love & crust Backyard pizzeria supplies creative outlet, good times
Story by RACHEL STONE | Photography by SHELBY TAUBER & JESSICA TURNER
You can’t buy a pie from the most esoteric pizzeria in Oak Cliff. But if you’re nice, John Gaither might just give you one. Lonelyhearts Pizza started a year-and-a-half ago with a book, The Elements of Pizza, which Gaither received as a birthday gift from his partner’s mom, Ann Rogers. “I never really even liked pizza that much,” he says. “But then she gave me the book, and I don’t know, I just liked feeling the dough. Like, feeling the dough transform in my hands.” He enjoyed the process so much that he perfected a 48-hour dough and bought a Gozney outdoor pizza oven that can cook a pie in about five minutes. Most of the groceries come from H-E-B in Waxahachie. Gaither picks up online orders Saturday mornings, and he says the drive gives him time to let his mind wander. Pepperoni, Jimmy’s Food Store sausage, mushrooms
and jalapeños are among the toppings he preps ahead and spreads onto his pies. Each one has whole-milk mozzarella, fresh mozzarella and parmesan. Symmetrical thin crusts come out crisp and chewy with consistency and flavors that could rival any pizzeria around. But this is not really about pizza. A corporate bankruptcy lawyer with Neligan LLP, Gaither says he never knew he was creative until he found a way to express himself through pizza. “This gave me a thing that I could do and is totally me,” he says. “I get in my zone and make pizza and who cares how it turns out?” He is critical of the results, but that’s part of the fun for him. A lifelong tennis player, Gaither says he never cared about matches that much. He played because he loved practicing.
“The whole thing to me was about the iterative process of getting better and the discipline and enjoyment of watching visible improvement,” he says. “And it never had an end. You could always get better. It wasn’t like, ‘I’m satisfied now.’ It was an evolution, and it was something fun to go apply yourself to.” Tennis and pizza haven’t been his only obsessions. He also has a full-size wine fridge and is active in a local wine club. He owns hundreds of vinyl records and a 1970s hi-fi system with speakers inherited from his grandfather. He developed the Lonelyhearts Pizza branding with his partner, Andrea Rogers, an abstract painter who also makes a line of skincare products, Beige Dusk Greys, and is a bartender. She made the final logo design from his idea and showed him how to order his printed pizza boxes online. They’re cute, but they’re not cheap. “The boxes are what kills
A party spread of charcuterie board, fruit and salads complements pizzas from an outdoor oven in Kessler/ Stevens. Andrea Rogers and John Gaither created a backyard retreat for themselves and their friends, complete with a hobby pizzeria they’ve branded Lonelyhearts.
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oakcliff.advocatemag.com
AUGUST 2022
