The Best San Jose Pizzeria Yet To Be Discovered (The Last Round Tavern)

What makes a tavern-style pizza stand out—and what does it take to build a pizzeria that can grow beyond the owner?

In this episode, Eidref visits Last Round Tavern in San Jose and sits down with owner Caleb Ramirez to talk about the unique pizza style he's bringing to the Bay Area.Their tavern-style pizza is thin, crispy, cut into squares, and loaded with ingredients all the way to the edge—but instead of the traditional cornmeal, Caleb uses a sourdough starter. The result is a pizza that's familiar, but completely its own thing.

Highlights:

0:00 – Discovering San Jose’s Hidden Tavern-Style Pizza

0:32 – What Makes Last Round Tavern’s Pizza Different

1:00 – Sourdough Meets Chicago Tavern-Style Pizza

1:52 – Rolling, Stretching & Building the Dough

2:24 – The Cuban Pizza: Braised Pork, Ham & Salami

3:07 – 15-Hour Wine-Braised Brisket

3:33 – Building a Taco-Inspired Pizza

3:45 – What Would Caleb Tell His 26-Year-Old Self?

4:20 – Learning to Step Away From the Kitchen

4:50 – Why the Owner Can Become the Biggest Bottleneck

5:00 – Revitalizing East Santa Clara Street

5:35 – Why Last Round Didn’t Offer Online Ordering for Five Years

6:00 – Overcoming Fear & Opening Up to New Opportunities

6:34 – “I Should Have Done This a Long Time Ago”

6:41 – Building a Business That Isn’t Just About the Owner

7:00 – Taking the In-Restaurant Experience Online

7:39 – Creating a Better Online Ordering Experience

8:48 – Tasting the Pizza: The “Hella Texture” Moment

9:30 – The Crunch and Texture They’ve Been Chasing

10:10 – Tasting the 15-Hour Braised Brisket

10:41 – Why They Put So Much Time Into Their Ingredients

10:52 – Creating Something Customers Can’t Find Anywhere Else

11:14 – Final Thoughts: Quality, Value & Doing Something Different

Follow them:

https://lastroundtavern.com/

https://www.instagram.com/thelastroundsj/

https://www.facebook.com/thelastroundtavern

Check out Owner.com: https://bit.ly/3UvMQzy

DM @whatsgooddoughhttps://www.instagram.com/whatsgooddough/email me: claire@whatsgooddough.com

Topics:

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