First, Russ and I were touched by the tremendous amount of support from our dear family and friends after announcing the launch date. We are very excited and we cannot wait to welcome you all at Mozzeria.

Some of you have been asking for more details and I would be happy to share more information.

Mozzeria is located in the vibrant neighborhood, Mission Dolores. The address is 3228 16th Street at Guerrero Street. The nearest BART station is 16th Street and Mission Street. For those who live in San Francisco, street parking is available. Parking garage is located at 16th Street and Hoff Street. MUNI Bus #22 and 'J' train stops are very close to Mozzeria.

What do we serve at Mozzeria?
Of course, we will bake Neapolitan pizzas in a Stefano Ferrara oven. Some of you may not be familiar with Neapolitan pizzas. These pizzas are not New York Style pizzas. Neapolitan pizza originated in Naples, Italy, and we have adopted the traditional method of baking which is in a wood-burning oven.

Naples, Italy is the birthplace of Neapolitan pizza. I love the charred wood-burning flavor on the pizza crust, and its softness. Not only will Mozzeria offer pizzas, we will also be offering delicious pasta and innovative small plates. Of course you will have to end the meal with mouthwatering Italian desserts.

We have 5 beers on tap on the drink menu along with California & Italian wines (white, red and sparkling). We will also serve vintage sodas.

Mozzeria Hours
We will open for Dinner each evening and closed on Mondays.

Monday:  Closed
Tuesday: 5:30 pm - 10 pm
Wednesday: 5:30 pm - 10 pm
Thursday: 5:30 pm - 10 pm
Friday: 5:30 pm - 11 pm
Saturday: 5:30 pm - 11 pm
Sunday: 5:30 pm - 10 pm

We will serve Brunch starting New Year’s Day, 2012 (or January 1st). The Brunch menu is going to be amazing.

The Mozzeria website will accept reservations starting next Monday. Mozzeria accepts major credit cards - Visa, Mastercard, AMEX and Discover.

Lastly, I cannot wait to open the doors to you… real soon!

 

 

 

 

It's Thanksgiving…It's a time for sharing and spreading happiness. We wish all your loved ones a very Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

 

Trying Portuguese food at Pinocchio Restaurant

in Macau with family and friends

 

As we gather to celebrate Thanksgiving later this week, I have many fond memories of past family gatherings.

"Food is magical because it fulfills our stomachs while at the same time bringing us together as family"

Almost everyone in my family is in the restaurant business. When I was a kid, we would dine at one of the restaurants owned by my family either in San Francisco or Hong Kong. These dinner functions would easily attract as many as 50 family members. It always amazed me to see how food could pull a family together, and how everyone enjoyed food as much as catching up with one another. Most of the time, the food itself would be the main attraction where we would discuss how they tasted, and we would make guesses on the recipe and its cooking method.

My parents wanted to expose my brother and myself to interesting and complicated food. I remember trying alligator meat and even drinking turtle soup. One of my favorite quotes is "No one can understand the culture of a country without first experiencing its food and drink." Whenever I travel to another state or country, I would make it a point to try their food staples so we could learn more about the person or country through experiencing food and drink.

That being said, 'Celebrate the diversity in this vibrant city' is the motto we want to convey to diners at Mozzeria.

 

 

 

We are getting deliveries continuously from different stores across the country. There has been so many deliveries that we keep seeing the same UPS delivery person and I'd like to announce that we have become fast friends because every time he comes, he waves his hands through the glass door to get my attention knowing that I am Deaf. :)

Ron Trumble built beautiful and sturdy black wooden shelves. I cannot wait for the glassware to arrive next week so we can start filling the shelves with glasses and bottles of California and Italian wines.

We replaced the Beer dispenser single tower pair with 5-product towers. The guy installed five beer brand tap handles. Beautiful! Wow, what a great feeling to see tap handles and knowing that means we are getting real close to the Big Day!

As soon as we recoat the hardwood flooring with sealer, we will be able to set up tables and chairs, and then someone from ABC can come to check this place. We should have our wine and beer license very soon. We have finalized the Beer and Wine menu. Yay!

More next time. Stay tuned!

 

 

 

Jonathan Shorter and his crew resumed work on the chimney installation. They said it would be a rather large project expected to take a week and half. They surveyed the ceiling, and outside the building, before starting the installation.


The crew assembled large pipes and installed them right above the Stefano Ferrara oven. Then the crew moved into the servery (wait station) and kitchen. We didn't realize they would have to remove existing pipes in the kitchen and replace them. We thought they would leave minimal dust in the kitchen. Boy, we were wrong. It was like going back to the beginning where we had to demolish the kitchen floor to replace the plumbing pipes underneath the floor.


They also opened up the hole above the 3-compartment sink where the light well is located. Ahh, sun rays came into the kitchen. I bet the kitchen was happy to see the sun, having been isolated for who-knows-how-long. Pardon me for my silliness. :)


We were told that we were responsible to rent and build the scaffold. Gulp. Would the store be open on Saturday, and do they have one available right away? We scrambled and searched on the internet for local equipment rental stores. Whew, one store out of 5 stores had one that met our requirements. Russ and his friend, Allen built the scaffold going from the 2nd story upwards. The building is four floors high. The crew continued to work on the installation over the weekend and this week.

Friday is going to be an important day because the inspector will come to examine their work on the chimney installation. Please, please, please, please… (I can continue typing please here…) send positive vibes to the inspector and have him approve the work. If we get the approval, we can finally start the curing process in our Stefano Ferrara oven.

 

 

 

Q: What are these? 1,300 pounds. Shiny metal. Round pipes.

A: Chimney materials!

Yes, that's right. The chimney materials were delivered to Mozzeria on the evening before Halloween! A terrific early present from the company.

We were puzzled when a truck stopped by Mozzeria as we were not expecting any delivery on Halloween. The driver said there were 6 boxes for us. Aha! It must be items for the chimney. Wow, they arrived already! It was supposed to arrive next week.

We contacted the contractor and gave the good news – that the chimney materials were at Mozzeria. Shoots, we were kinda hoping that the contractor was available and could start the job this week, but he was already committed to another project so he will begin the installation next week.

We will continue documenting the progress at Mozzeria. We want to thank everyone for posting their comments at mozzeria.com. :)

 

 

 

We are having a party in our kitchen with Balloons...  What’s the special occasion?

ANSUL SYSTEM....

What? You all probably are thinking what the heck the “ANSUL SYSTEM” is.

An Ansul system is a sophisticated method of extinguishing fires. There are several types of Ansul systems and products that are suitable for use in a specific location or to be used on a specific type of fire.

Ansul type F class systems are for commercial kitchens; these systems direct chemicals towards the stoves and fry baskets

In the Mozzeria kitchen, there are two ways to trigger the Ansul system:

A huge flame that triggers the sensor which automatically shuts down gas, electricity (for the fryer), and the lighting system;

Manually pull the lever to trigger the Ansul system the same way - to shut down gas, electricity, and extinguish the fire in the hood area.

You will notice that appliances on both ends of the hood must be 6 inches away so the pipe can be located on the top, and targeted directly at the equipment.

Safety comes first, and we must make sure it functions properly. How did we do this? When a fire department inspector came to check the system, I wondered how we would test it, or how we could prove the installation is working correctly. I was thrilled to participate in the "testing". Please check out this video...

Significance
The most important function of an Ansul system is to save lives and property from fire and from fire-related deaths such as by asphyxiation by installing the correct system that is suited to your needs in the home or workplace.

I hope now you all will remember what an Ansul system is and its function when you see the kitchen in any restaurant.

Russ Stein
Guest Contributor

 

 

We were able to get some rest over the weekend and went shopping for equipment to go in the bar area at Mozzeria. We are going to make some significant progress this week.

You saw photo of the entrance ramp in our last blog posting. We poured concrete and leveled it to meet the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirement. We had to wait until the concrete was completely dry before asking Michael E. Sharnov and Samuel Reynolds to return to Mozzeria.


Michael and Samuel continued to complete installation of wood flooring on the ramp. Michael said it wasn’t easy to install wood strips on the ramp. It was a good thing Douglas Fir is a softwood as it allowed them to bend each wood strip slightly and apply glue to make sure it adheres to concrete. After a couple of hours later, ta-da! What beautiful-looking wood.


We have our fingers crossed as the building inspector is coming in for the final inspection. We hope the ramp will meet his satisfaction. Please cross your fingers for us too!

Nathan Dingel and Russ Stein have started to build supports for the bar countertop. We just ordered marble slabs and expect them to arrive shortly. I cannot wait to see how the marble slabs look on the counter and against the pizza oven!


Ron Trumble brought over custom-made wood doors from his workplace. The doors are really beautiful. We are proud of Ron's workmanship. Russ had the door frames painted in black to match the exterior facade look.


Ron also brought tabletops that he made for Mozzeria. We love how it looks and we know the red chairs we ordered a while ago will look great with it.


We will share the latest on the chimney situation on Thursday. Tell your friends to sign up and follow our progress at Mozzeria. :)

 

 

 

A plumbing inspector came from the City of San Francisco to check the work we did at Mozzeria. We had been rather through with our plumbing work. As this would be our first inspection and having heard stories about failed inspections, we were anxious the inspector would agree everything was done properly.

Well, that was wishful thinking. The inspector pointed out the 3-compartment sink as an issue. We told him the sink was already there before we took over the space. He explained that some items may not be on the blueprints but it was still his job to look at everything and ensure they were up to current codes. Ok, ok. We asked what we need to do with the 3-compartment sink. He said we needed to install a vent pipe for each compartment. It was a good thing that our plumber was with us and he took notes.

We had relocated the hand sink when we installed a larger water heater, as 36" width access is required to allow access for anyone in a wheelchair. The inspector requested we put the vent pipe on the wall by the hand sink.


The inspector asked us where the grease trap was. We were not familiar with grease trap, and were not sure where it was located in the kitchen. He found the grease trap. Oh, we had wondered what that square thing on the floor was. We hadn’t tried to take it off to see what it was. He removed the grease trap door and, gosh, there was a thick pond of grease. Imagine grease building up over several years and lying in the trap. What a stinky smell!!!

We were told we needed to get a bigger grease trap because of the wood burning oven in the dining room.

We failed the first inspection, but that was okay. We had learned a lot about plumbing in a restaurant. We made all the corrections immediately and the inspector came back the following week. We are pleased to announce that we passed the plumbing inspection! Hooray!! Now we will have to deal with electrical, building, and fire inspections.

Wish us luck!

 

 

 

San Francisco is known not only for food, but also for its coffee. Hills Brothers Coffee was founded in San Francisco in 1878. They invented the vacuum tin in San Francisco around 1900. Flash forward to 1966, we find Alfred Peet who launched the espresso movement out of his small shop in Berkeley, building an empire throughout the Bay Area. Then San Francisco became quiet for years until just now.


San Francisco Is Now Back In The Spotlight, thanks to several serious coffee roasters. You may have heard of Ritual Coffee, Blue Bottle, Four Barrel and of course, Peet's. Many coffee houses proudly serve coffee that are produced locally.

Restaurants are now including premium coffee in their menus. One restaurateur stated that it doesn’t make sense for a diner, after spending much money on wine and food, to follow the meal with a cup of Folgers. You want to raise the standard to the next level, and offer the best coffee you can on your menu like you would with wine, beer, or food.

Mozzeria plans to serve coffee during dessert and at brunch, so we are seeking information about serving coffee. We don't drink coffee often other than the occasional cup of gourmet coffee for recreation. That doesn't exactly qualify me to be an expert in coffee. I am asking around and familiarizing myself on aspects of coffee service including drip coffee vs. french press.

This is where we need your help. I would love to get your opinions on which drip coffee or french press brand do you prefer? And why. Please share your comments below.

Thanks for your help!

 

 

 

Sometimes things don’t go as you visualize, plan or expect. We got great comments about the original Mozzeria logo. People said they loved the style, the lettering and how red letters plays off the black background. Some liked the iconic graphic to the right, an abstract resemblance of a glass of wine, a pizza, or even a tabletop pizza stand!

But early on we ran into challenges with this logo whenever we needed to reduce the logo to fit a business card, a newsletter or a webpage. As the iconic graphic is bigger than the text, in reducing the overall logo, the text gets smaller and becomes difficult to read. The thin font begins to disappear in the pool of black.

Inasmuch as we all liked the logo, it just wasn’t practical. Real-life applications of that logo weren’t panning out. We needed to solve this problem!

When we were visualizing what the interior look for Mozzeria should be, we took another look at the logo and realized the colors and font wouldn't come across well on exterior signage. We pondered on what approach to use.

While contemplating the new look, I went through business cards I had collected from restaurants. Patty Foo Hampton, an interior designer also shared some business cards. A few particular cards caught my eye – these designs were clean and simple. I told Patty it was what I wanted for Mozzeria. I loved use of the colors, black and white, and suggested incorporating red as an accent color. You can’t go wrong with classic black and white colors. Patty then incorporated these colors into her design plan for Mozzeria.

David Rosenbaum of Deaf411, Inc. and I then worked together on the new logo design and we came up with this new logo. We are pleased to roll out this new design.


In the meantime, I called the exterior signage company that did signage for the previous tenant and it took several weeks for them to produce new Mozzeria signage. It just arrived! Wow, the name Mozzeria now looks sharp on the new signage. I hope when people drive by, they will notice the new signage. :)

This new logo will begin to make its appearance on Mozzeria.com.

 

 

Mission Dolores is getting crowded with restaurants and shops. That is even better news for the locals because they have more choices.

Not only is Mozzeria setting to launch on 16th Street, but joining Mozzeria are two other restaurants - Giordano Bros and Krua Thai.


Giordano Bros had taken over the Ti Couz space, and made its debut two Fridays ago. Its original branch is in North Beach. They serve Pittsburg style sandwiches. I had dined at Ti Couz several times before, and the decor is completely changed. The look is now more of a Sports Bar.


Krua Thai replaced Bangkok 16, and will open to the public on September 9. They will serve Thai dishes. The interior look has also been changed completely to a modern and clean theme.

Having more restaurants on the same street means more people walking down the same street. The walk score for Mission Dolores is currently 100% and at night time, it gets lively. Mozzeria will, hopefully, have its turn in making its debut this late Fall. We will announce the opening date later this month. Stay tuned. :)

 

 

 

 

We had been dining at different pizzerias in San Francisco for several years and there were times where we were prepared to stand in line for the next available table. People do not seem to mind waiting in line, even in foggy or cool weather. The thought that "They should add reservation system" never came to mind. I suppose they have their reasons why they don't bother to take reservations.

I have noticed lately, however, new pizzerias popping up who offer to take reservations. To have a competitive edge over other pizzerias, they use either OpenTable or Urbanspoon's Rezbook. When I made reservations, I admit it was convenient to know we were assured of a table being available on a specific day and time, and not having to wait in a line which is really nice.

Looking at the business side, I had not thought of offering reservations at Mozzeria as our pizzas would take 90 seconds to bake plus prepping time. I did not include downtime during the time tables are prepared for new customers. The more I think about accepting reservations, I am leaning towards putting a reservation system. Some friends told me they would love to host events occasionally and they prefer to make reservations. If I am a customer, I would prefer to do the same.

Ok… okay, what’s the pros and cons between OpenTable or Urbanspoon's Rezbook?

OpenTable has been around for 15 years and, of course, they have rather large customer base. They offer nice features for diners such as earning points every time they dine at restaurants that are affiliated with OpenTable. Diners are promoted to VIP status when they reach a certain level and could receive benefits including free appetizers or a glass of wine. Diners love these perks, and it keeps them loyal to OpenTable.


Urbanspoon was launched in 2008 with restaurant information and reviews similar to Yelp. The Urbanspoon app became one of the most popular downloaded apps. One of its features, which is so cool, is spinning - when you shake the iPhone, it will assist you in selecting a restaurant if you are undecided. In late 2010, Urbanspoon introduced its new program, Rezbook. Although it is still relatively new and has a smaller customer base, most customers are in San Francisco which makes sense as most of us are being Appleized, and we have iPhone and iPad. Rezbook works well on Apple products and even on Android smartphones. The drawback is that they do not offer diners the opportunity to earn points.

Similarities:
* 12-month commitment
* Monthly Fee - $1 per diner reservation through their own website

Differences:
OpenTable: still committed to a 12-month plan, even if the business fails.
Rezbook: can back out of commitment if the business fails, but return iPad.

OpenTable: Pay 25 cents for each reservation made through Mozzeria website
Rezbook: No charge if reservation is made through Mozzeria website

OpenTable: PC-based Kiosk with wired Internet
Rezbook: Apple iPad with 3G (after paying for 12 months, own the iPad)

OpenTable: Installation and training costs – approximately $$$
Rezbook: Set up and training- no charge

Have you experienced both OpenTable and Rezbook? How do you compare both products? If you were me, which one would you choose?

 

 

We found someone to restore and stain our Douglas Fir flooring. These people are Michael E. Sharnow and Samuel Reynolds. They formed their company to specialize in hardwood flooring. Michael has worked on hardwood flooring for 12 years while Samuel was practically in diapers helping his Dad, Randy sanding, restoring and installing hardwood flooring.

They began repairing some areas in the Mozzeria dining room. Bear in mind that the building is just over a hundred years old and the original subfloor was showing signs of wear.


After completing phase one, they moved to sanding the floors. We could see the difference between the old, worn out floor and the newly sanded floor. It was like they were giving the floor a brand new life.


After they stained the floor, my gosh... it is beautiful! The color turned out just the way we wanted.

We are so glad we went ahead with the Douglas Fir flooring choice. Michael and Samuel did an amazing job!

 

 

 

Demolishing is pretty much done, thanks to Russ and his crew. Now what will we do next?

Common sense would dictate us to start sanding the existing Douglas fir flooring, and then polish the floor in lacquer. We could then move onto putting up drywall on the walls and paint the walls. That is what you would have done, right?

Then someone advised us to hold off these plans until the pizza oven arrives… because of its weight. What if someone is careless and scratches the floor while hauling a "5,000" pound pizza oven over the freshly sanded and polished floor. Wouldn’t you feel so sick if that happened?

In our case, we can’t do anything but "wait" for the pizza oven which had been scheduled to arrive at the end of this month. The crew is getting restless. Then, we just found that the shipment has been delayed and will now arrive next month. Whhhhhaattttt????

Ok, that is enough, and we are not going to wait any longer. We will go ahead and begin sanding and polishing the softwood flooring as originally discussed. We have come up with another way to protect the floor when the oven arrives and is moved across the floor. We checked with Michael Fairholme, the wood burning oven consultant, and he has agreed with the back-up plan. Whew.

We hope there won't be many hiccups along the way.

 

 

 

Mark Twain:

“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco”

That's true. Russ uncovered the truth about the number of hot days in San Francisco. Can you guess how many days in San Francisco that would reach above 75 degrees? 30 days out of 365 days

There are hundreds of neighborhoods in San Francisco but a certain few neighborhoods are more likely to be blessed with warmer climate especially in the summer time. This includes Mission Dolores, which is one of my favorite neighborhoods. Mission Dolores has been changed into this vibrant, ever-changing community in the last few decades. You would expect to meet San Franciscans from all walks of life in beautiful Dolores Park on weekends with frequent sunny days luring picnicking families, sunbathers, athletes, dog lovers, and hipsters recovering from the night before. This tight-knit neighborhood is a favorite for shoppers, foodies and night owls.

Serious Foodies can be found eating at many well-known eating places in Mission Dolores. Pizzeria Delfina was the first of its kind to invade San Francisco with its famous pizzas. If you have a weakness for pastries, you have to get your morning bun and breading pudding with seasonal fruits at Tartine Bakery. My favorite ice-cream, Salted Caramel is located at Bi-Rite Creamery. Many bars are very close to each other, and it is perfect for bar-hopping. In earlier times, Mission Dolores wasn't a popular dining destination but up-and-coming chefs, who couldn't afford the rent in Downtown or Cow Hollow/Marina, were attracted to cheaper rent in Mission Dolores. These chefs were instrumental in helping to turn Mission Dolores into a popular neighborhood.

At first my vision for Mozzeria was to find a space in Mission Dolores. Finding vacant space within Mission Dolores, however, is sometime impossible as it is most sought after among chefs and restaurateurs. The walk score for Mission Dolores is 100 percent. Locals in their 20’s and 30’s usually don't own cars, but like to spend time on foot around in Mission Dolores.

We have been eyeing Mission Dolores and on the lookout for, and hoping to grab, vacant space that may pop up in near future.

 

 

 

As we ponder our choices of locations for Mozzeria, we need to analyze what it would take to succeed in the location. Should our restaurant be in a residential area, or in an area frequented by tourists?

Being in a Residential Neighborhood

With 113 neighborhoods in San Francisco – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki Neighborhoods_in_San_Francisco - you would think there are plenty of choices for making a home base for Mozzeria. San Francisco locals are known for radical thinking and declare their love and huge support for local clothing stores, restaurants and coffee houses. In fact some neighborhoods even do not allow Starbucks to operate because these giant corporations hurt local businesses. Besides that, locals like the idea of spending money on local businesses and also knowing that their hard-earned money stays in San Francisco, and not going to Seattle (where Starbucks headquarters is located). Their fierce loyalty lies with the “local business” concept, which is great for neighborhood restaurants. That is where we get loyal customers.


Or should we be in a Tourist Neighborhood?

Tourism is San Francisco's No. 1 revenue-generating industry. San Francisco attracted 15.9 million visitors in 2010. Wow, that is a lot. I would love to feed Neapolitan pizza to these 15.9 million visitors. :) Sure, the number looks very attractive if you do open a restaurant in a tourist site. You would, however, have to spend a lot of money on marketing because there would also be other restaurants in these tourist areas competing for visitors. This may be a cut throat business, but there are some upsides.

You will not only attract the tourists, but also shoppers especially if your restaurant is in a location like Union Square. These shoppers could also include locals. During the holiday season, many locals flock to Union Square to do their holiday shopping because it is easy for them to browse from store to store within walking distance. In these such settings, you have 3 kinds of potential customers: tourists, shoppers, and locals.

In conclusion, it is very hard to be picky with locations because not all restaurants are alike and you would have to fight hard when more than one prospective buyer is interested in a specific location, leading to a bidding war. You have to be absolutely open-minded, and also keep an eye on all issues related to that particular location.

In the last few months of scouting locations, I don't really have the luxury of selecting the location because of timing and money. I am inclined, right now, towards locations that are close to tourist areas with a good number of long-term residents because of convenient transportation available in the locality i.e. MUNI Bus/Light Rail and BART for East Bay folks.

 

 

 

Who Loves Groupon? Groupon.com, a social buying site, is worth “boatloads of love”! I first heard about Groupon through a friend two years ago and once I tried groupon.com, I got hooked to their fantastic deals. Then Living Social and other similar sites started popping up.

I still buy the great deals through these sites and often look for restaurant deals because it gives me the opportunity to try out new restaurants that I had never heard of. Getting a discount makes it worth giving them a try. If I like their food, I would come back knowing the money would be well spent.

Various news magazines have reported that Groupon.com is now valued at nearly 1 billion dollars. Whoa! 1 billion dollars! Can you believe that? Yeah, that is some serious love there.

This is what I had thought until I researched social buying sites for Mozzeria. Some businesses uncovered the downside after trying Groupon or similar sites. At first, they expected Groupon to help bring exposure to their business through Groupon’s large base of followers.

How does it work for businesses? A Groupon representative would meet with the business to explain their procedures. The representative would state that customers respond well to 50% discount which is true. As they discuss the what’s and how’s, if they agree on a ($6 for $13) offer, Groupon keeps 100% of any deal under $10. The representative would also state that the customer would be more likely to end up ordering more than $13 worth food so the business would be able to keep the additional money above $10. If you want a $20 for $40 deal, for example, both Groupon and the business would split 50%.

This means if Mozzeria decides, for example, to go with a ‘$20 for $40’ pizza deal, we are providing $40 worth of food for $20. Groupon starts promoting the deal on their website, and gets $10 leaving Mozzeria with just $10. In reality, Mozzeria is providing $40 worth of food for $10. Keep in mind that Mozzeria needs to cover overhead – rent, payroll, utilities, etc. Mozzeria would lose money – counterproductive to Groupon’s claim to helping businesses?

Realizing this has been a valuable lesson that we need to look at the bottom line. All social buying sites, fortunately, are not like that. Scoutmob.com allows businesses to keep more of the money, and does not require customers to pay upfront. We need to be wary and research these sites extensively and talk to other businesses about their experiences. Now that you see both sides – we need to support businesses by coming back, even after you already used your coupon. If you were me, would you go for Groupon, or other similar sites?