the quest for zest

A food & travel community from The Crossroads of America.

Eat Local. Travel Global.

Utopian Coffee

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Better beans, for a better world.

Fort Wayne is a great place to live if you are a coffee geek. For a city our size, this far from an ocean and generally not considered to be a college town, having so many coffee roasters is unusual. First there was Old Crown Coffee and then came Higher Grounds, Crazy Sisters, and Espresso Gallery. Unbeknownst to me until a few months ago, there is yet another roaster hidden in a warehouse in downtown Fort Wayne. The entirely web-based Utopian Coffee Company has quietly been roasting small batches of superb coffees and shipping them all over the country.

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Beep, Beep! Here Comes Babycakes

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Delivering a passion for baking in a 1957 Kurb Side.

Rarely in my life have two of my favorite hobbies, cars and food, so neatly dovetailed as they did in my interview with Beep Beep Babycakes. Not only was I privileged to talk with Angie McComas and Whitney Clappe about their brand new cupcake business, but I was able to check out their 1957 Olson Kurb Side delivery truck. It may not be much to look at now, but these two passionate bakers are eager to get it restored and hit the streets of Fort Wayne to sell their outstanding cupcakes.

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Coffee Talk with Old Crown Coffee Roasters

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Turning a passion for coffee into a thriving business.

It’s 1998 and a novice coffee roaster, keen on one day opening his own coffee house, has decided to roast his first dark coffee. He cranks up his little home roaster as high as it will go, anticipating a robust mug of the freshly roasted beans. Ten minutes later eighteen-inch flames are shooting out of the tiny machine and smoke is filling his house.

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Playing with Fire

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A detailed look at how pizzaioli cook with a traditional wood fired pizza oven.

Cooking pizzas in the oven at 800 Degrees Wood Fired Pizza is not as easy as their pizzaioli make it look. There is much more to it then simply building a fire, tossing in a pizza, and taking it out when it’s done. Chef/owner Matt Rogers makes no bones about the learning curve. “Working in this oven — it’s an art,” he says. “You don’t just step up here and know how to do it.” It takes a lot of practice, more then a few ruined pizzas, and a great deal of skill to master a traditional wood fired oven.

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Sister restaurant of 800 Degrees Pizza to open

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A peek at what’s next for the chef/co-owner of 800 Degrees Pizza, Matt Rogers.

Matt Rogers is thankful that his restaurant, 800 Degrees Pizza Oven is busy and doing well, but he is always looking ahead. When we met with him in July he gave us a taste of what he has planned for the future. Fans of traditional Italian cuisine; ready your forks.

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Tradition and Refinement at 800 Degrees

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Matt Rogers of 800 Degrees Wood Fired Pizza on the perfection of pizza.

I must confess that as we watched Matt Rogers, chef/co-owner of 800 Degrees Wood Fired Pizza, stoke the fire in his pizza oven, my mind began to wander. The smell of burning wood and rising dough conjured memories of the incredible pizzas we ate in Italy. It’s worth stating that because it illustrates Matt’s, and his crew’s, passion for their work. A passion that culminates in incredibly authentic reproductions of classic Neapolitan pizzas. In this interview, Matt tells us how 800 Degrees blends elements of a fine dining experience with traditional Neapolitan pizza making techniques to create new interpretations of the classics.

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