Boulder-Based Neapolitan Pizzeria Chain Fringe Is Steadily Expanding

From MOD Pizza and Pieology to Blaze and Colorado’s own Pizzeria Locale, the contemporary dining landscape is is increasingly awash in chains with business models that basically boil down to “Chipotle, but for pizza.

So perhaps it isn’t surprising that when Boulder chef Nate Rajotte began having conversations with two partners about possible ideas for a new restaurant brand, the team initially gravitated toward fast-casual pizza with the potential for future franchising.

That vision began to change, however, when Rajotte began to look into how many of the existing fast-casual franchises actually make their pizza. He found the equipment and process that allows such chains to make replicable pizzas that are easy to make and can be produced by a staff of inexperienced pizza makers also results in pizza that is inherently “really average.”

“I didn’t want to do that,” Rajotte said. “So I said let’s get a real oven, let’s bring in real food, and let’s make really good Neapolitan-style pizza. Let’s try to do that instead of this other fantasy that we are talking about.”

That revised vision ultimately resulted Fringe Pizza, the casual Neapolitan pizza spot the team opened last March at 5400 Spine Road in the Gunbarrel neighborhood on Boulder’s northeastern edge.

Paul Albani-Burgio/Eater

Fringe employs Neapolitan ingredients and techniques that Rajotte describes as being “as traditional as possible.” The dough is made solely of water, salt, yeast, and Italian-sourced flour and cold fermented for 48 hours, while the sauce is made from San Marzano tomatoes.

According to Rajotte, Fringe’s pizza would be certified by the Associazione Verace Pizza napoletana (an Italian nonprofi that ensures said pizzas are made according to exacting standards) if not for Rajotte’s decision to use a Marra Forni gas-fired oven rather than a traditional wood oven.

Rajotte said he decided to go with a gas-fired oven because of the difficulty of finding both wood for the oven and employees capable of running it. But while he said he has loved working on a wood oven in the past, he described the pizza that results from the Marra Forni as “on par” with a wood oven.

The pizzas that Fringe turns out may be by-the-book but the ingredients that top them are decidedly less so (even if the restaurant does not employ the create-your-own pizza model). Though Fringe serves some tried-and-true Neapolitan favorites such as a margherita and marinara, the bulk of the menu is dedicated to more unusual varieties.

The pepperoni is made with lamb pepperoni sourced from the Georgia-based Heywood Provisions Company (Fringe is the only restaurant serving that pepperoni outside of Georgia) while the Funghi is topped with olive oil, local mushrooms, and sausage.

Fringe even makes the controversial move of serving a pizza topped with pineapple, though its offering dispenses with the stale pineapple and Canadian bacon combo in favor of a mango jalapeno barbecue sauce base, goat cheese, pickled red onions, jalapenos, and smoked pork shoulder.

The toppings, however, aren’t the only unconventional thing about Fringe. Pizzas are served whole but with a pair of scissors that allows guests to cut any size piece while preserving the dough’s flavor and texture, which Rajotte said is diminished when the pizzas are pre-cut.

Though Rajotte has abandoned his plans for a franchise operation, expansion is still in his plans. Fringe’s second location opened last month inside Golden’s new Tributary Food Hall. He is now eying a February opening for the third planned Fringe Pizza, which will be located in Boulder at 29th Street and Valmont Road and feature the chain’s first liquor license (Tributary has a separate bar) and an expanded menu. Additional locations are likely to eventually follow, he said.

• Fringe Pizza [Official]
• Chef Daniel Asher Is Planning Golden’s First Food Hall [EDEN]