tune my own recipe, the type and brand of flour, hydration percentages, and most importantly time and temperature during the fermentation process. As my research continued with the dough making process I felt I needed to up my game, so I bought an ilFornino Professional Series Wood Fired Pizza Oven. Being able to cook at temps in the range of 750-950º has definitely been a game changer. The pizzas have gone from delicious to extraordinary.

I came to the conclusion that pizza doesn’t just have to be one thing. You can literally put anything on it that you feel works for your palate. For instance, I’ve been smoking beef and pork in my 6 foot smoker since 2008, so combining a 12-hour smoked brisket or the Tennessee Style Smoked Pulled Pork with my signature sauce to make a speciality pizza is one way to branch out from typical pizzas we expect, while also keeping the traditional pizzas on the menu. As I tweaked my dough recipe, refined my homemade sauce, experimented with toppings and made my own cheese from local curd, I hosted parties, catered gatherings and gathered feed back that has lead me to the decision to share my passion to make pizzas with our community.