Diary of a foodie: Brick Stone Pizza

It was a Wednesday afternoon, about 1:30pm. I felt for adventure....exploration. I toyed with the idea of a beach visit to Cable Hut in Bull Bay or a stop at Castleton Gardens to dip my feet in the river on this hot summer day. I was indecisive, nonetheless, I got ready and left the house with no determined destination. I hopped a downtown bus pondering what to do, where to go. Through Half-Way-Tree, through Cross Roads, still undecided. It wasn't until I reached the vicinity that I decided to check out the little pizza place I had heard of a while back.

Brick Stone Pizza, housed in the most unexpected nook on 105 1/2 East Street, owned and operated by Kenneth Austin, a simple man who colourfully remixed his Jamaican accent with the sound of America.... or was it Italy? Jamaican by birth, Austin worked in New York for some Italians for over ten (10) years in the field of culinary arts. He started out as the delivery man but was later sent to undertake culinary lessons which afforded him the opportunity to eventually advance as Production Head for the enterprize. "I was sent to learn how to chop vegetables because they had no time to teach me but I learnt everything, from making patties, lasagna, pizza.... everything", he chimed in a pitch laced with unmistakable pride. Austin repeatedly expressed extreme gratitude to the said Italians for all they taught him, describing it as "an opportunity that changed my life forever". He pointed out that he is a skateboard stuntman by profession but its pizza that provides financial support for his survival. "I will be making pizza for the rest of my life", he stated in great contentment.

I ordered a small pizza topped with bacon, ham and chicken which amounted to JM$470.00. As he prepared it he explained the things that made his pizza special. He boasted about the Italian authenticity that his pizza had. The dough, which he exhibited to me in a bulk package, was authentic sponge dough of Italian origin. This he coated with his special variation of marinara sauce, the Brick Stone Pizza secret specialty. While he worked another customer, Michael, came in and eventually joined the conversation. "The quality is consistent, delicious and I highly recommend it. I am proud of Kenneth man. Him doing good fi himself." he stated. He was quite willing to grant me the services of a photographer as I tried to capture the various moments of the experience.

Being in operation for a year and two months, Austin hinted about a wide array of customers ranging from the common man to musicians to prominent influences of the nation. Then the big moment came, my pizza was ready. Presented in a branded box it was fresh and stemming hot from the brick oven, which Austin pointed out he constructed himself. The spices from the sauce tantalized my taste buds, the crust was excellently baked, the toppings were magnificent and it all held together seamlessly under a sheet of mozzarella cheese. Simply a-ma-zing! I devoured it in one go! After eating and chatting, Austin showed me around the kitchen and specifically his state of the art brick oven, which I must state exceeded my expectations. It was definitely an awesome experience and I'll definitely be going back to try other toppings such as callaloo, ackee, fish, among others.

Check out the pictures I took documenting the experience.