To borrow a phrase from the NFL Draft, Pete Tolman is now on the clock.
Not to open his new flagship Iron Born Pizza in the Strip District — that happened abruptly Tuesday afternoon, nine months in the making and after-getting a long awaited final approval from the City of Pittsburgh.
The opening came just under three years since he made his debut with wildly popular Detroit-style pizzas at the nearby Smallman Galley in June 2017. He also opened a takeout spot in Millvale in the summer of 2018 after his Smallman residency ended.
Now that this Iron Born — with seating for 42, a full bar and an expanded menu of 24 pizzas, appetizers, house pastas, salads, desserts and hot sandwiches for lunch, Mr. Tolman is on the clock about wedding plans.
Engaged in February, he told his fiance that they couldn’t start making formal arrangements until this Iron Born was open.
“I expect that when I get home tonight, we might have a talk about that,” Mr. Tolman laughed as the first night of service drew to a close in what was most recently the former home of Carhops sandwich shop at 1806 Smallman St.
“We’re known for pizza but we’re really excited to show people” the expanded offerings, Mr. Tolman said.
He’s enlisted an all-star cast to help him do it.
Olive Beals came from Downtown’s Union Standard to lead the bar, which will feature craft cocktails, wine and craft beers on draft.
The housemade pasta program was developed by fellow Smallman alum Ryan Peters, who most recently did the same at Fish Nor Fowl in Garfield.
Justin Balla — who just shuttered his Romulus Pizza al Taglio in the PA Market Building next door on Sunday afternoon while he and business partner Kevin Konn look for their own space — took an entire day-and-a-half off before returning to the line at Iron Born.
A graduate of IUP Culinary Academy, Mr. Tolman started his career in fine dining working in the rarified kitchen air of Alinea in Chicago and Lautrec at Nemacolin Woodlands, then served as a corporate chef for Giant Eagle’s Market District. It was on a ski trip to Colorado that he first tried the deep-dish, cheese-encrusted Detroit-style pizza and became obsessed.
"It blew my mind. I said, 'I need to learn how to make this,' " he told the Post-Gazette in 2017.
He opened the inaugural Iron Born in the Smallman Galley with only three pizzas on his menu: a classic red top, a white top and and a mix of both.
The menu now boasts two dozen pies ($13-17) with exotic combinations such as the Cubano, with honey mustard, smoked pork, rosemary ham, dill pickle and Swiss or the Commonplace Coffee Pie with a coffee barbecue sauce, smoked pork, bourbon-pickled jalapeños and red onion.
Ironically, until earlier this year, he’d never had a Detroit-style pizza in Detroit.
He corrected that with a Motor City pilgrimage earlier this year to Buddy’s, where the style was invented after World War II — baked in the kind of blue steel pans that held auto parts — and the Detroit Style Pizza Co. In 2012, the Detroit Style Pizza Co. won the coveted title of “World’s Best Pizza” at the annual International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas, which launched the style out of regional obscurity.
“I loved them both,” he said, noting that he checked those off the bucket list. And with the third iteration of his business open in three years, he laughed, “Now I gotta get married.”
Iron Born Pizza: 1806 Smallman St., Strip District; https://ironbornpizza.com/
Dan Gigler: dgigler@post-gazette.com; Twitter @gigs412
First Published: December 18, 2019, 8:43 p.m.
