Merced eatery dishing up inspired pizza pies

A couple of New Jersey natives said they’re working to bring inspired pizzas to Merced one slice at a time.

Little Oven Pizza has been open at 433 W. Main St. for about six months, according to co-owner Dan Verechia, and the pizza shop has garnered a number of regulars with its unconventional pies.

Verechia, 36, and his business partner, 37-year-old Thaddeus Raczkowski, met around the turn of the millennium while they were undergraduates in Philadelphia.

“I’ve always enjoyed baking, just the transformative elements of baking,” Raczkowski said. “Starting with basic ingredients and making something delicious out of them.”

Pizza holds a special place of honor on the East Coast, so the owners said deciding on a pizza-by-the-slice eatery was something of a no-brainer.

“It’s more or less a blank slate,” Verechia said. “We try to do some nontraditional things with it.”

For example, the potato and smoked mozzarella pie is one of their best sellers. Then there’s the red onion and pistachio pizza, and the fresh mozzarella, ricotta and caramelized onion.

Verechia and Raczkowski are the kinds of guys who describe tomatoes or bacon as “beautiful.” They get many of their ingredients from Cathys Valley-based Raw Roots Farm.

But, the owners said, their recipes should be accessible to any pizza lover.

They’ve been inspired by pizzerias back home and in the Bay Area. That’s evident on their menu, with names like “Brooklyn’s Best” and “Hog’s Apothecary,” the latter sharing its name with an Oakland eatery.

“It’s things I appreciate – those tastes – that I’m trying to bring to Merced,” Raczkowski said.

If you’re wondering how two Jersey pizza makers made it here, UC Merced plays a part in that answer.

Raczkowski joined AmeriCorps, a civil society program supported by the federal government, and served in the Sacramento area about a dozen years ago. He met his now-wife, Stephanie, back then, and after a few other moves, ended up back in California.

They would both go on to find jobs at UC Merced, after deciding they wanted to raise a family on this coast.

Verechia said he, too, was looking to relocate and his now-wife, Elizabeth, found a job at UC Merced.

The owners were quick to say their eatery has been supported by the community at large.

“The town as a whole, regardless of the university,” Raczkowski said, “has responded to this, you know, something new.”

This story was originally published August 31, 2016 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Merced eatery dishing up inspired pizza pies."