The Bricks

New Restaurant The Bricks Pizza Opens in Grosse Pointe Park on August 2 | Eater Detroit

"Set to debut Friday, August 2 in Grosse Pointe Park, this Neapolitan-style, 100-seat neighborhood pizzeria at 15201 Kercheval Ave. will focus on naturally leavened, wood-fired pizzas and breads. The menu promises 10 pizzas, including an egg-and-bacon pie with red sauce, mozzarella, pancetta, caramelized onion and a fried farm egg, as well as fresh cacio e pepe pasta, white fish chowder, cheese bread and buffalo wings for appetizers, and gelato for dessert. Owner-chef Trenton Chamberlain, a West Michigan native who studied baking and pastry in Vermont, emphasizes a seasonal, local ethos: dough is made with organic flour ground in-house on a wooden Austrian mill visible through a window into a glassed-in pasta room (which also houses a pasta extruder), and the mill can be adjusted for different grind coarseness for pasta, bread and pizza while leftover bran is sent to Fox Hollow for composting. The Bricks is partnering with Fox Hollow Farms in Metamora to establish spelt, hard red wheat and einkorn crops for future use (a process expected to take roughly five years) and is currently sourcing wheat from Ferris Organic Farms; Fox Hollow is also growing tomatoes used for the Bricks’ raw tomato sauces and tomato confit, and the restaurant plans to preserve seasonal produce and store items in a root cellar below the space. The restaurant’s Le Panyol oven — one of the largest in the area — weighs roughly 10,000 pounds with a copper exterior barrel and Roman tile interior, and breads and pizzas are prepared through a roughly 60-hour process before hitting the oven at between 400 and 800 degrees depending on the dough. Designed by William J. Thomas Studio and Patrick Thompson Design, the space includes a private dining room, an arcade and patio seating; Chamberlain has moved a block away and says the opening is the culmination of 10 years of planning, and he is deeply involved in day-to-day operations." - Brenna Houck