Nathan Ingram’s pizza business, Sour Street Pizza, is all about the dough.

The business idea began with a sourdough starter — a flour and water mixture used to leaven bread. Ingram still feeds the same sourdough starter twice a day at his pizza restaurant that opened in Norfolk’s East Ocean View in January.

During COVID, Ingram was working from home in information technology. While at home, he started experimenting with bread that he made from a sourdough starter.

Next, he tried pizza dough on his Big Green Egg grill and honed his sourdough skills by watching YouTube videos and by trial and error. The positive response from his friends and neighbors inspired him to turn his pizza hobby into a profession. He quit his job in 2020 and bought a wood-fired pizza oven and trailer.

“I loved my job until I was stuck at home all day,” Ingram said. “I had to quit my job for my sanity.”

For four years, Ingram parked his food truck at breweries, neighborhoods and weddings. Cova Brewing in Ocean View was one of his prime locations. Ingram said the 14- to 16-hour days prepping and working on the food truck grew tiresome.

“It was a lot of fun, but I couldn’t do another summer of it,” he said. “I really wanted to grow my business and have a home base with a brick-and-mortar location.”

Ingram said he specifically looked for a location in East Beach because he grew up five minutes away.

Sour Street Pizza is all about quality, he said. The restaurant sources the finest ingredients like organic American flour, authentic San Marzano tomatoes, Grande cheese from Wisconsin, organic microgreen basil, and premium Ezzo cup-and-char pepperoni.

The dough is 100% naturally leavened and takes two full days to ferment. Ingram said the two-day fermentation ensures a perfect texture and flavor every time.

“The sourdough fermentation not only creates a light, airy dough, but it offers nutritional benefits because it breaks down gluten, making it easier to digest,” Ingram said. “It also enhances the availability of nutrients like B vitamins and minerals, while providing a healthy dose of probiotics.”

Sour Street’s bestselling pizza is the pepperoni, and the menu offers varieties such as arugula prosciutto, white pie, Margherita, marinara and others. Also, special flavors are rotated throughout the menu such as the Lemon Pesto pie, which features a white wine lemon cream sauce, mozzarella, lemon, house-made pesto, Parmesan and toasted pine nuts.

The restaurant’s sleek decor intentionally matches Ingram’s pizza trailer with a black tiled wall, long black bar and a neon palm tree pizza logo.

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for COVID,” he said. “I found something I’m very passionate about and ran with it. I love how technical the whole process is, and that’s made me even more passionate about this business.”

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