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Very Local: Buying local matters at Alberta's Pizza in Pittsburgh

Very Local: Buying local matters at Alberta's Pizza in Pittsburgh
Alberta was my mother and she hated the name Alberta. Her middle name was Gail. Remember my stepfather called her Birdie Gail, but she just hated the name Alberta. I don't know why, but Gail wasn't *** great name for *** pizza business. So I went with Alberta. We moved to the United States when I turned three. So I don't remember South Africa and the restaurant that they had there. Then we moved to New York and then Jersey and then here when we were in South Africa, my dad couldn't really find good pizza over there and my dad started experimenting with dough so he can make his own pies and he just kept practicing and he kind of learned to perfect the dough. Then we came to Pittsburgh and that was my dad's goal to make pizza and sell it to others. Family businesses are born out of necessities. Resources are low, reliable employees are hard to find and you have *** kid right there and she's into pizza and she wants to make *** little bit of money to buy the things that we won't, we won't give her money for, she knows the ingredients. She lives with the ingredients. She eats them every night at home. Just so happens. She's really great with customers. All right. So I want to do half sour pickles for appetizers. So we need small pickling cucumbers and we're gonna need dill and we need honey for the collab brand and eggs for the Caesar salad for the dressing. Yeah. Can we try something with tomatoes? Like fresh tomatoes? Like sliced tomatoes? Definitely. Definitely. Tomatoes should be fantastic right now. All right, let's go. I'm Steve Janowski. This is the original farmers market. We're located here just off Route 50. This farmer's market, it has the name, the original farmers market because it was one of the first farmers markets in Pittsburgh. When you shop here, you get to see and interact with the people that are just selling you the produce but helped grow and see that produce every step of the way until it got to. You originally started off as we went to the farmer's market just for regular grocery shopping. And then we kind of looked around at the ingredients saying, hey, let's put it on *** pie. The philosophy of Italian food is using local. So it's not always easy, but you're always looking, it's important to make relationships with people who sell food and it's also important to just make quality food. one of my tricks so I could see the customers behind me is this mirror found at *** consignment store and I can talk to my customers looking in the mirror. The biggest comment we get is how surprised that pizza could be so good. Coming out of *** truck. They're surprised that I'm even burning wood in an oven. We get crazy comments like where do you buy your frozen dough from? And we're like, I don't buy frozen dough. I make my own dough. I had one guy laugh at me. He asked me where I buy my mozzarella. And I said, oh, we make it every morning. And he laughed at me. He thought I was joking. He walked away laughing. Pittsburghers have been fantastic. They just love supporting the local guys doing little things working hard. They really appreciate us who's from our city, that's doing something in our city. That's where we want to go. My dad grew up here so he has friends that stopped by and sometimes people stop by and they don't think it's, they're going to run into someone they know. And then they see that's my high school buddy making pizzas in the back. You know, it sounds cliche, but we are proud to serve Pittsburgh and that's why I came back. This is my home now, my daughter's home, it's now my wife's home and nothing makes us prouder to serve our neighbors and for someone to walk by me on the street and say we love your pizza. It's just doesn't get better than that.
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Very Local: Buying local matters at Alberta's Pizza in Pittsburgh
Beau Mitall named Alberta's Pizza after his mother. While he says family businesses are "born out of necessity," his daughter, Nandi, has embraced her role in helping to run this Pittsburgh food truck, right down to "liv(ing) with the ingredients." Nandi describes the family's years in South Africa, where Mitall "couldn't really find good pizza over there." After moving to New York and then New Jersey, the family settled in Pittsburgh, where they now sell pizzas that started with home experiments with dough. Their commitment to buying local ingredients brings them to Bridgeville's Original Farmers Market, where Nandi finds fresh eggs, tomatoes and cucumbers sold straight from the producers. It's a commitment to the community that Beau says is part of the philosophy of Italian food.Watch the pair talk about their pizza pie process and why they are proud to serve Pittsburgh in the video above.What is Very Local?Very Local is a streaming app where you can watch local news, original series and more. Keep connected to your hometown with the news team you trust and discover original series and specials that explore your community and beyond.Follow Very Local on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for more.

Beau Mitall named Alberta's Pizza after his mother. While he says family businesses are "born out of necessity," his daughter, Nandi, has embraced her role in helping to run this Pittsburgh food truck, right down to "liv(ing) with the ingredients."

Nandi describes the family's years in South Africa, where Mitall "couldn't really find good pizza over there." After moving to New York and then New Jersey, the family settled in Pittsburgh, where they now sell pizzas that started with home experiments with dough.

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Their commitment to buying local ingredients brings them to Bridgeville's Original Farmers Market, where Nandi finds fresh eggs, tomatoes and cucumbers sold straight from the producers. It's a commitment to the community that Beau says is part of the philosophy of Italian food.

Watch the pair talk about their pizza pie process and why they are proud to serve Pittsburgh in the video above.

What is Very Local?

Very Local is a streaming app where you can watch local news, original series and more. Keep connected to your hometown with the news team you trust and discover original series and specials that explore your community and beyond.

Follow Very Local on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube for more.