The Slice #22

What's up pizza people?!? This is The Slice, the newsletter that keeps it tight like a snare drum. This week, we're doing our damnedest to stick to our New Year's resolutions. Every January, millions of people work out like their lives depend on it, only to taper off by February. But this is gonna be our year - we think!

STEP BY STEP

How many steps did you take yesterday? If you're like us, you know the exact number, because you check the Health app constantly. Wanna get those steps WAY up? Work in a restaurant! Front of House employees in particular cover A LOT of ground - you're constantly back and forth between the kitchen and dining room, running food, going up and down stairs, the list goes on. That all adds up to over 20,000 steps a day! Now we just need to work on those lats and delts, bro.

Every day is leg day

DRESS TO IMPRESS

"Keep it light". Great advice if you wanna keep it tight, but salads and "lighter options" used to be (and often still are) one of the most boring options on most restaurant menus. Those days are over with! With the right balance of flavors, salads are getting good enough to receive top billing. And what's a good salad without the right dressing to tie everything together? We've included some of our favorites from each of our restaurants:Merriment Social's Avocado BowlThis bad boy is an impressive assemblage of goodness, with silky avocado balancing the high notes of lime-chili vinaigrette. It's also endlessly riffable - use greens, avocado, and dressing as a base for your own seasonal creation! Seriously, this dressing is more versatile than Meryl Streep. We change ours seasonally, and we're currently doing Tuscan kale, farm greens, sweet corn, black beans, chayote, pepitas, and roasted red peppers with our house vin - recipe below:Lime-Chili Vinaigrette- 8 bunches scallions, roughly chopped- 1 cup dijon mustard- 1.5 cup ginger, roughly chopped- 1.5 cup champagne vinegar- 1.5 cup honey- 2 cups fresh lime juice- 4 tablespoons chopped garlic- 8 tablespoons chopped shallots- 3 cups tamari- .75 cup sesame oil- 1 cup chili oil- 8 cups sunflower oil- .5 cup buttermilkCombine everything but the oil in your blender, blend until smooth. With blender on high, slowly add the oil until fully emulsified.Third Coast Provisions' Ōra King Salmon CrudoYou can also move beyond salads to keep it light - crudo is never a bad idea. At Third Coast Provisions, our Salmon Crudo packs a ton of flavor into a dish that will leave you feeling like a million bucks. We change the preparation (currently granny smith apple, castelvetrano olives, sunchoke chips, and cilantro oil) seasonally, but the salmon (we ONLY use Ōra King) and the dashi are always the stars of the show.Shiro Dashi- 15g kombu- 1440g water- 90g white soy sauce- 240g mirin- 30g kosher salt- 30g bonito flakesBring water and kombu to a light simmer, remove kombu. Add remaining ingredients (aside from bonito) and simmer for 5 minutes. Steep bonito in mixture for 5 minutes and strain.Flourchild's Hot Mess SaladThis one's a riff on a pizza place classic, with a little extra kick, and without the wilted lettuce and packets of store-bought dressing. We're throwing together some greens, fresh mozzarella, artichokes, cherry peppers, scallion, tomato, and our house herb vinaigrette - recipe below:Herb Vinaigrette- 1.25 cup cider vinegar- 2 tablespoons dijon mustard- 2 cloves garlic- 1 shallot- 12 ounces green olives, roughly chopped- 2 tablespoons sugar- 1.5 cup olive oil- 1.5 cup sunflower oil- 3 tablespoons parsley- 1 teaspoon black pepperAdd vinegar, mustard, garlic, shallot, olives, sugar, to blender, blend until smooth. With blender on high, slowly add oils until emulsified, transfer to a large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients.

So messy - and so healthy!

CHEAT DAY

OK, so eating healthy is great, but what's a good diet without a cheat day?!? We already covered some of our favorite healthy dishes, so let's take a look at our favorite cheat day meals from each of the aforementioned spots:

The Merriment Burger at Merriment Social (duh) This is the platonic ideal of what a burger should be. Rich, crispy, and greasy, with a little soft and a little crunch in all the right places. BURGER PATTIES, BACON, AMERICAN CHEESE, HOUSE PICKLES, SOCIAL SAUCE, MILK BUN - this thing is a goddamn masterpiece. Sure, the brisket patties do the heavy lifting and get most of the attention, but don't sleep on that bun! Our housemade milk buns are soft and faintly sweet, while still being sturdy enough to hold all that magnificence. WE HAVE THE MEATS.

Hashbrown Royale at Third Coast ProvisionsHave you ever wished you could eat like a king? Wish no longer, cuz this exercise in extravagance is here to expand your horizons, as well as your waistline. A big ol' hashbrown, topped with ooey-gooey beef cheek, creme fraiche, and jus, crowned with little wispy shavings of foie gras that gently melt into the meaty morass upon which they rest. This is decadence on a whole new level. GET YOU SOME!

Pineapple Express at FlourchildPineapple on pizza is one of the most divisive topics in this country, and that's really saying something. We're here to bring the people together with a pizza so perfect that even the most hardened anti-pineapple partisans will have to say "yeah, that's actually pretty good". The pineapple is roasted before we cook the pie, so you wont be inundated with excess juices. Then we're gonna surround it with some Ezzo pepperoni, chives, and the coup de grâce, pickled pepper cream cheese. As a recent pineapple convert, I can attest: this pizza is the truth!

REFERRAL

Tell your friends about The Slice! We're dishing out sick rewards for different referral milestones - spread the word to earn some sweet swag!

THAT RESOLUTION MEME

Let's try this again!

That's a wrap for today - see ya next week!

Keep it cheesy, 

Andrew "Hot Sauce" Miller | Joe "Doughboy" Lowery | Kelsey "Slice Slice Baby" Herrera