Jay Jerrier of Il Cane Rosso on Guy Fieri, Naples and Making Peace with Yelp

In one quick year, Il Cane Rosso has become the most esteemed pizza joint in Dallas. Owner Jay Jerrier discovered this style of Neapolitan pizza while on a trip in Naples with his wife in 1995 and has worked diligently to bring the same pizza experience to Dallas. Recently Guy Fieri and the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives crew stopped by to film an episode, which will air early next year. Recently Jay sat down with us to talk about Fieri, the Dallas food scene and why he’s always yelling at his Neapolitan pizza man.

How does a guy with a career crunching numbers at GE Capital get in the pizza business? Working for GE Capital gave me a really good foundation for running this business. It’s all about what gets measured and managed. It taught me about attention to detail, like knowing what our unit cost is for all our pizzas. We measure cost down to the gram. There’s a lot of passion that goes into our food, but there’s also a lot of science in why we do what we do. GE also taught me about continuous performance improvement and constantly staying ahead of the curve. We knew that everyone liked our pizza, but I brought Dino in (the pizza maker from Naples) because I thought we could be better. Instead of just sitting back, we look ahead. That’s a GE thing.

Did you ever envision that it would take off like it has? No. Obviously this is ridiculous. We’re under a lucky star. We love what we do. I think that’s what makes this work is that I’m always here. People can come in here and talk to me.

What other factors contribute to the success of this place? We were very careful about things. I walked away from so many spaces. I looked at every vacant restaurant in Dallas. From Plano, Frisco, East Dallas, Preston Hollow and Fort Worth. Someone always told me, “You need to be willing to walk away.” Then, it goes back to GE — it’s got to make financial sense. I had seen restaurants that had overbuilt spaces and were undercapitalized, and I did not want to be in that situation. I didn’t want to stress about, “Oh my God, we gotta be open for lunch or we’re not gonna make it.”

But, down here in Deep Ellum the landlords were willing to do a lot of really cool stuff for us and I love the architecture down here. I was so tired of looking at generic aluminum storefronts with glass windows. I came in here and I loved the brick walls and exposed beams in the ceilings. The landlord made a great deal and so it was great.

Luckily, starting the catering company first, we already had a built in fan base. And I just love the neighborhood, the residents, and neighborhood organization; it’s like an actual neighborhood. We have a lot of locals that are regulars.

Previously, you made no bones about the fact that you aren’t crazy about the suburbs. Did you catch any flack about that? From a few people, but I live in a suburb. The thing is, most people just want as much pizza as they can get for a little as they can get it. And I had verifiable data to prove it — the demographics look amazing on paper, but it was at a $5 per person average check, because four people come and they split one large pizza and four waters. And they sit there for two hours. At one point some guys up there showed me some research that the number one restaurant people wanted up north was a Cracker Barrel and I was like “I’m done.”

At the end of the day Dallas is really provincial. I have people that live in Preston Royal and it’s a seven minute drive down here and they won’t come down here.

Does that mentality hurts Dallas? I wish people would take more chances. I think it’s hard for small independent restaurants to thrive in the suburbs. And the people in the suburbs aren’t willing to drive. Do you think the Dallas food scene is changing? For some, yes. I think it’s going from a lot of high-end steak houses to more accessible foods. There’s nothing on the menu here that costs more than $15. That was my mandate. There are a lot of places, like Neighborhood Services, Bolsa, Smoke, that you can eat at any night and they have enough reasonable priced options that it’s not just a special occasion place.

Can Dallas diners can sustain the locavore trend? The challenge is the growing seasons aren’t what they are in California. And then the other thing is the challenge for the farms because there are some farms I want to use, but I have to be on a waiting list because they can’t keep up with production. So, let’s say I want arugula and they say, well, we can only get so much. Then I have to ask myself if I want to have an inconsistent arugula. That’s a challenge.

So, consistency in supply is an issue? The problem is there are some places that are becoming really popular like Bolsa, Smoke, Local and us that all want to use the same providers, so we’re basically all competing for the same stuff. The purveyors are doing what they can, but they have a hard time keeping up. Fresh Point is a company that’s really organizing a lot of things with the farmers and is making it a lot easier for everyone.

Do you cook at home much? When I cook at home it’s usually something like fried egg sandwiches. There’s not a lot of gourmet cooking going on. I love cooking for holidays though.

What are you doing for the holidays? We don’t have any family in town this year, so we’re basically doing nothing. Watching Christmas movies and football. We’re going to the Cowboys game Christmas Eve. We have season tickets in the nosebleeds.

Is there any food you like to eat at Cowboys Stadium? Yes! I’m so stressed out if I don’t get my Cowboys cheesesteak. We went to the Giants game and we got there late and I was so stressed out about getting my cheesesteak. They use spicy white queso instead of provolone cheese and it’s ten bucks, which for there isn’t too bad. I’ve got my eye on the brisket nachos but I just can’t stop eating the cheesesteak.

Where else do you like to eat in Dallas? We go to Jasper’s a lot. And we like Crossroads Diner’s, Taco Joint, Velvet Taco, Rusty Taco, Maple and Motor, The Porch, Hibiscus — their sour cream apple is probably my favorite dessert. I’ve been to Lucia once and loved it. The Grape, I know that burger gets a lot of attention, but don’t overlook that fried chicken biscuit. I always tell him I’m going to steal it and put it on our brunch menu. What was it like filming Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives? It was so freaking stressful. I hated it. For one I had to be here at 5:45 in the morning and that was awful. They interviewed me like four times over a course of a month, and they were long two-hour interviews about our recipes. Then, they sent me this big scary list of everything I had to do to get ready. It said, “This is a major production with high definition cameras everywhere so it needs to be spotless. Keep in mind it’s the number one show on the Food Network, it’s in the top 10 in the cable division and millions of people will see it.”

So, I started watching all the other episodes to see how we stack up, and thank God we’ve only been here since February, but the kitchen has been here for like 20 years, so we had to get everything cleaned up.

The first day they shot it was only me and an assistant in the kitchen doing close-ups of food. Then, two days later Guy came in and I was stressed about that because I had to do on camera shots with him.

Did you enjoy working with Guy Fieri? He has that crazy look going for the show, but he was totally professional. He genuinely likes food and genuinely knows a lot about it. He tasted our sauce and could tell what was in it. Then when the camera comes on he does his shtick. But, if I got paid millions a year to dye my hair and fist pump, I’d do it too.

We caught some flack for doing the show, but anyone who owns their own place and their whole future staked on it, when the Food Network calls and says they want to put you on, let me know when you say no.

Was the whole experience more exhausting then you thought it would be? Exhausting, yes. I will tell you that anyone who auditions for The Next Food Network Star — I don’t know why you would ever want to do that.

I was overwhelmed. I laid awake every night thinking ‘Oh my God, is the place clean enough. Am I going do okay on camera.’

It was a huge relief when it was all over. The producers and Guy made me feel much more at ease afterwards though. They hung out for a while and told us if they didn’t like the place they wouldn’t have stayed. Preparing for it though is really stressful. It’s sort of like the dog that caught the car. Everyone wants to be on the Food Network, but then once you get the call, you’re like, oh shit now what do I do with this.

How has reality TV changed dining? I don’t know if it’s so much reality TV as Smartphones and blogging. We’ll put a pizza down in front of someone and before they even get a slice, out come the phones to take a picture and post it on Facebook. I’m a sucker too though because half the time I have my laptop out and am constantly responding to Facebook and Twitter posts. So, while I think, ‘They should eat the pizza while it’s hot,’ at the same time here I am retweeting the picture they just took.

One time someone posted on their Facebook wall, “The waitress said they wouldn’t make my pizza without any cheese.” I immediately posted back, “Come to the bar and I’ll make it for you right now.” She came up and I made her the pizza. I like having that connection with people.

Do sites like Yelp add pressure or keep restaurants honest? Ah. Yelp. I’ve made my peace with Yelp. That the biggest source of stress for me is having people understand this is authentic Neapolitan pizza, so if you want New York style, that’s fine but this is not the place. And then people say, “I’ve been to Naples and this pizza is no good.”

That use to bother me all the time, but now I just joke and say, “I’ve been telling my pizza maker who was born in Naples, that made pizza for 20 years in Naples, at the birth place of the margarita pizza in Naples, that’s cooking with flour and tomatoes from Naples, using a dough mixer from Naples, in our oven from Naples that he’s not making Neapolitan pizza, but the motherfucker won’t listen!“