It is early on a Friday morning, and you are already scratching your head wondering what to serve for dinner.
Wonder no more.
Follow the lead of those in the know, who have discovered that Fridays are pizza days at Carriage House Market in Powassan.
Chef Nickolas Rizzo-Courtemanche has built a reputation for creating tasty pizzas to satisfy any pizza lover.
“We are pretty famous for our pizzas. We do everything in-house and try to use as many local ingredients as possible. It is certainly a big hit on Fridays,” grinned Rizzo-Courtemanche.
His pizzas are extra large, or simply translated means a solid 18-inch pie.
“We do pizza slices for the first hour and a half for people to come in and grab at lunch, and the rest of the day is just dedicated to whole pizzas for take home for dinner.”
Avoid disappointment by ordering early in the day.
“We open our phone at 7 a.m. on Friday mornings and people start booking up as early as 7:02 a.m.,” the chef laughed.
“Call early because we tend to sell out pretty quickly. I’ve had people call sometimes at noon and we’re sold out before then. “
Rizzo-Courtemanche makes Pizza Day extra special.
“Every week we hold a raffle for somebody in Powassan to design their own pizza, and they get a free pizza to take home as well.”
Raffle winners rose to the challenge, creating unique flavour combinations including one with squash and beets.
“We really enjoyed that one. Somebody else wanted every single meat that he could get from the deli on his pizza. I also did a six-cheese pizza one time, but I think my favourite was the Philly steak pizza. That was a really good one.”
The chef attributes the popularity of the Carriage House Market pizzas to his staff’s attention to detail.
“The team here has been working for the past three years perfecting everything starting with our dough, which we make the night before. We let it ferment into a sourdough. So that was really cool getting that recipe down with the team here. And we discuss with the farmers what they have in stock seasonally and build our pizza menu around that. Every week it changes depending on what is in season.”
Recently that included an abundance of asparagus.
Thinking outside the box, Rizzo-Courtemanche created an asparagus, mushroom chicken Alfredo pizza with a garlic cream sauce, topped with sauteed mushrooms, red onions, roasted chicken, mozzarella, and of course some asparagus.
The sauce for this pizza and others comes directly from the Carriage House Market kitchen.
“We make everything fresh in-house the morning of. Like today we did the chicken Alfredo asparagus pizza and I made the mushroom cream sauce not even a half hour ago,” grinned Rizzo-Courtemanche.
Looking for more of the traditional style?
The all-dressed Deluxe is topped with sliced summer sausage, mushrooms, bell peppers, red onions, and black olives.
“Our Sweet Maple BBQ Chicken Pizza, has maple syrup in the barbecue sauce we make in-house, topped with roasted chicken, bell peppers, and red onions. Then we’ve got our spicy Hawaiian which is like a Hawaiian pizza, but we top it off with some banana peppers and pickled jalapenos.”
The Great Canadian is topped with mushrooms, red onions, sliced summer sausage, bacon, and ham.
“We cook all of our pizzas here on a Green Egg Smoker. It is the double XLarge, the largest smoker you can buy by Green Egg, and we do it on a charcoal base and the temperatures can reach up to about 500 degrees. We cook our pizzas and it takes about 12 minutes for an extra-large pizza to cook on here.”
The kitchen works hard to accommodate dietary restrictions, where possible.
“We do get the odd vegan pizza. We bring in some specialty cheeses for them and we can custom build our pizzas to order, no problem at all.”
Visitors to the area have included the Carriage House as one of their stops.
“I met a couple from Niagara, they heard about us from word of mouth. We have a couple that come every year in September for the long weekend from Goderich. They have a campground in the area, so they’re here every year on that long weekend. And we have people from Trout Creek, North Bay. It’s the little communities and people who come whenever they can. We know we’re kind of out of the way, but we’re worth the trip,” stated Rizzo-Courtemanche smiling broadly.
Friday is the only day of the week this kitchen serves pizza, which some might refer to as a slice of heaven.
Can’t wait? There is another option to enjoy it anytime at home or at the cottage.
“We do freeze our dough and sell it after we make it fresh. In the past, I have had people come in and grab a dough ball from me and I’ll slice up some summer sausage for them and sell them a pint of sauce. I make a huge batch of it in the morning, so I don’t mind sharing. We love to help people out the best way we can and promote local eating and what we do here as much as we can.”
Daily specials are also popular.
“On Thursdays, it is our burgers and fries special, and again we do everything in-house with as many local ingredients as we can. And then Tuesdays and Wednesdays are a little up in the air. I like to build our lunch special based on whatever I have too much of, whatever the farmers have provided me with. So, like a couple of days ago I did a chicken pesto melt because I had so much basil from them.”
The Market side of the business includes freezers stocked full of local meats.
“We look to support our local farmers, so our freezers right now are full of local beef, chicken, lamb, and pork. And we’re working on getting more and more vegetables as the season warms up.”
Rizzo-Courtemanche attended culinary school in Ottawa and continues to develop his culinary skills.
“I’ve been cooking all over Canada, learning the trade. I’ve worked on the East Coast for a few years, and the Deerhurst Resort in Huntsville.”
It was more than his love of food that brought him to Powassan.
“My girlfriend is from Powassan.”
The Carriage House Market is located at 61 Memorial Park Drive East, Powassan.
For more information dial 705-707-1003, or visit their website.
