Flour + Water Opens a Pizza Shop in San Francisco’s Mission Rock Development | Eater SF
"Debuting Monday, April 14 and open daily from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., this Mission Rock pizza shop from chefs and partners Thomas McNaughton and Ryan Pollnow is intended as a blueprint for future, more casual pizza outposts rather than a duplicate of the North Beach flagship. To handle heavy game-day traffic the team built a range of service options — “a slice window plugged into the side of the building for easy ordering of ready-to-go slices, a front counter with cashiers, self-order kiosks, phone ordering, and QR codes at the tables” — and, as McNaughton explains, “All of those things were birthed out of [the question of], ‘What’s the best operation on game day?’” The takeout window will likely move plenty of the Big Slice — the shop’s name for their large, single slices — with Margherita and pepperoni plus a rotating third special; full-sized pies include those two and a Hawaiian that pairs capicola with pineapple and a hit of pickled fresnos and chile crisp, the Meatza (pepperoni with sausage and guanciale), a smoky eggplant option that can be vegan-ized, a basil pesto pizza, the Conrad (a vegetarian pie mixing kale and mushrooms with roasted garlic, two kinds of cheese, and red onions), and a cacio e pepe pizza featuring fresh mozzarella, pecorino crema, and fontina set against specks of black pepper. All pies can also be made into gluten-free Sicilian options. Appetizers expand beyond mozzarella sticks and Calabrian chicken wings to include ballpark garlic fries — an ode to the popular version inside Oracle Park — served with a cacio e pepe dip (also offered as a side sauce add-on for pies alongside ranch and marinara). Soft-serve desserts come with toppings like Amarena cherries and brown-butter cereal crunch atop two soft-serve flavors, salted caramel and fior di latte (or cow’s milk mozzarella). Beverage options include a glass of red or white wine, two beers on tap, a Flour + Water spritz made with citrus, hibiscus, and sparkling wine, and, leveraging a full liquor license, a boozy slushie with tequila, passion fruit, citrus, and aperitif or a shot of Don Julio Blanco as a “cheers to the home team.” While the location was approached cautiously after initial outreach from the Giants and Tishman Speyer, Pollnow says, “It gave us more confidence in knowing that it’s not just a development next to the Giants stadium, it’s a developing neighborhood in San Francisco.” To serve neighbors as well as fans, the team prioritized comfortable seating inside and outside on the adjacent sidewalk and plaza plus convenient delivery and to-go options. This opening follows the June 2023 North Beach flagship and is being positioned as an expansion stepping stone, with an inaugural East Bay location locked in for Oakland." - Dianne de Guzman
