Restaurateur Omid Zahedi dishes on his new Rise Woodfire restaurant in an unexpected spot.
HISTORIC TRAIN STATION STOKES CHEF’S RISE WOODFIRE PIZZAS AND MORE
Omid Zahedi is doubling down on the wood-fire cooking concept. And on the Peninsula market. Four years after founding Rise Pizzeria in Burlingame, the entrepreneur has opened another restaurant, Rise Woodfire, an expanded concept with spitfire-roasted prime rib, firewood oven-roasted salmon and slow-roasted rotisserie chicken. And, of course, blistered-crust pizzas — topped with smoked pancetta, Yukon potatoes and egg, or prosciutto and arugula, or medjool dates and chevre — baked in ovens imported from Naples.
With the “elevated comfort food” comes an elevated ambience. Zahedi took over the historic Caltrain station restaurant in downtown San Mateo and embarked on a full renovation of the cavernous space. When full indoor dining resumes, the restaurant (with two bars) will be able to serve a total of 200 people inside and outside on the large heated patio.
Naturally, we had questions about everything from the architecture to his pizza dough.
Q
Why did you open a new restaurant during a pandemic?
A
The truth is we were already knee-deep into the project and still believed in it. We feel this time shall pass, and we just need to navigate through it.
Q
What was it about the train station building project that attracted you?
A
The short answer is the beautiful vaulted wood ceiling, 40 feet high. I love architecture and design. I get very excited about the possibility of turning a space into something that can’t be seen in its current state. A sort of a magic trick, if you will. To many, this space was an old, wornout closed restaurant. That’s why it sat around. But I was able to look past that after visualizing what the space could be if all the existing elements were removed completely. It haunted my mind and would not let me let it go, so I went for it. Much like how the making of pizza haunted my thoughts and caused me to let go of my finance career and go for it with Rise Pizzeria.
Q
How did you get interested in artisanal pizza?
A
In the late 1990s my family used to own fast-food-style pizza delivery places. It was cheap, not very good and had no soul. It was just a way to pay the bills.
Fast forward 10 years to downtown Los Angeles before my wife, Susan Payrovi, and I got married. During our long meetings with the wedding planners we would run across the street to a
wood-fired pizzeria. I remember saying to myself, man, this pizza is nothing like the stuff we were putting out at the delivery places we had.
After we got married, I missed that crispy chewy crust with all the unique toppings. So I started trying to re-create it at home. This led to buying a wood-fired oven and putting it on a trailer, which took up our entire garage. That is where the love affair started. Susan calls our first oven (affectionately named Lucy) my first-born child. I stopped trying to create that pizzeria’s pizza and started to create my own personal version of what I felt is a great pizza.
Qwhat’s
your pizza style?
A People compare our pizza to New York, Neapolitan and other styles. The truth is, I don’t subscribe to any discipline with my pizza. I have learned a lot from all these styles and use them all freely. Our pizza is really just my interpretation of the best pizza I know how to make.
Q
What makes your dough distinctive?
A
The dough is a culmination of hundreds of tests I did over a three-year period of time before opening Rise Pizzeria. With such few ingredients — flour, water, salt (and a pinch of yeast) — it’s all about the process. Our dough goes through several rises before becoming a pizza, hence the name Rise. Sponge rise, bulk rise, ball rise, cold ferment rise and a final oven rise.
Q
Are all your desserts made in-house? What made you decide to feature pies?
A
We run a scratch kitchen so there is not much of anything that is not made in-house. Our Woodfire concept is “elevated comfort food,” and I felt pies are something that fit this concept very well. Plus, like pizza, the possibilities are endless, so we are having a lot of fun trying different seasonal pies. Currently our blueberry pie with organic blueberries is our seasonal.
Q
You say your food must pass the kid test. What do your sons like on the new menu?
A
We seem to go through phases. Right now Aiden is all about the Napoli pizza, Adrian is prime rib with mac and cheese, Evan is a wing man (barbecue all the way).
Q
Is it true that some Caltrain conductors are ordering your pizza and getting off the train to pick up their order?
A
Yes. They call in from the train and run in, drop a $20 and run out with the pizza!
DETAILS >> Rise Woodfire is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesdaysunday at 2 N. B St., San Mateo. www.risewoodfire.com