Old Greg’s Pizza has been causing an Instagram ruckus online but is it worth the hassle?
Please allow me to tell you my story.
Last week Old Greg dm’d me through Instagram. Normally, he’s quiet and sticks to himself. So it was kinda weird.
– Burger Beast post on Instagram
I told him my birthday fell on Easter and that I wanted one of his pies to celebrate. He said that he would rise to the occasion for my bday which I appreciated.
We had never met before yesterday but I’d like to stay in contact with him. Old Greg, you nailed it!
As Ice Cube would say, yesterday was a good day. Actually he said today was a good day, but cut me slack, Old Greg will appreciate it.
You may be asking yourself, what the hell am I rambling about?
There’s also the possibility that you know what I’m talking about OR that you’re batshit crazy, let’s hope for the former and not the latter.
Old Greg’s Mission
The OG is bringing it back to basics. You won’t catch them cutting corners regarding their tomato sauce, questionably sourced meats, and chemically laced flour.
You’re going to feel one hundred after eating one slice or an entire pie of Old Greg’s Pizza. And really, isn’t that how it should be?
Who is Old Greg?
Old Greg is the starter that gives life to all of the pizza you will be enjoying from Old Greg’s Pizza.
Sure, Greg is the name of the guy behind the pies, but Old Greg is the talented fella here.
Ok, we can’t have one without the other, but I’m partial to Old Greg.
O.G. Roni Pie
The O.G. Roni Pie is their signature pizza.
Come close to the screen so I can whisper the toppings to you: fresh hand-wrapped local shredded mozzarella, Ezzo Sausage Co’s pepperoni cups, and hot honey drizzle on Old Greg’s naturally-leavened dough.
How can you get your hands on a pie?
Initially, the short answer was, you can’t at this moment.
You would have needed to stay glued to @OldGregsPizza Instagram and hoped that imagining the light-as-air crust and tasty toppings touching your lips would be enough.
A few months after launch, they had partnered with Chef Brad Gilgore, and now you can order the pizza via their website.
Pre-orders open up every Wednesday at about 1 PM.
They’ve even got an address in the Design District too:
Old Greg’s Pizza
151 NE 41st Street
Suite 217
Miami, Florida
Is Old Greg’s Pizza worth it?
I’ve already had one, and so I’m the right person to answer this question.
Part of the original allure was that it was impossible to score a pie. So it created a demand that they could not meet.
And the hype is only hype if the item in question can not live up to the expectations. Old Greg’s delivers (not literally).
Is it the best pizza in Miami? I’m not sure if we’re ready to crown a new king just yet, but Old Greg is, at a minimum, a prince.
Now I’m just looking forward to trying out their expanded menu with deez knots, polenta-crusted chicken wings, and greg’s leches.
What does naturally leavened mean?
Old Greg’s Pizza is naturally leavened. But again, you may know what I’m talking about, and I didn’t either.
Jacques de Langre breaks it down here for us simpletons:
Natural Leaven or Commercial Baker’s Yeast?
There are two methods for leavening bread and they differ totally in the way they act on the flour, as well as on the taste and nutritional effect of the resulting bread and, in the end, on the health of the consumer. The aim of bread fermentation is to transform the various nutrients freed by the milling of the grain and to modify them for optimum assimilation during digestion.
A Definition of Natural Leaven
Wild yeast, or multi-micro flora are the natural air-borne ferments that are generated or seeded in a dough left exposed to a clean and cool atmosphere under specific conditions of moisture and temperature and the exclusion of larger specimen. Within that fertile medium, lactic bacteria of the various beneficial types are found: B. Pastorianum, B. Delbrucki, B.Ternoas well as saccharomyces such as S.Pastorianus, and S. Cerevisiae. This type of microflora consumes little energy and multiplies quite slowly. Its growth duplicates the cycle of human breathing and that of wheat embryo germination. Wild yeast also naturally enriches the bread, due to an additional development of nutrients by the beneficial enzymes and ferments.
Hopefully, you understood that cause I did not, lol
All I know is that it tastes great.
That may be the best looking Sicilian pie I’ve seen since I moved to Florida in 92.