Serra Provisions opens in Port Washington

If you’re the type of gastronome for whom a trek makes the treat all the sweeter, allow me to introduce Serra Provisions, a new Italian market-pizzeria whose location is best  described as out of the way. Snake your way up through Port Washington until you arrive at Sintsink Drive on the southernmost bit of Cow Neck that sticks into Manhasset Bay, and don’t lose heart as you pass the light industry and auto body repair shops along the way. Just before you hit the marina, you’ll see a low-slung, shipshape building that bears the legend: Salumeria / Italian specialty / Artisanal shop / Paninoteca.

This is the workshop of Jesse and Brittany Olson, who moved to the area in 2020 from Brooklyn and opened Serra Provisions late last year. Brittany is a photographer, whose work you can see on the shop’s website. Jesse’s work can be sampled at the shop itself.

A Cordon Bleu-trained chef who worked at such vaunted Manhattan restaurants as Covina, A Voce and Casa Lever, Olson is now directing his skills to pursuits that may be more casual, but are no less refined.

The first thing you must know about him is that he’s really into flour. He deals exclusively with a farmer / miller who provides him with all the varieties he needs to produce extruded semolina pasta (fresh and dried options such as fusilli, gemelli and gnochetti, all $7 ) as well as fresh egg pasta.

“Being a chef is all about control,” Olson says, “controlling the ingredients and controlling the outcome. I want to know where my flour is from, I want to know how it was processed, I want to know how old it is.” 

Olson’s latest use for flour is pizza, which he makes in a wood-burning oven.  His dough, leavened by commercial yeast plus a dose from yesterday’s batch, gets a 48-hour fermentation before he slaps it into shape. His very first job, in his hometown of Phoenix, Arizona, was at a pizzeria, so while pizza "hasn’t always been my emphasis," he said, "it’s always there in the background.”

The oven is largely fueled by Bio Blocks, bricks made from recycled hardwood sawdust that burn cleaner and longer than logs — although he usually tosses a log in anyway for flavor. His Margherita uses both low-moisture and fresh mozzarella, the latter added at the end of the baking so that it retains its blobby creaminess. A new creation, the “Sotto Sopra,” has a base of ricotta and mozzarella that is topped with dollops of tomato sauce and more ricotta. There are also pies with spicy soppressata; onions and fennel sausage; stracciatella and Parmesan cheeses and an “Amatriciana” made with the shop’s own jarred sauce. Pizzas range from $14 to $18.

In addition to housemade pasta and sauces, Serra Provisions stocks dried beans from Rancho Gordo; polenta from the 100-year-old Italian mill, Moretti; imported Italian cheeses, prepared salads and entrees and soups; tea from Manhasset’s SerendipiTea; salumi from Italy and from Vermont Salumi as well as an unusually well-curated collection of oils and vinegars.

Some of that bounty finds its way into the sandwiches ordered at the “paninoteca” counter. The “Emilia” features Prosciutto di Parma, mortadella, hot and sweet soppressata, mozzarella, tomatoes and Olson’s own poached-garlic aioli. On the hot side, the “Manzo” is made with house-roasted beef, house-pickled peppers, aged provolone and, again, that aioli. Sandwiches range from $12 to $17.

The shop is a rustic-chic charmer and, in nice weather, you can eat outside at picnic tables. For now, hours are Tuesday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. but pizza is only available Tuesday to Thursday because Olson can’t manage the shop and the oven when he’s busy.

Serra Provisions is at 7 Sintsink Dr. E., Port Washington, 516-321-9393, serraprovisions.com