In this post, I was invited for a pizza party. However, little did I know that it would turn into a pizza making workshop, where I had to make Nightingale quality pizza in front of owner and restauranteur Chef David Hawksworth himself.
Chef Hawksworth opened his namesake fine dining restaurant in 2011, and followed that up 5 years later with Nightingale Restaurant, his second child, so to speak.
We arrived and was ushered up to their second floor, which includes a private dining area over looking their open pizza and pastry kitchen.
Before we began our endeavour we got a background introduction to the ingredients we would be handling, giving proper respect and understanding to what they do in the kitchen. These were quality produce and proteins sourced from local family farms in Langley and Pemberton.
Although it was the dough that they used that sets their pizzas apart. Made from a sourdough starter that was older than the restaurant at 26 years of age.
After we properly washed our hands, we walked in behind their pizza counter before a wood flame pizza oven. Under the tutelage of their house pizza chefs we were given step by step instructions and an extra set of hands when we needed it. Each guest choosing one of Nightingale’s specialty pizzas to make, to be later shared family style at the table.
Admittedly this was a harder task with longer nails, thankfully the dough was forgiving and repairable, for each tear and rip done. All the dough is carefully sectioned and left to rise, ready to grab and use as needed. You can actually purchase any of these balls and make your own pizza at home for only $2 a round; but naturally they rather you leave the work and pizza making to them.
On a floured surface you flatten the dough with your hands, kneading out a rim that would later become your pizza crust. Ideally, some air pockets would form and if you leave them as is, they would later bake into visible, crispy air bubbles within the crust.
To stretch out the dough we were advised to lift and hold it by our knuckles, rotating it and allowing gravity to assist in pulling it out. When at an adequate size, it gets laid back out on to the floored countertop to be topped. Depending on your chosen pizza the sauce, meat, cheese, and vegetables are stacked according.
Once completed the dough is scooped up onto their pizza paddle with extended handle. It gets tossed into their oven to bake. It also gets a good rotation close to the flames to kiss it with a blackened char.
When baked the pizza is allowed to rest on a rack, doing so allows it to retain its bottom crispiness. Otherwise the sauces up top cause it to grow soggy.
Any pizza that is finished off with raw vegetable or a drizzle of a sauce gets it here, before it is sliced into 8’s and brought out to the table to be be served.
Throughout the process I cheekily checked in with Chef Hawksworth, asking him to grade my workmanship and then later the taste of my pizza. He gave both a 10/10.
But as we waited for all the pizzas to be made and bake, we started the lunch part of our day with a round of shared appetizers from the restaurant’s raw menu.
I liked that their menu doesn’t have titles, but rather matter of fact descriptions of what you will be getting.
Like the Heirloom tomatoes with pickled red onion and Italian burrata in a saba vinaigrette. This was more like a rustic salad. The sweet cherry tomatoes were fresh and acidic to pair well with all the tomato sauce based pizzas to come.
In contrast was the Thai inspired Heirloom cucumbers in a salted peanut butter based sauce, topped with a chilli crisp, toasted peanut, and parsley. Another great simple salad-like offering, where the quality of the ingredients spoke volumes.
If you have ever dined at Nightingale, you know the dish to get is their Buttermilk fried chicken served with a spiced maple syrup, sumac, and pickle. Amazingly crispy, it holds its crunch to the last piece. The flavour comes from the sauce that pools at the bottom of the plate, so you really have to get in there and smear it all. The pickle serves as a chase of acidity, which I always look for and appreciate.
As for the pizzas, this the following that were made by myself and the other guests.
The one with San daniele prosciutto, cherry tomato, arugula, and mozzarella is Chef Hawksworth’s favourite. I liked that it had both baked and fresh ingredients. What was impressive was how the girl that made this was able to keep in tact this giant air bubble in the crust. I do look for them whenever picking out a slice of pizza to have. Salty and refreshing this is a lighter pizza that eats like a flatbread with the fresh arugula greens.
I made Chef Hawksworth’s second favourite pizza of this collection. The sweet and salty Guanciale, pineapple, habanero, and chive. I am a big fan of pineapples on pizza, so immediately gravitated towards it. However, whereas other such pizza leave the fruit as is, sweetened from the syrup in cans. Here, they have dulled the sugars by balancing it out with some habanero heat. This pairs more seamlessly with the salted Italian cured meat made from pork jowl.
Based on the number of slices that remained this was the lest popular of the pizzas that we made and tried. I am suspecting that it is due to the wilted greens. Roasted chanterelle mushroom, spinach, mozzarella, fontina, and lemon zest. I enjoyed the meatiness of the premium chanterelle mushroom and the citrus freshness with the zest. Textually, as per my own preference I could have done without the spinach.
The Roasted mushroom, fontina, confit garlic, and arugula pesto was more my textural speed. It was heavier and dense with the woodsy mushroom and thicken cream base. It looked aesthetic in globs, but the pesto definitely needs to be spread out. This was the main source of salt and flavour across the pizza.
Highlighted on the menu as an original recipe from the Hawksworth Cookbook is the Spicy spianata salumi, piquillo pepper, and san marzano tomato pizza. This was the grown up and glow up version of a pepperoni pizza. The quality cured meats and spices made each an elevated bite
And our meal did not end there, we would also work our way through their dessert menu, getting to see each assembled by their in house, executive pastry chef.
I loved a good carrot cake and this was no exception. Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, pineapple rum, and carrot puree. I liked the contrast of the hard bits and gel, both together offered a nice change of taste and texture in between bites.
The Matcha opera cake was pastry sophistication. Strawberry gel, matcha buttercream, red bean cream, and a pistachio crunch. There was literally and figuratively so many layers to this, 11 in total. Each gave depth and continued eating interest, that worked harmoniously together.
Peaches and cream cheesecake with meringue, orange curd, grand marnier gel, and an earl grey crumb. A stunning reinterpretation of a cheesecake made delicate with its caramelized local peaches and fluffy dome of meringue. As enjoyable to eat as it was to look at.
Similarly, the Banoffee was a fun way to elevate banana bread. Another show stopping dessert with rum white chocolate, caramelized banana, and an apricot gel. The sweetness was in the cream. A lovely plate, but my least favourite, only because there has to be one.
One guest was especially excited for the Salted caramel pot de crème. She declared this her must have each time she visits Nightingale. A grown up butterscotch pudding cup with vanilla breton and butterscotch. It brought back childhood nostalgia and had you licking your spoon clean.
In closing, I have never had a bad meal here, and it looks like I won’t in the near future. Everything was spectacular and that is why I am so excited to be hosting a giveaway with them. You can enter to win a $100 gift card on my Instagram page, by following the instructions listed. Good luck, and hopefully this helps towards your next pizza party at Nightingale.
Nightingale Restaurant
1017 W Hastings St, Vancouver, BC V6C 2G6
(604) 695-9500
hawknightingale.com
