Spoiler alert: Pounders pizza may wreck you from enjoying any others
The next time you’re in Laie, home of the Polynesian Cultural Center, and you’re feeling ono (hungry), you’ve gotta’ try one of our new Pounders Restaurant 10-inch Hawaiian pizzas in the Hukilau Marketplace: They’re “to die for” delicious.
In fact, you may not be able to stop at one, especially if you’re sharing. First off, guests can choose from 10 different Neopolitan-style pizzas, but be ready, none of these are like your usual neighborhood choices:
Pounders Restaurant Four Cheeses Pizza |
Pepperoni Pizza Pepperoni, tomato sauce, mozzarella Soprassata, Italian sausage, pepperoni Mozzarella, Fontina, Provolone, Gorgonzola, fresh basil |
Pounders Restaurant Margherita Pizza |
Margherita Tomato sauce, fresh basil, mozzarella
Big Wave Fresh tomato, mozzarella, macadamia nut pesto |
Pounders Restaurant BBQ Pizza |
BBQ Beef brisket, roast pork, provolone, peppers and onion, BBQ sauce
Veggie Zucchini, olive, marinated mushroom, sundried tomato, mozzarella, asiago, macadamia nut pesto |
Pounders Restaurant Hawaiian Pizza |
Hawaiian Prosciutto, smoked mozzarella, arugula and mango chutney
Sopressata Sopressata, Kalamata olives
Cheeseburger Kuahiwi Farms ground beef, bacon, white cheddar and onion |
If your taste in pizza is basic, go for the Pepperoni or Margherita. They both feature a delicious tomato paste and mozzarella, but the latter is set off with fresh sweet basil and glazed with extra-virgin olive oil. For something really special, go for the Hawaiian or BBQ pizza, but stop looking for the pineapple if you order the former. Ours is a lot different than other so-called Hawaiian pizzas. The smoky flavor of the mozzarella complements the wood-fire baking process, making it very ono. The natural saltiness of the prosciutto accented by the tangy arugula and the sweet mango chutney makes this a special taste treat.
Then there’s the dough base for each of them. It’s made from imported Italian caputo flour and baked in a special oven: “I think our new oven is really going to steal the show,” said Pounders chef Sean Priester of Pounders’ focal-point kiawe-wood-burning Napoli-style brick oven, also imported from Naples, Italy.
Pounders Restaurant Napoli-style Pizza Oven
Marc Neves, a food and beverage consultant on the design for the PCC’s new Marketplace for the past three years, explained that the new oven came from a family business that’s been making them for the past 150 years. “We even brought over a consultant for three days to train the staff to make a true Neopolitan pizza,” he said. “The first day was learning to build the fire properly. The center of the oven is 720 degrees, but the top of the oven is over 1,000 degrees, so we have to hit just the right spot. If the pizza cooks too quickly, the dough’s not right.”
“When we’ve got it just right, it takes just under three minutes to bake a pizza,” continued Neves, who has Hawaiian roots on Molokai. “We could cook as many as six in the oven, but right now we’re doing less as we learn to properly manage the process: It’s all about spinning. As people can see, all of the fiery heat in the oven is at the 9 o’clock position. We let a pizza sit in there for about 40-50 seconds, then we rotate it one third — that’s called spinning — for another 40-50 seconds, and so forth. They have to watch it.”
Neves said preparing the hand-pressed dough and using just the right amount of yeast is an art: “We need to give the dough the proper amount of rise for when we plan to bake the pizza. For example, we can make dough to use today, or make it differently today to use it tomorrow.
Ready to order yet? Plan on stopping at the Hukilau Marketplace the next time you’re in Laie, and sampling one of these tasty creations..You can’t go wrong, They’re all delicious.
Pounders Restaurant Taro Chips |
Scrumptious Crab Cake with Lilikoi Sauce
The Friendly Staff at Pounders Restaurant
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Story and pictures by Mike Foley
Mike Foley, who has worked off-and-on
at the Polynesian Cultural Center since
1968, has been a full-time freelance
writer and digital media specialist since
2002, and had a long career in marketing
communications and PR before that. He
learned to speak fluent Samoan as a
Mormon missionary before moving to Laie
in 1967 — still does, and he has traveled
extensively over the years throughout
Polynesia and other Pacific islands. Foley
is mostly retired now, but continues to
contribute to various PCC and other media.
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