Geoff Kies and Bruce Rahe endured a nine-hour drive, sore shoulders, Hurricane Sandy — even their own tears — to learn the art of Neapolitan pizza. The Toledo restaurateur and his chef woke up at the crack of dawn, were haggled by New York City cab drivers, and forced to walk for 53 blocks.
Their new life as self-described “pizza slaves” can be traced back to a slice from a hole-in-the-wall called Bono Pizza in the back of a Columbus, Ohio carryout.
“It’s the weirdest place in the world, but it was also the only authentic Italian pizza place in Ohio as far as I was concerned,” says Kies. “I was so blown away by how it tasted I came back to Bruce and said ‘This is what we gotta do [in Toledo]. We have to do this Neapolitan-style pizza.’”
The tao of Italian pie
They sought out the only man they knew of who could instruct them in the tao of Italian pie, Roberto Caporuscio. The Italy native and maestro of Neapolitan pizza is at the helm of the Associazione of Pizza Napoletani (APN, the Association of Neapolitan Pizza Makers) and the revered NYC spot Keste Pizza & Vino. Kies, a German-American, as it happens, wanted the blessing of the Italians. So he spent more than a month trying to convince Caporuscio over the phone to accept him into his two-week training program. “These people are as serious as a heart attack about Neapolitan pizza,” Kies says. Caporuscio eventually relented. After Kies and Rahe completed their two weeks of training, they returned to Northwest Ohio to begin preparations for their own restaurant.
Five months later, the wood-burning brick oven Kies had delivered by ship from Naples gives off a warm glow in his newly-opened pizzeria, Fifth Street Pub. (They had to cut a huge hole in the restaurant’s exterior just to get it into the building). Rahe, who left a career opening franchise restaurant kitchens to join Kies on this pizza adventure, now buzzes around Fifth Street’s kitchen as its head chef. The downtown Perrysburg spot bears a stamp of approval from the APN on its front door. Kies, a Perrysburg resident, had seen the potential for a pizzeria whenever he drove by the location’s former incarnations as Anneliese’s German American Restaurant and Peppercorns steakhouse.
Now Kies, an animated 43-year-old clad in a baseball cap and North Face hoodie, is embarking on his first true culinary passion project after decades of opening and managing more bar-centric spots. (He was one of the original owners of Jed’s and continues to run Luckies Barn and Grill.) Contrary to the louder, heavily decorated interiors of those other restaurants, Fifth Street’s hardwood floors, brick walls and metal stools are subtle.
And of course, there are those pizzas. The soft and chewy pies arrive as flat discs with charred, puffy edges (unlike the typically crispy and border-less American versions of thin crust). They are delivered to the table dressed with basil leaves, fresh tomato chunks or pieces of prosciutto poking out from under a landscape of fresh mozzarella. Eleven varieties are listed on the menu, from the simple “margherita,” named for an Italian queen, to “la montanara,” a deep-fried crust with fresh smoked mozzarella. The menu’s other offerings include meatballs— beef, spicy pork or pecan veggie — served as part of a sandwich, with pasta or on their own with rich sauces, from creamy mushroom to pesto.
As Fifth Street begins to fill the day’s orders, Kies discusses a cheese import from Italy that’s experienced a temporary hiccup. Rahe has begun punching and pressing dough, pushing the air to the edges, ladling sauce onto the rounds, and placing them into the 900-degree wood-burning oven. Though they’re only in their first month of business, they are optimistic, and most importantly, dedicated Neapolitanos. “To me, this is more of an art form than it is food,” Rahe says. “Every one of these pizzas is like a work of art.”
Fifth Street Pub, 105 W. 5th Street at the corner of Louisiana Ave., Perrysburg. Open Mon. thru Wed., 3pm-midnight; Thurs. 3pm-1am; Fri. 3pm-2am; Saturday 11:30am-2am; closed Sunday. 419-931-9933. Facebook page: 5th Street Pub.
