05 Nov 2024
From humble beginnings in the heart of lockdown, a Chiswell Green pizzeria is gaining widespread recognition for its specialist pies.
James Woodley and Grace Surman stumbled across what was to become Gracey’s in the middle of the pandemic, a disused shop on the outskirts of the village at 339 Watford Road, right next door to the Post Office.
After chatting to the landlord outside, a bit of back and forth and a scribbled business plan, they agreed to take on the tenancy and establish a decidedly different pizza to the usual fare.
Building on James’ background working in some of London’s most prestigious food joints – including the Camberwell Arms and Brunswick House – they set out to create a distinctive product to attract customers looking for something special.
Influenced by their pre-Covid visits to America’s East Coast, they opted to embrace the New Haven-style pie, a thin Neapolitan-inspired pizza with a chewy, crispy and charred crust.
For those of us who might not have sampled this Connecticut dish before, James explained what makes it stand out from the usual pie: “New Haven pizza is very interesting because its founders were immigrants from southern Italy who started lives and businesses on the East Coast of America.
“They were trying to replicate the ‘peasant food’ of their homelands but using bread flour and coal-fired baker’s ovens inherited from other migrant communities such as the Germans and Polish. Many of the characteristics of Neapolitan pizza which you would recognise – such as light dough and pronounced crust – are adapted here.
“New Haven pizza is characteristically one profile; it’s a high hydration baker’s dough that is well baked and crispy; the sauce is in a very thick layer right to the edge because it cooks for a good four to six minutes in the oven (a Neapolitan style pizza is 90 seconds); the toppings are traditionally simple, ingredients that don’t necessarily need a refrigerator such as garlic, pecorino Romano hard cheese, oregano, shaved potato, crushed tomatoes.
“All these elements give this style of pizza a certain unique magic, like you’re eating a slice of history. It’s also a very satisfying pizza to make in a home oven if you can dial it in.”
Buying a secondhand pizza oven and some vintage jazz posters, they enlisted the talents of a sign painter to create the new Gracey’s signage, and after they opened their doors in August 2021 word slowly spread about this hidden gem just off the M25.
Grace said things were slow for the first 12 months: “When we chanced on the shop, we naively thought that it would be James and I working there every day, making a modest amount of pizza for the locals.
“Actually, it was dead quiet for about a year and we struggled to make ends meet. It’s taken many hours working on the pizza to make it exceptional and on marketing ourselves to get to this place. We’ve now carved out a wider reputation for being unique in our field for the style of crispy pizza we make.”
Their menu is very focused, a deliberate strategy to ensure consistent quality.
Grace explained: “We’ve always said, better to do something simply and do it well than offer loads of different options at a substandard. Our top sellers are definitely the New Haven, Margherita and the Smokey Ron (pepperoni) with our in-house chilli honey.”
But although customers are travelling from across the UK to sample their pizzas, James and Grace are hoping to reach an even wider audience through two major media appearances.
Next month they are set to star in the second season of pizza oven company Gozney’s ‘How to Pizza’ YouTube series, in which host and pizza-rookie Charlotte travels around the globe to learn the secrets of restaurant pizza from a host of top chefs.
Gracey’s will feature alongside Los Angeles’ Pizzana, run by the acclaimed Danielle Uditi, Best Pizza in Brooklyn with Frank Pinello, and Outside Pizza in Denver, and with the first series amassing more than 900,000 views it should be great publicity for the venture.
James revealed what secrets they shared with Charlotte: “It was a bit hectic for us because we’d just had a baby the month before. We first taught Charlotte how to open up a large 16-inch pizza and how to get it onto the larger pizza peel.
“We also looked a bit more closely on finger placement when stretching the dough ball and how to prevent thin spots. We then showed her how to achieve our signature crispy, crunchy bake using an electric deck oven and also the Gozney Arc.
“Once Charlotte and Grace were set up outside with the Arc, the heavens opened up which made it a real challenge to work with the dough on wet surfaces.
“I think it was great to see how a pizza can be made in such different circumstances. Pizza-making is actually pretty forgiving: you can make mistakes and be under the toughest conditions and still knock out a really decent pizza and this episode really shows that.”
But before their episode of How to Pizza goes live on November 16, the couple enjoyed a slot on a recent episode of Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch with Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer, in which Tim recalled visiting Club Batchwood back in the day, before guests including David Baddiel and McFly’s Tom and Danny raved about the pizzas they sampled.
James said afterwards: “Appearing on Sunday Brunch was a blast. The warm response has taken us aback. As Gozney ambassadors, we’re looking forward to doing more public events like this. The beauty of pizza is that it’s so fun and everyone has a connection to it.”
Looking forward, James and Grace are expanding into the world of pop-ups, and are striving to reach a wider customer base in St Albans, where surprisingly many people still haven’t heard of them.
Grace added: “We’re definitely a bit of a hidden gem because of where we’re located. I think pizza enthusiasts in New Haven knew about us before the general populace of St Albans! Doing menu collaborations with local businesses has been a great tool to attract interest. Upcoming for November, we’ve collaborated on a Mexican-inspired special pizza with The Boot Cantina on Market Place.”
