Plath brought the oven over from Tuscany.

Jamesport - How does being a business major from the Rochester Institute of Technology qualify you as a pizza expert? It doesn't. Unless you're David Plath, a Hamptons Bay native and self-confessed pizza obsessive and Italophile who thought nothing of traveling all over the country to taste and study pizza (Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, AZ was his favorite), including taking pizza-cooking classes in Italy, studying dough and yeast making at the French Culinary Institute ("So I could understand it better") and bread making classes at the King Arthur Flour Baking Education Center in Vermont.

So taken and enthralled with the wood burning brick ovens he encountered throughout his tasting tours in Italy, Plath built one at his Hampton Bays home.

Fortunately for East Enders, Plath saw pizza as a vocation as much as an obsession, which led him, along with his wife Nancy and daughters Dara and Carey, to open Grana, a small brick-front restaurant serving thin crust Neapolitan style pizza cooked in a wood burning oven brought over from Tuscany.

Guests enjoy the delicious pizza.

Opening in mid-July, so popular were Plath's thin crust pizzas that he ran out of dough for the first few days they were open, underscoring the need and desire of foodies on the North Fork for good quality, authentic Neapolitan wood-fired pizza. A nice problem to have for a fledging pizza café?

"I like to think so," says Plath, who interestingly enough, is just one-quarter Italian. "Those first few days we had more demand than product, so we ran out a couple of times. All our dough is hand mixed to my specifications and must be started the day before. Since each day is different, we weren't sure how much to make."

The Grana pizzas - there are six varieties to choose from, including the delicious sounding Rosa Bianca with red onion, Parmigiano Reggiano, Long Island potato, rosemary and olive oil - are all about the crust, which is crisp and airy, with just the right amount of saltiness. And once the crust is exposed to Plath's 750 degree wood burning oven (the pizzas take just three minutes to cook), a nice char appears, adding a smoky note to the flavor profile.

What also makes Grana pizzas so good are the quality ingredients Plath uses, such as organic unbleached flour (Plath's own blend), fresh mozzarella and fresh tomato sauce, both made in-house by sous chef Alison Garalas, formerly of Loaves & Fishes in Bridgehampton, Fra'Mini salume, Duroc heritage breed pork sausage and local North Fork vegetables whenever possible. In addition to pizza, Grana also features specials such as pork braciole in home-made marinara sauce served with cheese bread and meatballs served with sauce over a bed of arugula. There are also typical Italian desserts available, including cannoli, cheesecake and cappuccino mousse cake.

David Plath is a Hamptons Bays native.

"We're just trying to keep up with our own program since opening," explains Plath. "Turning out the best possible pizza is our primary goal at the moment."

Plath reports that the Pizza Margherita is the most popular and has been since opening day. Simple yet delicious, it consists of just a small puddle of tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella and a sprinkle of grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Here is Chef Plath's recipe:

Grana Pizza Margherita Ingredients

 • 12 ounces pizza dough (make your own or buy from nearest pizzeria)
 • ¼ cup fresh tomato sauce
 • ¼ cup fresh mozzarella cut into dice-sized cubes
 • Chopped fresh basil
 • 1/2 tbspn. grated Parmigiano Reggiano

Preheat oven and pizza stone to 500 degrees for 15 minutes. Knead dough gently into an 11-inch round about one-quarter-inch thick. Spread on a wood paddle or cutting board and ladle sauce sparingly in the center of dough, working to spread outwardly in a circular pattern. Do not over sauce. Toss mozzarella cubes on top of sauce and add Parmigiano Reggiano and chopped basil. Transfer to hot pizza stone and cook about eight to 10 minutes until bottom and top are golden and crisp.