Sarah Correa: Fired Pizza serves up taste of its own in Stockton

By Jo Ann Kirby

Wood-fired Neapolitan pizzas dominate a menu bursting with flavor that also features monthly specials with a farm-to-fork flair that highlights fresh, local produce and products.

“Fired Pizza is unique in so many ways,” Sarah Correa, who owns the business with her husband, Daniel, said. “The way we source our wood, our collaborative effort of a constantly changing menu, the music playlists, the sheer style we bring to this—I think we have something really special here.”

Fired Pizza recently celebrated its one-year anniversary at its north Stockton location, where it has become a neighborhood favorite. Sarah and Daniel were intentional in opening their restaurant in phases. They started with a catering trailer back in 2018 and repeatedly reinvested into the business over the years. “It is interesting to me to look back at where we came from and how hard my husband and I had to work to become real stakeholders in the pizza community. It felt like no one took us seriously until the food truck took off, and even then, it was a small cult following and not many people saw my role in that,” Sarah said.

Growth Mindset
After their catering and food truck business took off, they eventually decided to work toward opening a sit-down restaurant. Sarah admits it was challenging to take the leap to leave her career to commit herself fully to the restaurant. “I think a lot of people have a dream to turn their side hustle into their main source of income, but it’s really hard to leave behind a successful and fruitful career for such a volatile business like this restaurant,” she said. Being intentional about how and where they would invest in their own brick and mortar was essential to their success. “I believe that if you want to see a change in your community, you must think really locally,” Sarah said. “Start in your own backyard. I felt like my neighborhood was missing a place to gather, and I believed that if we invested here where we live, our community would benefit as much as we would.”

Sarah said diners are still discovering Fired Pizza for the first time, even after a year, and that it can be challenging for eateries that aren’t located in high-profile places such as Lincoln Center or the Miracle Mile. “We’re hoping that a really purposeful investment in our own neighborhood will pay off,” she said. “I get the chills when I see people come in and run into their friends and neighbors.”

Unique Touches
The restaurant has a vibe of its own. Employees wore fun and funky costumes three days in a row during the week of Halloween, to the delight of customers. Each bill is delivered inside the pages of a vintage romance or classic novel, sourced from the Friends of the Stockton Public Library bookstore. “I love the way the books are conversation starters,” Sarah said. Indeed, there is much to be said about the space they created at Fired Pizza, and much of the feeling of the restaurant can be attributed to the meticulous effort to create an experience for every diner. “We want to be the best at what we do; from the minute someone walks in the door to the time we drop the check, I want the quality of food, the atmosphere and the service to demonstrate the true Fired Pizza experience. You can go anywhere to watch a game on a big screen and eat pizza and wings. What we have here is totally different.”

Their goal of supporting local extends to the menu. “We work with so many local vendors, farmers, breweries and wineries,” she said. “We would not be where we are now without so many other businesses: Side Hustle Brew Co., Idol Beer Works, Mettler Family Winery, Acquiesce Winery, Joe’s Chili Peppers, Stanislaus Food Products, CaliVirgin Olive Oil, Golden Bear Ranches, Chinchiolo Farms.”

Neapolitan a Specialty
A Mugnaini wood-fired oven stoked with oak or fruit wood such as cherry, which Sarah and Daniel chop themselves and source on their property in Amador County and elsewhere, gives their pizzas the char that Neapolitan pizzas are known to feature. “We say we make pizza the hard way, from the way we work for our own wood to the toppings we put on the pizza; everything is sourced deliberately, consciously considered and elevated,” said Sarah. The thin crust with its puffy outer edges starts with a dough that goes through a 72-hour fermentation process. “Literally every day, Daniel and I are in the back rolling out 200 dough balls for service that night,” Sarah said. The dough can be super temperamental due to humidity, the quality of the wood or even the current mood of the person rolling the dough. On particularly good nights, Fired serves up to 250 pizzas.

For those not familiar with this style of pie, the Correas are happy to educate. Because they are thin crust, Neapolitan pizzas are best served with a minimal number of ingredients; for this reason, you won’t see a build-your-own feature on the menu, as this type of crust wouldn’t hold up under the weight of multiple ingredients stacked on top.

Outside-the-Box Mixes
Their changing monthly specials aim to push people out of their comfort zone and tantalize the taste buds with something unexpected. But their standard menu stays the same and features favorites that customers have come to expect. Chefs Lex Perra and Rob Rambonga with their team come up with some specials that wow customers. In November, a spicy chile verde featured wood-fired roasted green pepper salsa from Joe’s Chili Peppers over pork or mushrooms with garlic lemon crema, pickled radishes and micro cilantro. It was paired with wood-fired pita.

For Daniel and Sarah, opening their restaurant has been like parenting a newborn. Now that it’s turned one, they are looking forward to reclaiming some of their free time. But they will always have time to welcome new customers to their restaurant and continue to share their love of Neapolitan pizza at catering gigs.

Check out Fired Pizza, 678 Grider Way, Suite A, Stockton, fired-pizza.com, on Instagram, FaceBook and TikTok. Stop by Wednesdays to Sundays when they open for dinner beginning at 4:00 p.m.