Scottish chef Neil Rankin — perhaps best known as the barbecue chef who began creating healthy meat alternatives from fermented vegetables — is taking his nostalgia-fuelled pizza pop-up to the Railway Tavern in Dalston.
Following an acclaimed run at Walthamstow’s Burnt Faith Brandy House, Little Earthquakes pizza will open at the N16 boozer on Thursday March 20, offering a riff on the deep-dish Chicago Town pizzas of Rankin’s youth. The project is a partnership between the former Temper chef and From The Ashes BBQ, and comes as American-style pizza becomes increasingly popular across town.
The six-inch pizzas feature a base made using slow-proofed Wildfarmed regenerative flour, which is then lined with fior di latte mozzarella and pecorino. Fillings are made of both British and Italian ingredients sourced heavily from local shops and businesses in Newington Green, and include taleggio cheese and guanciale, or cured pork cheek; a salami ragu, made using fennel salami instead of the traditional beef and pork; and the “Ring of Fire”, which uses the Symplicity foods plant-based take on 'Nduja, made from fermented tomatoes, pickled chillies and dried Calabrian peppers. Cheese, naturally, is then added again on the top.
Made freshly each day, the pizzas are sold on a first-come, first-served basis, between 6-9pm Tuesday to Friday, and 3-9pm on Saturdays.
Describing them to the Caterer in 2024, Rankin said: “I wanted to do a gourmet 2024 Chicago Town reboot pizza, make it with wild farmed flour, a sourdough starter, great ingredients and epic flavours.
“We cover it 360 degrees with cheese, so you have cheese on the sides, cheese on top, cheese on the base, cheese everywhere. So, it’s like a crispy cheese encrusted, fluffy deep-pan pizza, so you get oozy bits, crunchy bits, everything.”
Rankin said of the opening: “As a local in Dalston and living a few streets away from the Railway Tavern, it’s really exciting to be opening here. The Railway is a special pub that still serves the local community and it is full of regulars that we’re mindful not to alienate, whilst also trying to bring something new to the area.
“We also try to use local businesses for our larder as much as possible and we’re planning a range of events centred around the community that ourselves and the owners all love.”
Little Earthquakes pizza will be available from March 20 at The Railway Tavern, 2 St Jude Street, N16 8JT. For more information, follow @littleearthpizza and @railwaytavernn16
