Popular sourdough pizza pop-up finds steady home in northeast Minneapolis

It's the age-old story of one door closing, only to reveal another one opening.

Chef JohnMichael Lynch was about to take his popular summer pizza pop-up, Farina Rossa Kitchen, into a fall residency of tasting dinners with an expanded menu, when he made the hard decision to cancel it.

"We couldn't get enough traffic to it, and doing the math, I was like, we're not able to survive like this," Lynch said.

The day after he shut it down, he got a call. Fair State Brewing Cooperative was looking for a food purveyor to move into the adjacent bakery space that had belonged to Aki's BreadHaus in northeast Minneapolis. When Aki's relocated to another part of Northeast, Fair State took over the kitchen and small dining room. And Lynch, already well-versed in bread baking, was the perfect partner.

By the third week of December, Lynch's Farina Rossa Kitchen will open at Fair State Brewing, 2506 Central Av. NE.

It's the first stable home for the concept he cooked up after spending years suffering from food allergies.

The New Jersey native grew up in a household of celiacs. He delved into the world of nutrition, experimenting with removing ingredients like sugar and gluten from his diet. It wasn't until he discovered heritage whole grains that he began to heal.

"That's how I fell in love with cooking, and that's why I went to culinary school, through this process of being intentional about what I eat," said Lynch.

The chef, who has cooked at Travail and Red Wagon, among other places, channeled that love of whole grain cooking into a signature sourdough pizza crust. He spent this past summer setting up a tent at Bang Brewing Co. in St. Paul to make those hearty pies packed with farm-fresh toppings, like a standout height-of-summer peach pizza.

"It was an incredible challenge to have to do what we did every day: Set up a tent, break it down, pack up ingredients, take it back to our commissary kitchen, and do that twice a day. The amount of labor in setup and prep and transport made it very hard to be successful," Lynch said.

Now, as some final equipment is installed, he's thrilled by the possibilities of what he can do in a stationary kitchen.

Pizza, of course, is primary. Lynch uses mostly Minnesota-grown grain milled at Baker's Field Flour & Bread in two crusts, Neapolitan and Detroit-style.

"My love for the flour that we're using and for my pizza in general is the easy way to connect with people," he said. "I think everyone can appreciate pizza on some level."

He's also adding appetizers that take the same creative risks as his pizza toppings. "I love coming up with stuff that people wouldn't normally order, but then they're like, 'Wow, I never would have thought to put those things together.'" First up, expect to find roasted seasonal squash with a green curry sauce, cilantro chutney, candied pumpkin seeds and chili crisp.

Lynch is limited to what he can cook in the bread ovens, but if everything comes together as he hopes, he'll be able to add equipment that allows him to experiment with more ways to use that local flour, such as pasta dishes.

"There's definitely going to be an avenue to explore that creativity," he said. "We're hoping to continue the journey and expand what this brand was really meant to be."

Look for an opening of Farina Rossa Kitchen at Fair State Brewing around Dec. 18. Follow farinarossamn.com for updates.