Less than two weeks remain for people to enjoy one of the best pizzas for Philadelphia area. Apizzeria 888 dey Elkins Park, and e go close on Oct. 18.
Some pizza parlors dey operate amid blizzard of social media hype. But Apizzeria 888 no be like that. The shop opened one year ago on Old York Road near Church Road.
Sebastian Besiso don do im best to keep im one-man takeout operation hard to find. The blinds dey drawn, windows blocked, and door locked.
He dey make fewer than 40 pizzas a night. Reservations dey essential. Na pickup-only. No Grubhub, after he smashed the order tablet in frustration on im first night. No sandwich menu. He tried cheesesteaks but dropped them.
Even after selling out every night he open, he dey pull the plug. Oct. 18 go be the finale.
Attorneys for Besiso and im landlord confirm say dem release am from im lease after dispute over the building condition.
‘It’s heartbreaking, especially after everything I’ve put into this place,’ Besiso talk. ‘888 proved something to me. An idea wey look almost impossible on paper worked: one person dey operate full brick-and-mortar pizzeria — not basement, garage, or pop-up — dey sell roughly $30 14-inch cheese pizzas and dey sell out every single night I open, without exception and without ever working with a single influencer.’
Though the shop dey turn out fewer pizzas than most, e don earn 4.9 Google rating from more than 1,000 reviews.
I doubt you go find crispier, thinner crust around Philadelphia pass Besiso Sofia Romana. This na pizza wey dem push nearly to structural limit.
A typical 14-inch New York pizza dey start with dough ball wey weigh 13 to 14 ounces. Besiso own dey weigh 7. That na stretch.
The crust almost dey shatter with each bite, yet e dey hold up beneath the cheeses and toppings, including beef pepperoni. One pizza-geek friend talk say e get cracker-like crispness of tonda Romana plus irregular outline and foldability of New Haven apizza.
For now, Sofia Romana, im classic pie, go dey available every day, and he fit also offer one or two other pizzas each day.
He dey extend hours for im final days: 4 to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 2:30 to 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
As e still be one-man shop, he no go do walk-ins. Reservation requests dey accepted daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. at least a day before pickup.
He want customers to text their name to 213-994-0664 — the Los Angeles area code na correct — or call and leave voicemail. Besiso go respond between 8 and 10 the evening before the requested pickup to confirm the reservation.
For same-day requests, the voicemail go indicate whether he don sell out. If he still get pies available, he go pick up the phone.
Chatting with Besiso while he dey work na part of the experience. Im workstation na marble slab in front of a 60-year-old Blodgett gas deck oven with missing knob.
You no fit dey in a hurry. Besiso dey spend good 10 minutes stretching the dough until e nearly see-through. Then the pizza dey go through series of bakes, starting with initial blast of heat wey puff the crust before he add the cheese and toppings.
The crust dey exceedingly thin but no frail. Im underside dey emerge handsomely mottled, with dark freckles and broad patches of golden brown. The irregularly risen rim dey catch few spots of aggressive char. Despite generous blanket of cheese — Besiso keep the blend secret — the center dey stay firm, and a lifted slice dey bend without sagging.
Besiso, a chemical engineer wey don work in and own traditional pizzerias for two decades, dey treat the shop as laboratory and passion project. He talk say he spend weeks on hybrid fermentation and cold aging, and work out precise ventilation pattern in im pizza boxes, punching each hole by hand.
‘My engineering background makes me obsessed with questioning things and pushing variables beyond where people normally stop,’ he talk. ‘That’s the mentality I want to take into whatever comes next.’
He fit no reopen somewhere else, at least not right away. Besiso talk say he never know wetin im next big project go be, and he no want force one.
He plan to make limited batches from home, including a Japanese-inspired Neapolitan pizza he dey develop, and to take select catering jobs. He go share updates on Instagram at @888bysebastian.
Besiso talk say he hope to find people wey share im interest in attempting something new if he take on another major project.
‘Financial success is important, but it isn’t my driver and never will be,’ he talk. ‘I want financial success to be the result of creating something extraordinary, not the reason for creating it.’
