James Markham, the mind behind MOD Pizza, Project Pie, and Pieology is unveiling his newest pizza restaurant creation: Doughballs. Similar to his previous restaurants, Doughballs will be a fast-casual pizza establishment focused on making wood-fired pies on-demand based upon the customers’ customizations. Aside from eight to 10 prebuilt signature pizzas, Doughballs will feature a build-your-own-pizza option. Locations
There will be two locations opening soon: at 822 Grand Ave. in Pacific Beach, and in Liberty Public Market in Point Loma. Markham is a huge pizza foodie and a foodie in general, which led to his decision to seek out a Doughballs in Liberty Public Market. He wishes to join the family of foodies as well as connect to the ever-curious eaters who fill the halls of the market. As a testament to that, displayed on the wall of the PB Doughballs is his personal motto, “Life’s too short to eat crappy pizza.” He would never sell a pizza he would not eat. Convenience
Doughballs will also focus heavily on customer convenience. Because the pizzas can be made in such a short amount of time, the PB eatery will have a drive-thru, as will all future locations (except Liberty Public Market). Moreover, Doughballs will be open until 11 p.m. on the weekdays and until 2:30 a.m. on the weekends. Markham laments at how hard it is to get a quick quality pizza at late hours, so he decided to provide that service himself. He also noted that if there is customer feedback requesting even later hours, he and Doughballs will be happy to consider adjusting business hours. When you do decide to grab that late night pizza, all prices on the menu will stay at a low flat rate with tax included. If you want to sit down to eat, the PB Doughballs has 35 seats as well as a 250 square feet rooftop deck with 15 additional seats and a scenic view of of Mission Boulevard. Alternatively, if you are unable to stop by, Doughballs will have a fleet of bicycles ready to deliver. Since the PB Doughballs will be so close to the beach, Markham wanted to have bicycles to make deliveries to beachgoers more convenient for both parties. Moreover, there will be no delivery cars to reduce Doughballs’ carbon footprint. Ingredients
Markham has created a special dough for Doughballs, which will cook in as little as 90 seconds. It is a hybrid blend of Italian “00” flour and high-gluten flour. Currently, thin crust pizzas turn out one of two ways, either extremely crispy throughout like a cracker or crispy on the outside and soft or soggy in the middle. This new dough will have the same leopard spotting and crispiness as current thin crust pizzas, but have a more consistent texture. The reason this dough will cook so quickly is because it is specially catered to work with the wood-fired ovens each Doughballs will have. Markham is also placing an emphasis on high quality for the other ingredients. Doughballs’ cheese will be a whole milk shredded mozzarella supplied by someone who Markham has partnered with for a long time. There will also be no frozen meats used at all; Doughballs will have its meat delivered and made in bulk. Crackheads
Markham’s design company, JM Concepts, will also be releasing another concept in Liberty Public Market: Crackheads, an eccentric egg-centric restaurant serving gourmet breakfast sandwiches all day. Like with Doughballs, Crackheads cooks the items on its menu a little differently. Instead of using a conventional pan to fry an egg, Crackheads will use a special steam oven to evenly and quickly cook the egg on both sides at the same time, completing the process in under two-and-a-half minutes. Crackheads will also feature other breakfast favorites with a build-your-own cereal bar, custom Pop Tarts, and even Pop Tart ice cream sandwiches. Like Doughballs, Crackheads will have locally-sourced ingredients, and its sauce will all be made in-house. Looking to the future
Markham just does not stop putting out new restaurants. He is currently working out another concept called Jarfood, which will center around cooking foods sous vide. For those who are unfamiliar, sous vide involves vacuum sealing food in a plastic pouch and submerged in water or steam for long periods of time at a temperature much lower than normally used for cooking.
This ends up cooking food evenly and precisely as well as retaining much of the moisture and juices. However, Jarfood would not be a Markham concept if it were not at least a little different than mainstream cooking. Instead of cooking food in vacuum sealed plastic bags, Jarfood will utilize specially made mason jars. After speaking with Markham, it is clear he is very interested in exploring sous vide cooking. Jarfood does not yet have a complete menu, but sous vide can be used to cook a plethora of different foods, and Markham named several items he is considering: pancakes, shrimp and grits, mac and cheese, and steak. Markham said Doughballs is everything he wants in a pizza restaurant and he cannot think of any way to make even more improvements, but also commented, “I want to do things differently but also have it serve a functionality. If the innovation serves a purpose, I am ready to start again.” Doughballs and Crackheads will be taking the spots of Pi Bar and Grape Smuggler Bar in Liberty Public Market. The Pacific Beach Doughballs is expected to open late June. The Liberty Public Market location will be opening some time in early July, and Crackheads is anticipated to open at around the same time. Doughballs Where: 822 Grand Ave. When: Scheduled to open in late June.