Phantom Gourmet: Oath Pizza In Chestnut Hill

CHESTNUT HILL - The pizza world is changing, and Oath Craft Pizza is leading the way. It is a different kind of pizza place. In fact, they'll tell you it's not a pizza place at all; it's a happy place.

"Oath is really about a certain mindset," said founder Doug Ferriman. "The goal was to go out and really shake things up, and disrupt the pizza world."

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Doug is a guy who isn't afraid to think outside the pizza box. He opened the first Oath store in Nantucket last year, and has quickly expanded to locations in South Station, Davis Square, and Route 9 at Chestnut Hill Square.

The chef-inspired, assembly line style, quick-service concept is built around two unique characteristics: the high tech oven, and a top secret crust formula that took years to develop.

"My goal was to create and maximize the senses: sight, sound, smell and touch. I think we have nailed that with this crust," Doug said. "When you look at it, it looks different. We've developed a proprietary way where we can flash grill and flash sear that the end result is a product that, A) looks different, it feels different, it smells different, and it actually sounds different, because it's audible. When you eat it, it crunches."

The bottom of the crust has grill marks; the top is puffy, golden, and bumpy from searing in olive oil. And according co-founder Max Seel, it makes for a uniquely delicious foundation.

"Because of the way the crust is prepared, when it's put through the oven, it just gets enhanced crispiness that you will not find in a lot of different concepts. And when you top that with all sorts of different toppings, it just brings together this amazing product that becomes very craveable."

Whatever kind of crazy craving you may have, Oath has a combination that can satisfy. There's pulled pork and pineapple pizza with a honey barbecue drizzle; Mexican meatball with jalapeno relish; even strawberry cheesecake and triple chocolate chip cookie dessert pizzas. They're served very fast, and relatively affordably, all thanks to a state of the art, high tech electric oven.

"They're called impingement heating ovens. So it's basically like a high powered convection type oven. The pizza slides in, cooks for ninety seconds, basically blowing air on both the top and bottom which really allows it that fast, crisp cook," Max explained.

"It has a certain air velocity. It has a certain temperature, and it has a certain way that you can program it to fit your product," Doug continued. "That's where some of the magic comes in. We found an oven that we can program. We can hit the button and every time it's gonna come out the same, and these ovens really allow us to do that."

One of Oath's most popular pies is named after its inventor. It's called The Douggie, and it was built for carbo-loading.

"It is a seasoned red bliss potato, with a really good Applewood smoked bacon, with scallions at the end and a little ranch drizzle. It's like the ultimate baked potato pizza," Doug described.

If you're looking to spice things up a bit, look no further than the so-called Spicy Mother Clucker.

"This was the most popular pizza in Nantucket, chicken with a nice secret Oath sauce and then Sriracha, so it's a lot of good spiciness, good flavors and a good kick," Max said. "We can't tell if people love saying the name, or if they really love the pizza, but the Spicy Mother Clucker is always a favorite."

Another popular option for flavor-seekers is the Porky Fig pizza, which just happens to be Doug's personal favorite.

"Very, very high quality mozzarella that we actually get specially diced, black mission figs, we crisp up the pancetta a little bit, and then we finish with a nice dollop of creamy brie that creates a mellow melt on the pizza. And we're gonna garnish it with a little bit of balsamic reduction, little bit of basil."

"A lot of times when you have fancy pizzas, and there's too much stuff on them," Max said. "We try to limit it to four to five key ingredients. The pancetta, brie, and fig combination come together in a wonderful harmony."

Instead of eating another boring, plain cheese pizza, perhaps it's time you make an oath, to try something different.

"When people leave that door they have this impression of, 'this is different.' And that's our goal is for them to walk out that door with a very positive impression," Doug concluded.

Oath Pizza has 3 locations in the Boston area, and one on Nantucket. Their website is oathpizza.com.

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