If there’s one thing John Glavocich enjoys talking about, it’s pizza.
Several years ago, before he opened Pickerington’s Pompeii’s Inferno, Glavocich decided he wanted to try an online recipe for homemade pizza. When he succeeded in making a pizza just as good as one you’d order from a restaurant, he realized he wanted to – and could – do better. It was then that he fell into what he calls the deep pizza rabbit hole.
“It fed into my personality of, ‘I know I can make it better,’” Glavocich says. “It led to researching the history of pizza which, of course, led to Italy. Pre-existing infatuation with the destruction of Pompeii really tripped my pizza trigger.”
Glavocich became obsessed with replicating pizza from 2,000 years ago and adding a modern spin. He experimented with many doughs and recipes during his attempts to create the titular Pompeii’s Inferno. Glavocich’s kitchen became a laboratory of ingredients, notes on dough fermentation times, documents on baking times with precise temperatures and a list of variables.
“I think back (and it) was a bit excessive,” he says. “I actually made my young kids sick of pizza from all the testing – a very difficult feat.”
While the trial-and-error process was undeniably a challenge, Glavocich often ate the rejects, so he never complained much.
“There were definitely as many total failures as there were successes,” he says, “but even most of the biggest failures were edible, a wonderful bonus of food experimentation.”
He perfected the pizza that’s served at Pompeii’s Inferno today, which is cooked in a wood-fired oven with local produce.
Glavocich still tests new tastes and experiments with central Ohio products such as local honey for a sweet pizza and locally made pepperoni and pickles for 2021’s reveal of the pickle and bacon pizza.
Pompeii’s Inferno also has a pizza cart – a rolling, mobile wood-fired oven which often makes an appearance at the Pickerington Farmers’ Market. Its origins stemmed from Glavocich’s desire to bring the wood-fired artisanal style of cooking to the forefront of Pickerington’s pizza scene.
“The reason I like (wood-fired pizza) is because of the effect it has on the whole pizza in general,” he says. “It has a quick, high temp – around 800 degrees Fahrenheit for two minutes and 30 seconds – it crisps the crust, yet the inside is soft and tender. The toppings are flash-baked, preserving the moisture and not drying them out, compromising flavor.”
With as much knowledge and experience as Glavocich has, he refutes the title he’s often labeled with – pizza master. Instead, he calls himself a pizza student: forever learning.
“Applying my pizza obsession to life, I don’t believe anything is mastered, per se,” he says. “There is always something to be learned, so I will always be looking to improve.”
Mallory Arnold is an associate editor. Feedback welcome at marnold@cityscenemediagroup.com.
