ST. MICHAELS — The experience of delicious brick oven pizza is expanding. What started in St. Michaels as a place for cocktails and surprisingly good simple food has grown to two new locations. Ava’s Pizzeria & Wine Bar has expanded into Cambridge and has opened a new location in Rehoboth Beach.
Owner and Chef Chris Agharabi’s is also on a hiring blitz.
Unlike the Gordon Ramsay screaming at people and demanding that they call you “chef,” Agharabi is more of a coach or mentor. He loves to see people learn new skills.
Agharabi spearheaded a nonprofit during COVID that fed over 1,000 meals to frontline workers. It was called Feed the Front MES. He organized 21 different restaurants just in Dorchester to participate. There were many more who participated from Talbot County. The way it worked is a client gave a donation to the Mid-Shore Community Foundation and then it went straight out to the restaurant who could provide the meals.
It was a win win as the restaurants needed the work and the frontline workers needed the food, Agharabi said. It also gave the public a way to do some good during a tough time. He calls COVID ‘the pause.’ There was a choice to donate to Talbot County or Dorchester County frontline workers.
“I am a Lego guy. I like seeing people grow and things move forward. I love people,” said Agharabi, who is the proprietor of MTTM Hospitality, the parent company of Ava’s and town other restaurant concepts.
He has an interesting way of gauging whether he is successful as a chef.
“Leaders make the team work together. I like everybody to be cross trained so that when the chef is not there, the food is even better,” he said.
He says you will never see a picture of him with a knife in his hand on the wall. He worked for a chef that had his profile emblazoned in neon on the wall. Ego run amok is a total turn off, Agharabi said.
MTTM has expanded its brand with Theo’s Steaks, Sides and Spirits and their newest addition in St. Michaels is Hammy’s Hideout. Hammy’s is a dog themed pub. Burgers seem to be home base in this family friendly sports bar. They serve nachos and milkshakes too.
The new Rehoboth restaurant will be the biggest Ava’s yet. It will open in a few weeks. So their signature artisanal dough pizza topped with arugula and prosciutto with a balsamic glaze drizzle is hitting the high road. Their current challenge is having to hire new staff and sourcing the equipment to fill the work space.
Agharabi said the supply chain is also shot because of COVID. Even getting to go boxes was hard to source. Also getting supplies to cost a consistent amount was tough. He said gloves used to be $40 a case and now they are $220.
“The brick oven is much bigger in Rehoboth. We will have to make more pizza per hour and still make the dough by hand. We are still a food first growing restaurant group without being a restaurant group. I love to see a guest come in again and again to celebrate. It is part of their lives. I like neighborhoods. You will never see me in a strip mall,” he said.
His workforce is expanding. At the nadir of COVID he had 11 employees. Now he has 97 employees.
They are so bullish on hiring that at the bottom of their hiring web page it says, “Don’t see the job you want? Apply anyway. We might have a spot for you!”
On the food side, Ava’s features meatball subs, chicken parmesan sandwiches and fettuccine bolognese well as lighter fare such as a chicken Caesar salad, fennel and arugula with a lemon oil vinaigrette or the classic wedge with creamy bleu cheese.
Of course the main attraction, beside a nice glass of wine, is the brick oven pizza. Hand tossed and meticulously baked, they have a special oven that takes six hours to heat up.
They can control both the bottom cooking surface and the ceiling temperature within. They decide which side of the pie gets cooked more. There are several options to choose from. There are two white pizzas. One is as simple as house made mozzarella, olive oil and seasoning. That is how much they believe in their crust. They have all the usuals like Margherita and a carnivore’s delight called “meat, meat meat.” It has charred pepperoni, Italian Sausage and Meatballs. They have a salad of the week and a pizza of the week. This keeps the kitchen crew fresh and inventive.
“I like very simple ingredients executed just right. Searing a steak just right gets me excited. I like balanced flavors and it also has to have plating balance. You eat with your eyes first. It’s gotta sing. So simple but delicious. A french fry should taste like a potato. Mashed potatoes should move- no sludge,” Agharabi said.
“It is not an Italian restaurant. We bring in New Orleans and Asian influences. You will never see me with tweezers counting peas on a plate,” he said. He worked at a place that yelled at him for having eleven peas on a plate instead of 12. Yummy trumps fussy.
They have also adapted well to COVID with a robust pick up service and outdoor seating. Their online ordering is filled with mouth watering pictures and is easy to navigate.
Running a restaurant is all about survival and the owners of Ava’s seem particularly adroit at this skill. Health inspectors, staffing, wholesalers, customers and the constant need to be great every day. It’s a grind. They are cranking out a great product and working as a team. Agharabi is all about keeping his employees growing and engaged.
“Eighty five percent of restaurants fail. Working for my employees is great. Coaching them up is the best part. When they are all working for you, it is terrible. You are like an octopus. I am not interested in being corporate or famous. I try to hide,” the chef said.
“You gotta have a passion for it. Keep it simple, be well executed and have a bit of surprise,” he said.
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