Summer Movie Series at Pizzaiolo

L:August's film posters; R:a particularly fun scene from '9to5'

Outdoor movie screenings are synonymous with summertime.

There are few greater joys in the Jun-July-August months than sitting outside on a hot and balmy summer night, watching an old classic movie projected onto a white wall or makeshift screen. The reward of the oppressive heat of the day comes in the form of a delayed sunset and warm summer night.

But wait, we’re in the Bay Area, so scratch all that!

Instead, we have overcast mornings, occasionally gorgeous, temperate days and often foggy, misty nights. Yes, even in East Bay.

Upon moving here, everyone assured us East Bay was immune to the cloudy days, particularly in the summertime. I don’t know if it’s been an out-of-the-ordinary summer or if we are big-time LA-weather babies, (or a little of both) but these overcast skies and misty evenings are almost more than we can handle.

Setting up the screen at Pizzaiolo

Summer is all about sweltering heat, short shorts and shorter dresses and those hot summer nights.

Despite less than desired temperatures, DH and I still made our way to quite a few Summertime Movie Screenings, most of which taking place at Pizzaiolo in Oakland.

Pizzaiolo's impressive outdoor pantry

The Drew Classic: margherita w egg & anchovies

Pizzaiolo occupies a large part of my heart for several reasons.
First, it shares the name of the beloved pizza place Anush and I patronized every Saturday afternoon of our second year in Florence, Italy. Second, it was the first place DH and I ate at the night we found our apartment here in Oakland. And lastly, every time we eat at Pizzaiolo, the staff treats us better than anywhere, every time. At the risk of sounding like some God-awful Olive Garden advert, it always feels like we’re family or friends of the wait staff. On top of all that nostalgia, the pizza is best I’ve eaten, outside of Italy. Period.

Pizzaiolo's outdoor patio

Every summer Pizzaiolo does a Summer Movie Series with a different theme each month. This is not your conventional summer movie series, but rather a wild, wonderful mix of super classics and obscure cult favorites.

Little Shop of Horrors

June’s theme of Horrible Bosses featured ‘Network’, ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ and ‘Trading Places’.

gorgeous Anita, dancing in West Side Story

The Warriors

July’s Hot New York Nights included my two all-time favorites, 'West Side Story' and 'The Warriors'.

Pam Grier in Foxy Brown

seriously badass bitches of Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!

August’s Bad Ass Bitches series was by far the most varied and valiant. From the sultry ‘Foxy Brown’ and Russ Meyer’s ‘Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!’ onto the lesbian thriller out of Hong Kong, ‘Naked Killer’ and  ‘The Rose Tattoo’, a Tennessee Williams adaptation.

9to5

The ever-classic ‘9to5’ was the perfect finale flick to complete the ‘Bad Ass Bitches’ series and round out Pizzaiolo’s Summer Movie Series. Dolly Parton, Lilly Tomlin and Jane Fonda banding together to give their boss hell? What could be more badass than that!?

Concession stand menu

And in fact, DH and I had never seen the backyard patio packed full of badass bitches! We attempted to reserve one of the few patio tables but naturally they’d been booked for months in advance. Dolly fans are serious! Luckily there is an old school concession stand serving beer, wine and delicious, decadent, pine nut-spiked meatball subs. DH was able to order a pizza from the bar and eat it on the bleacher seats. The concession stand even had homemade oreos...amazing!

a match made in heaven!

that's a happy man

an amazing homemade oreo for dessert!

These Summer Movie Series, along with the whole general attitude at Pizziaolo, do an incredible lot to build community one pizza or one movie at a time. Here's to hoping next year's series is a little sunnier!

Pizza, from an unexpected source...

pizza margherita!

We love pizza. Who doesn't, right? Better said, we love making pizza. Since our very first days together, DH and I have been making pizzas in just about every oven, grill, even campfire for family and friends. It is the one meal we always end  make together and have made more than any other.

As with any kitchen staple, our pizzas have improved greatly over the years. Where we once bought pre-made doughs and baked them on a cookie sheet (still delicious) we now make our own dough and use a baking stone. We have tried just about every pizza dough recipe we can get our hands on and  are constantly ‘researching the market’ for the best pizza around!

Alongside this ongoing pizza-improvement project, I have grown increasingly consumed with the art and craft of bread making. Bread making is fairly easy with a stand mixer and commercial yeast. But with the start of the year and the move to the Bay Area I was determined to successfully ‘grow’ and bake with a natural yeast starter.  After trying and failing what felt like several times, I finally succeeded this week!

tartine's basic country loaf

Working from the ‘Tartine Bread’ cookbook, I managed to cultivate a very active natural yeast starter and bake a delicious country loaf using only flour, water and salt, and a little elbow grease!

Tartine baker and cookbook author, Chad Robertson suggests pulling off a bit of the dough right before baking to use as pizza dough.

bread dough as pizza dough!

 Of course! What a novel idea…why hadn’t I ever thought of this!?

mozzarella w/ hot chili oil

We gave it a try and sure enough, it was some of the best dough we’ve made. Scratch that, it was the best, hands down.

Thin, hearty and slightly tangy, the dough had a perfect tooth to it. I’m also a total sucker for 2-in-1 style recipes.

We made one ‘margherita’ and one with stinging nettles and an obligatory egg.

wild nettles w/ a egg
What a perfect dinner. We look forward to making it for you soon!