The Forge Adds Wood-Fired Pizza To Jack London Square

The "rebirth" of Jack London Square has been moving along at a snail's pace with Daniel Patterson's December opening of Haven as the latest thing to talk about. But today comes exciting news that Jack London Square Ventures has successfull courted The Forge, an ambitious-sounding artisan pizza restaurant. Partners Bob Burke (Pat Kuleto Restaurant Group) and Michael Karp (Barbacoa, Table 24) have signed a 10-year lease to take over the 4,739-square-foot space at 66 Franklin Street. The most exciting part of the project is twofold: 1) An outdoor seating area with fire pits that can double as pizza ovens, and 2) Jeff Krupman, "The PizzaHacker" will be consulting on the pizza program. Krupman uses a riff on Tartine's bread recipe for his pizza dough and goes through the painstaking process of making his own tomato sauce from dry-farmed Early Girl tomatoes. This means his pizzas do not suck.

Former XYZ/Chow/Moose's chef Jeffrey Amber will serve as executive chef, presumably overseeing a host of non-pizza items. The architect and designer for the project is Andy Byrnes, who will build out a masculine-seeming, wood-centric dining room with an 800-degree Italian Valoriani oven "reminiscent of a large blacksmith's forge" as the focal point. Mosaic tiles, railroad tiles and reclaimed wood are the other materials mentioned. The bar will offer full liquor and over twenty artisan beers. Look for more details on The Forge as a winter opening approaches.

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