Today we’d like to introduce you to Christopher Brandon.
Christopher, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I’m a part of a company that started in New York City called Select Hospitality and Design. My partner and I were part of the four guys that started Hudson Clearwater in NYC. We relocated to Los Angeles and met Eddie Salcedo who had just gotten back from Tokyo where he was re-defining his skills of being a pizzaiolo with the fine art of pizza making in Japan. He is the chef of 2145 pizza where he gets to show off what he learned there in conjunction with his long past of perfection his dough and being influenced by his family.
He starts with a 12-year-old sourdough yeast made with Japanese flour. He blends it with Italian flour once he forms the balls of dough which take three days to be ready for the oven. What you get is a Neopolitan style pizza made with the technique they use in Japan with the history and ingredients of Italy. It’s quite a special pizza. We’ve just opened another pizza, pasta and Japanese small plates concept in Santa Monica, called Pblc Trde.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Once we opened, it’s been a smooth road as far as guest reception. However, if you’ve been to the restaurant, you’ll have noticed it’s a unique set up in an old gas station with most of the seating outdoors.
Most of the year, this is lovely, however, when it’s cold or raining, we have limited seats. We are working on getting a cover for the garden patio, so we think this will help immensely.
Sometimes we have guests that aren’t quite used to this style of pizza and are looking for something closer to what you would find in delivery style pizza, so it’s been a quest for us to introduce this style of pizza to those guests.
Please tell us about 2145 Pizza.
Many of us have had Neopolitan style pizza, but ours is very special using the Japanese technique and flour. We start with the dough. As explained before, Chef Eddie’s process and 12-year starter yeast is what set’s our dough apart from others.
It’s crisp on the outside and perfectly chewy on the inside. One of our more unique pizza’s is the blue cheese honey pizza — a perfect blend of sweet and savory. As one of the owners, we put the whole package together, from conceptualizing, raising money and putting the team together. We also design all of our restaurants ourselves.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Perhaps considered a space with a larger indoor area. And space for another pizza oven!
Contact Info:
- Address: 2145 Placentia Ave. Costa Mesa, CA 92627
- Website: http://www.2145eat.com/
- Phone: (949) 873-5853
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/2145pizza/
Image Credit:
Trenton Tuiasosopo, Leesa Morales, Carla Choy
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