Opening Tuesday, the quick-service restaurant has build-your-own pies and signature pizzas
A recent trip to Italy changed how businesswoman Ashley Patton looked at food.
The native Detroiter — who is opening the doors of new pizza joint Toss & Sauce Tuesday on the Avenue of Fashion — visited Europe with her parents about five years ago. She was blown away by the quality of the food, especially the pizza.
“I came back to the States and I was not able to eat regular food for like a week,” said Patton, who spent years running a catering and pop-up dining business. “The authenticity and the quality of their ingredients was just a whole different standard.”
The trip inspired her to work on her own pizza recipe, and as any pizzaiolo knows, it’s all about the dough. Patton said her mom was her toughest critic.
“I fumbled here and there … but five years in, she’s like ‘You got it,'” Patton said. “It took me time and patience, of course. I went from a long proofing process, three-day fermentation to an overnight proofing product. Right now, our dough stands on a 24-hour proofing process that is cold fermentation in the refrigerator.”
“The dough by itself can stand on its own without any ingredients,” she said. “It has a little kick of sweetness to it, which I like to point out because it’s different, you know.”
The signature pizzas at Toss & Sauce are nods to the city, like the “What Up Dough” — made with barbecue sauce, chicken, jalapenos, red onions and bacon — and pies named after Patton’s family members like her niece, whom they call Shiggy.
The Shiggy Town is a Hawaiian-style pizza with pineapple, jalapenos, bacon and a drizzle of ranch. The whole business is a family affair; Patton’s aunt Cher Slater is also her role model and partner at Toss & Sauce.
Guests can also build their own pizza using standard pizza sauce, a white Alfredo-style sauce or barbecue.
“The signatures are flavors that we recommend that mingle together well and also some of my family favorites,” said Patton. While she does offer build-your-own personal pizzas that cook quickly, Patton says Toss & Sauce isn’t like those fast-casual pizza brands. “We’re centered around the culture of Detroit. I wanted to make sure when you’re in there you get the vibe and the feel, even through taste.”
For now, in this soft-opening phase, customer should walk in and order. Due to their size, the pizzas don’t take long to cook in roll-through ovens anyway. Patton says she’s working on online ordering for the near future. The restaurant will hold a grand opening with the city of Detroit and the Motor City Match program — Toss & Cause was awarded a $60,000 small business grant — later this fall.
Also in the future, Patton wants to be able to give back to the community in the form of scholarships, youth entrepreneurship programs and other ways to inspire and engage young people in the business community. While she was born and raised in Detroit, Patton did leave the city for a while, thinking she wouldn’t be planting roots here, but that changed.
“Be careful what you say, because I’m back,” she said, adding that the reason was for returning was partly spiritual and partly community driven.
“Detroit plays such a huge part of who I am, you know, the Detroit hustle, my ambition, all of that wrapped up in me,” she said. “I give a lot of thanks to Detroit itself because I think it puts you in an environment where you have to learn the hustle. You have to learn to grind and be persistent and ambitious to get what you want in life.”
Toss & Sauce, 18673 Livernois in Detroit, is open daily at 11 a.m. except Wednesdays. Visit tossandsaucedetroit.com for more information. Follow the business on Instagram @tossandsauce_.
mbaetens@detroitnews.com
