For years Cafe Olive served breakfasts and sandwiches but the pandemic killed off trade. Most customers at the traditional cafe in West Bridgford were office workers or sports fans from the cricket and football grounds.
But with neither for the majority of 2020 and a chunk of 2021 it spelt the end for Saied Omoomian's livelihood of the last 16 years and the cafe shut at the end of last year. Rather than walk away completely, he passed over the reins to his son Javid, 33, who has opened a cosy pizzeria at the site, Baba Dough.
Javid said: "He tried opening afterwards for a couple of months but his main business here was the office workers apart from cricket and football but that was off as well for that period. The offices were all closed so the business was finished. He'd been here a long time."
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Javid is no stranger to the pizza business. He was one of the founders of the Mediterranean-style Circle Eatery in Bingham nine years ago and a second restaurant which opened in Beeston in 2019. He's also served a never-ending queue of customers at local festivals. All in all it adds up to "thousands of pizzas."
So when it came to taking over the property at the busy location in Radcliffe Road (just opposite the 'world famous' Trent Bridge Inn) there was no question what kind of food he would serve. " I love pizza - it's my favourite thing," he said.
His version has the thin crust of a Roman pizza and the fast bake of a Neapolitan. "I live in The Meadows so I know a good pizza place was lacking around here. There's quite a lot of places popping up like Corner Stone in Sherwood and the Rustic Crust in Farnsfield. Good pizza's coming up now, you can tell.
"I thought it was a good location. It worked for my dad, it worked for me selling my shares in the Circles, it worked perfectly," he said.
It took six months to transform the property from old-style cafe to contemporary pizzeria, which has an Italian-Nottingham vibe. Decorative Italian tomato cans combine with a City Ground NG2 street sign on the wall.
The 12-strong pizza menu starts with a traditional marinana with tomato, basil, oregeno and garlic oil and margarita with mozzarella, tomato, and basil.
A host of meaty options follows, from every carnivore's favourite pepperoni to spicy lovers' 'nduja, a fiery Italian sausage. In honour of the late great Brian Clough is Old Big 'Ead, the former Forest manager's nickname. Wonder what he would have made of the delicious salami, pepperoni and hot honey toppings.
Vegetarians have three to choose from but it's the Melanzana with aubergine,. whipped ricotta and mozzarella that's proving the most popular. Pizzas come in one size, that's 12 inches, and range from £8 to £14 for the meaty feast which is Meat 'Ead with salami, pepperoni, and pancetta.
Starters and sides of garlic bread, olives, burrata and salads are served alongside and for afters, Italian desserts tiramisu, affogato and gelato. The pizzeria is licensed so diners can have wine by the glass or bottle and beers or soft drinks, 200 Degrees coffee and Yorkshire tea.
The secret of the perfect pizza isn't really a secret, said Javid. It starts with fermenting the dough for 48 hours so it's light and digestible.
He said: "The fermentation time, when the yeast has time to react to digest the gluten and proteins, that gives the flavour, and then how it's cooked, how fast it's cooked - the faster it's cooked the more flavour you lock into it - and the ingredients you put on top of it. They're the key things."
With an open kitchen, diners can watch him in action, spinning the dough in the air before loading it up with toppings and putting it into an oven heated at temperatures up to 500 degrees. Since opening the response has been "really good".
The pizzeria's opens from 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday, but when England played New Zealand at Trent Bridge last month Baba Dough opened from 8am for coffee and pastries. Earlier this week the triple world champion kayaker, fresh from the competition, at at the National Watersports Centre at Holme Pierrepont popped in for a pizza feast with 15 others.
Javid is looking forward to welcoming Forest fans when the new Premiership season kicks off in August - obviously Notts County supporters are welcome too but the pizzeria is closer to the City Ground. With players and coaches fans of Eva's Grill next door he hopes they might give his pizzas a whirl as well.
His dad, who is now 65, hasn't put his feet up. He keeps the customers happy, serving them at the table and taking orders for collection, while delivery is left to Just Eat.
"Dad's been here so long. He loves it. There's a nice little community, he's happy," said Javid.
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