Select Media Coverage
Publication: CNN
Article: "The Wild Boar Business is Booming in Texas", by Aaron Smith.
Date: July 14, 2017
Ravenous wild boars run roughshod over Texas, but entrepreneurs have figured out how to turn the land-ravaging pigs into a money-making resource.
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Hunters, ranchers and farmers shoot the boars on sight, an attempt at mass eradication that's encouraged by state lawmakers, who recently legalized hunting them from hot air balloons. Why? Because it's quieter than hunting them from helicopters, as is often done.
Spanish conquistadors introduced the boars to Texas in the 1500s as a ready food source. In the 20th century, more pigs were brought to game preserves. Since then, they've been breeding rapidly, at an annual rate of half a dozen piglets per sow. There are about 2.6 million wild boars in Texas and up to 9 million in the U.S., according to Billy Higginbotham, wildlife professor at Texas A&M.
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They cause $1.5 billion in damage yearly by rooting up crops and eating livestock, according to estimates. But there is also money to be made off these invasive species. The hog infestation has given rise to a variety of businesses capitalizing on wild boar, ranging from the helicopter tours that shoot them to the big city restaurants that serve them.
'Different flavors in the meat'
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Wild boar is a traditional meat in Italy, where it's served in a ragu sauce with pappardelle pasta. So it's nothing new to New York foodies, who've been dining on it for decades in Italian restaurants like DeGrezia Ristorante in Manhattan. The overpopulation of wild boars in Texas ranch lands has prompted a new wave of culinary creativity. It's become a fixture of Texas cuisine, even though the tough meat is tricky to prepare.
"Because the wild boars are wild and they eat a variety of different things you get different flavors in the meat," said Chef Tim Love, who barbecues boar ribs at his restaurant, Lonesome Dove Western Bistro in Austin, Texas. "That makes it exciting. If you do it right it's really delicious; if you don't do it right you're chewing for a week." Love said that he buys the boar meat from Texas distributors. He said he also shoots up to a dozen boars every time he visits his ranch, for purposes of eradication. Texas' law stipulates that hunters are allowed to eat the meat, but only state-approved trappers are allowed to sell it.
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Boar is turning up in more and more dishes - including pizza. Lee Kim, co-owner of Burattino Brick Oven Pizza in Rancho Palos Verdes near Los Angeles, said he decided to "solve this wild boar overpopulation problem once and for all." He sources boar meat from Texas and has a meat processor make it into pepperoni. "It's so tasty," he said. "There's no grease and it is very lean. Try this, I tell you, and you will never go back to normal pepperoni."
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Publication: Flavorful World: A Food and Wine Blog.
Article: FAQ: Chef Kim of Burattino Brick Oven Pizza
Date: 07/16/2017
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Our interview this month is with Lee Kim, the talented chef who is currently breathing new and exciting life into the menu offerings at Burattino Brick Oven Pizza through his usage of unique topping combinations and ingredients (the most compelling among the latter would have to be the wild boar meat sausage and pepperoni). Chef Kim talked with us on topics ranging from his process when it comes to creating the restaurant’s “Limited Edition” menu, to how his background as a competitive martial artist influences his kitchen discipline, and much more.
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FlavorfulWorld.com: Your establishment is doing its part to tackle an ongoing problem with wild boar overpopulation by being the first L.A. pizzeria to serve wild boar pepperoni and sausage on its pizzas. Tell us how you came to this solution, and how you moved it from concept to implementation.
Chef Kim: One night I was watching a local new channel. They were talking about how wild boar population is out of control and how they don’t know what to do about it. I thought: “ wow, that’s a lot of gourmet meat running around! I bet it would taste great on a pizza!” At the time I just started working on our Limited Edition menu, so the part of my brain responsible for producing pizza recipes immediately connected the dots. The very next day, I started putting together a list of ingredients for a gourmet wild boar pizza, and soon we had our first item on the Limited Edition menu: Wild Boar Sausage & Black Garlic.My partner, Emil Chiaberi, loved the idea of the Limited Edition menu, but he also thought that its appeal would be limited mostly to foodies. He suggested that if we really want to popularize wild boar, we should go with a topping that everyone already loves and understands – pepperoni. Pepperoni, of course, is by far the most popular pizza topping in the US.
However, wild boar pepperoni wasn’t readily available. Unlike sausage, which is relatively easy to make, pepperoni, requires a more complex cooking process. Because there was no existing demand for wild boar pepperoni, none of the meat processors wanted to experiment with it. Finally, my partner found a supplier in Illinois who was willing to give it a try. And that’s how we became the only pizza restaurant that makes wild boar pepperoni pizza. By the way, our supplier still doesn’t list wild boar pepperoni on their website. They make it especially for us. My partner turned out to be 100% right – Wild Boar Pepperoni outsells Wild Boar & Black Garlic by about 20 to 1. Wild boar overpopulation is a serious issue. But frankly, I’m not an environmental activist. I’m a pizza activist who is more concerned with overpopulation of boring pizzas than boars. But I am a friend and inhabitant of the environment, so when my pizza is environmentally sound, it’s a win and love it.
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FW: You’ve competed internationally on Uzbekistan’s Taekwondo team. How has the discipline and training involved with that pursuit prepared you for life as a chef and restaurateur, and what parallels have you found between the two endeavors?
CK: Martial arts have been a huge part of my life for as long as I can remember myself. It formed my character and my approach to everything. Martial arts taught me respect, which is very important when you work with people. It taught me discipline and focus, which, gave me my work ethic. It taught me that mistakes cannot be separated into big and small, because even a very minor mistake can have dire consequences. Thanks to my training, I know how to organize and prioritize my time, but never disregard even the smallest detail of the smallest task. You learn to appreciate precision – that every millisecond, millimeter, and milligram counts. So, it’s respect to all, discipline and focus, precision, attention to detail, organization, and tenacity. I think these are all good qualities for an aspiring chef to have.
FW: What has been the most unanticipated aspect of venturing into the culinary professional world? If you could offer one piece of pertinent advice to your younger self on the first day of your restaurant’s journey, what would it be, and why?
CK: Before I became a restaurant owner I’d already managed it for over 3 years, so from a purely operational stand point there were few surprises. The unanticipated aspects were psychological ones. I’ve never owned a business before, so I didn’t quite understand the difference between people working with you vs people working for you. Before, I was only responsible for myself and my family. All of a sudden, I was responsible for everyone else’s wellbeing, both financial and emotional. I wasn’t prepared for this kind of pressure, and it took me a bit of time to adjust. If I could transfer one knowledge to my younger self, it would be the understanding of the difference between being a manager and being a boss.
FW: Lingonberries, duck prosciutto, and dried persimmons are just a few of the more exotic ingredients you utilize when topping your pizzas. What is your process, regarding flavor combinations, for putting together ingredients whose tastes complement one another?
CK: My goal is to always create excitement, to give my customers something they’ve never tried before. Usually, I get an idea for the main ingredient and then build around it. But perhaps “build” isn’t the right word here. I imagine around it. The process is about following your intuition and, I’m not afraid to use this word, inspiration. I also love studying history of different ingredients – where they came from, how they are being produced, what place they occupy in different cultures. This is not advice or recommendation, it’s just something I like doing. I feel that it gives me context and inspiration. Sometimes, it evolves into a consistent theme. For example, Venison & Lingonberried Brie has a distinct Scandinavian spirit. At other times, different cultures harmoniously fuse on my pizza crust.
FW: The Burattino website calls you Burattino’s “Pizza Artist.” Aside from toppings selection and arrangement, what aspect(s) of pizza-making do you feel provides you the greatest degree of artistic license, and how do you apply that license in a way that allows it to keep evolving?
CK: Cooking is more than combining ingredients and following recipes. It’s part artistry and part magic. Different people can (and do) take the same recipe and same ingredients, and produce very different results. Every famous chef has a recipe book out. It doesn’t mean you can buy it and become a chef. The phrase “we use only the best, freshest ingredients” are the most overused words in the pizza business. Cooking is much more than combining ingredients. It may work for those who don’t understand or don’t care about the difference between good and great. Using the best ingredients is a good start. To make great food you must possess some sort of talent, a bit of a magic touch if you will. I dare to believe I have it. The only rule that applies to any art is that it’s interesting and that it works. In the case of culinary art specifically, the only end result that matters is joy. I can’t deliver it, if I don’t feel it myself. To feel it, I must be inspired. Anything that involves inspiration is artistic in nature. I can’t use a machine to make my crust. Nor can I put the process on a conveyer.
FW: Some of your more inventive pizza toppings are found on the Limited Edition menu. How long does a pizza typically spend in rotation as a limited-edition option? How are new pizzas evaluated before earning a place on that menu?
CK: We don’t have a rotation planogram. The only rule we go by is excitement, meaning a pizza stays on a menu for as long as it remains exciting to both my customers and myself. Our Limited Edition Menu is still new, all of the items are in high demand, I personally get a huge kick out of making them, so we have no plans to eliminate any of them. But I do have some new intriguing ideas, so there will definitely be a few new items soon.
FW: Wild boar seems like a versatile and healthy alternative to standard pork. What can we look forward to as far as forthcoming menu items that might feature wild boar meat in different forms?
CK: A combination of wild boar and caramelized apples is very appealing to me, so that’s definitely something I’m going to explore. There may be some additional dishes, like wild boar sausage sandwich and wild boar sliders, but I’m not sure yet, because I try to keep non-pizza items to a minimum.
FW: Excluding the name of any of your pre-existing blogs, websites, or print/online personas, tell us what name you would give to your memoir about your culinary exploits?
CK: “High Kick: A journey from a martial artist to a pizza artist for dummies.”
FW: When you aren’t cooking/eating delicious things, how do you most enjoy spending your time?
CK: Playing with my two daughters, exercising, making extensive use of Google to learn about cooking and history of culinary arts.
*Note to readers: Learn more about talented pizza artist Chef Lee Kim and see the latest pizza creations that Chef Kim is throwing down by visiting https://www.burattinopizza.com/. That’s also a good place to read up on the nutritional facts about the virtues of wild boar meat. You can also follow Burattino on Facebook and swing by YouTube to catch glimpses of the chef doing his thing in the restaurant kitchen and see the vast variety of pizzas he’s put together.
This article first appeared on FlavorfulWorld.com.
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Publication: Bizjournals.com
Article: "How to ​go hog wild with your marketing strategy", by Jason Mudd.
Date: Jul 11, 2017
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An entrepreneur thinks "outside the pizza box" with unusual ingredients that give him an edge.
This competitive business world requires innovative and bold marketing strategies. Business owners and marketing teams look for every edge and angle to attract customers, and it’s not enough to just “blend in” with competitors.
Creating an advertising advantage combines brazen tactics with the ability to provide solutions. Your marketing must be bold and, at times, wild. How often would you say your marketing strategy is bold and wild?
In many states, the wild boar overpopulation continues to be a huge issue. These animals are destroying parklands, farms and agriculture, causing millions of dollars in damage.
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One pizza restaurant, Burattino Brick Oven Pizza in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, is addressing this “wild” problem with “wild” creativity. Taking advantage of the pork surplus, this pizzeria is offering two of the most popular toppings in the United States, but obtained from wild boars — pepperoni and sausage. This 100 percent wild boar meat comes from a California state-sanctioned program to control the population of the destructive beasts.
Chef and pizza artist Lee Kim thinks “outside the pizza box” with his exclusive gourmet pizzas as well as with his marketing approach. In addition to wild boar, his pizzeria offers duck, venison, royal sturgeon and quail egg, creating exotic pies unique to the marketplace. Chef Kim knows the benefits of offering wild boar versus domestic pigs and gives customers pizza they haven’t tried before.
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Why wild boar instead of domestic pork?
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Wild boar is a free-range animal whose diet consists mostly of seeds, nuts, roots, berries, fruit, acorns, wild greens and mushrooms. No gestation crates, hormones or antibiotics.
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Wild boar has fewer calories, fat and saturated fat than pork. It contains more protein and less cholesterol than pork.
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Compared to domestic pigs, the wild boar is not prone to illness or disease.
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Create a bold, wild and winning marketing strategy
A former mixed martial artist on the Uzbekistan international Taekwondo team, Chef Kim came to the United States to start a career in mixed martial arts. His passion and obsession became pizza making, and he uses the same principles he learned in martial arts — focus, precision, discipline and work ethic – when marketing or making unique gourmet pizzas.
“One thing I knew for sure: Making good pizza wasn't good enough for me. It had to be perfect. My goal was to create unique and exciting experiences for my customers,” Kim said.
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It’s this philosophy, his willingness to be bold and wild with his pizza creativity — and his “outside the pizza box” thinking — that enables him to win and succeed in an extremely competitive arena. Don’t be afraid to challenge the norms when it comes to your business and marketing strategy. Be bold, different, creative and go “hog wild” with your advertising campaign, providing beneficial solutions and opportunities for your business.
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Publication: la-story.com
Type: Food blog
Date: Mar 24, 2017
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Burattino Brick Oven Pizza in Rancho Palos Verdes is launching a brand new “Limited Edition” menu starting today, Friday, March 24. Burattino specializes in offering gourmet artisanal pizza at chain prices and in recent months is the highest-rated pizzeria in Palos Verdes and San Pedro based on over 390 Yelp positive reviews. Burattino Brick Oven Pizza is known for its attention to fresh, locally sourced produce and meats.
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We are unique little place with big dreams based in San Pedro, CA. We believe in sourcing locally, treating pizza-making as an art form, and customers as family!
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Here is the Burattino menu that features exotic pizzas such as: Duck Prosciutto & Dried Persimmons, Wild Boar & Black Garlic, Venison & Lingonberried Brie, Royal Sturgeon & Quail Egg.
Expanding on the wild boar offering above, Burattino will start offering two of America’s most popular toppings – pepperoni and Italian sausage – made from 100% wild boar meat.
Why? Wild Boar is cleaner, healthier. No gestation crates, hormones or antibiotics – wild boar is a free range animal whose diet consists mostly of seeds, nuts, roots, berries, fruit, acorns, wild greens and mushrooms. It has less calories and saturated fat than pork. Wild boar has more protein and less cholesterol than pork, beef, lamb or chicken.
Who is Chef/Owner Lee Kim:
There is an intriguing story behind chef/co-owner Lee Kim. Kim is Korean who fought on the Uzbekistan International Taekwondo team. He came to the U.S. four years ago to start a career in mixed martial arts fighting, but he soon jumped into pizza-making just as fiercely and has found a new winning combination.
Here’s what Chef Lee Kim has to say about his “journey” into pizza-making:
My love affair with pizza began 4 years ago as an apprentice pizza maker. At the time I just moved to the US to pursue a career in mixed martial arts. Instead, pizza-making became my new obsession. Being good at it wasn’t good enough for me. I wanted to be the best, to introduce my idea of a perfect pizza – light and nutritious; rich in flavor and non-greasy; filling, but not heavy. In short, the ultimate comfort food reimagined as a healthy food. What I’ve learned as a martial artist – focus, precision, discipline, and work ethic – helped me succeed in my transition to a pizza artist. After almost 4 years without weekends, holidays or days off, I became the co-owner of Burattino Brick Oven Pizza!
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Today, Burattino is the #1-rated gourmet pizzeria in San Pedro and Rancho Palos Verdes! I look forward to meeting you in person and serving you some of the best pizza you’ve ever tasted!
Looking for something more than just pizza? Burattino’s offers a diverse range of food:
If you are a foodie or like exotic meats, you need to visit Burattion Brick Oven Pizza. The prices are affordable and worth the drive to San Pedro. It’s a great place and the quality will surprise you!!
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Stevie Wilson,
LA-Story.com
Publication: QSRWEB.COM. National Restaurant Association
Article: "America's Tastes Today? Cauliflower on Pizza, Radishes as Raw Meat." By S.A. Whitehead.
Date: July 7, 2017
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With rapid-fire delivery and an upbeat attitude, menu analyst and Kruse Company owner, Nancy Kruse, last week told a standing room only crowd at the National Restaurant Association show in Chicago that these are rapidly changing times in food service, perhaps unlike any before experienced. In short, she said, a paradigm shift is underway and restaurants must adapt to the predominant market demands for lots of eat-at-home and healthful-eating options or fall by the food service wayside.
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All this is also happening against a backdrop of heavy industry regulation, heightened wage demands and — in the case of many chains — too much growth and expansion too quickly, Kruse said. There might never have been as critical a time as now for restaurant leaders to stay on trend with everything from innovative offerings to the conscientiousness with which they are sourced and delivered.
"This is the single biggest trend of the past decade — to [offer a menu] that is free from things like artificial ingredients but still 'animal-friendly,'" she said. "And it's surprising the velocity that this has moved through the industry with this trend."
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Here are some of the main takeaways from her fascinating presentation on top menu trends and options. Had enough of 'heathy' and 'environmentally sustainable'? ... Too bad. Here comes more. "Until recently the whole health issue has been at a low simmer in this business, hasn't it?" Kruse asked the audience. "The trend now — led very much by the millennial generation — is a holistic approach where it's about balance and it has now crossed over to speak to the entire customer base at large."
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In Kruse's analysis of the issue, that means restaurateurs must put these things at the top of their purchasing and pricing priority lists:
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Fresh ingredients.
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Fewer ingredients.
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"Free from" (additives and artificial) ingredients.
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Animal-friendly operations and products.
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Reasonably priced.
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"This is the single biggest trend of the past decade — to [offer a menu] that is free from things like artificial ingredients but still 'animal-friendly,'" she said. "And it's surprising the velocity that this has moved through the industry with this trend. ...
"But the second thing to know is that consumers tend to use terms like 'no artificial ingredients,' 'cage-free,' 'sustainable' and 'antibiotic-free' interchangeably."
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As examples of how this has recently affected the industry, Kruse mentioned the Italian fast casual concept, Fazoli's, whose leaders recently invested more than $1 million to remove 81 ingredients from their offerings to align with consumers' increasing demands for healthy, simple and sustainable food.
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Likewise, McDonald's has made a similar, but smaller scale, move to remove problematic ingredients — such as artificial flavors, colors and preservatives — from its popular soft-serve desserts. And pizza brand Papa John's has said that the chain forks out about $100 million annually system-wide to clean up its offerings in similar ways. "What they're trying to do is attract millennial families," Kruse said.
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Kruse said the days of inner-city food deserts and sky-high prices for sustainably raised produce are waning as healthful, environmentally responsible edibles of all kinds make their way into consumers' mouths. She said that a perfect example of this is Kroger's; with its ready-to-eat options, the grocery chain has put together an assortment of initiatives to "democratize" healthful food by pricing it reasonably and placing it front and center in its stores.
This has led to a reversal in the way food trends start in the U.S., Kruse said. Until just recently, the trendiest eats had their beginnings in equally trendy eateries, but in a rare reversal, trends are now starting in supermarkets and then moving to food service.
"Kroger, the second largest [grocery] chain in country ... spent well over $1 billion on The Simple Truth [brand of products] for all the people all the time, instead of 'Whole Foods, whole paycheck.' So they have democratized it and their customers are also your customers."
Denny's also has been a first responder and early adopter of the clean trend, removing trans fats, MSG and the like. "Consumers will spend more when there is a compelling sales proposition, and consumers say, 'Fewer ingredients are better for me,'" Kruse said. "So for Denny's ... this has been a home run."
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The days of vegetarians and vegans being seen as wacky "outliers" have ended. Increasingly, the traditional question of "beef or chicken?" for dinner is giving way to "beets or carrots?", Kruse said. Today, 3–5 percent of Americans are vegetarians, and 2–3 percent are vegans who refuse to consume any animal-sourced products in any way.
Those two groups are now joined by occasional meat-eaters such as the so-called "flexitarians" and "reducetarians" to make up an ever-larger share of food service.
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Kruse said that the trend is driving center-of-the-plate vegetable-based entrees such as those below, which she mentioned as examples:
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Cauliflower blooms everywhere — In recent years, the nubby white vegetable has been making a name for itself as the star of entrees such as Pizza Rev's Cauliflower Power Pizza. Other examples of this vegetable in a leading role include California Pizza Kitchen's spicy buffalo cauliflower pizza. And then there's the No. 7 Subs Broccoli Classic, featuring cauliflower's green cousin.
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Avocados all around — The popularity of this meaty fruit seems to go on forever, with creative new entrees such as Butterleaf's avocado bombs with umami glaze and Fritos chips.
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Lox-less luxury — Who says you need lox to have a bagel and lox? At vegan New York City deli Orchard Grocer, a bagel with lox and cream cheese comes with cashew cream cheese and "carrot lox."
"The key with these is to lavish flavor on and treat [a vegetable] like you would a meat entree to make a vegetarian center-of-the-plate dish," Kruse said. "So the old rule was bigger is better, but the new rule is options are optimal. ... We are moving away from three meals a day to the 'snackification' of the American menu."
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But meat eaters are not quite forgotten, according to Kruse, In fact, she said she's seeing an increasing trend toward out-of-the-ordinary meat sources — for instance, Arby's insanely popular venison LTO.
"We can't get enough of that good macro protein," Kruse said. "There's a 10-year trend line showing demand for protein going up and here, again, it started with customers not getting enough of this stuff on grocery aisles. ... And now we're seeing things like ... Ledo Pizza's wild boar pizza, which is presented as a leaner, cleaner, more flavorful pork — and they've got it on pizza, salad and fettuccine."
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In fact, at Burattino Brick Oven Pizza in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, they're using wild boar meat provided through a state-sanctioned wild boar control program to make pepperoni and sausage toppings for their pizzas, a news release said. Other meats prime for takeoff include items such as oxtail, lamb and duck, Kruse said.
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Kruse said that confining ethnic eating to restaurant brands that serve Italian, Mexican and Chinese cuisine are "so twentieth century." Just about every culture is represented on the national restaurant scene today, but Kruse thinks a few in particular are poised to gain popularity, including:
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a complete array of Indian and crossover Indian cuisines, as both are healthful and spicy, characteristics that have proven extremely popular with the dining-out public;
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Asian noodles of every sort — but especially ramen — are primed for takeoff from the days of dried-out varieties in a cup; and
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Katsu, a Japanese form of pork or chicken schnitzel on a sandwich.
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Never underestimate the power of the costar to draw an audience. Kruse said snacks of all kinds are increasingly starring as key features on restaurateurs' "in-the-black" bottom lines. In this category, Kruse mentions items such as quinoa, tater tots and grilled asparagus — or even offbeat fare such as radish carpaccio, French-fried asparagus or anything akin to Smashburger's veggie frites, which are flash-fried and dusted with Parmesan and parsley.
"American consumers love fried food," said Kruse. "And importantly, we don't do it at home. So the old rule was bigger is better, but the new rule is options are optimal. ... We are moving away from three meals a day to the 'snackification' of the American menu."
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Publication: LA Weekly
Article: "Eat a boar, save the planet?" by Clarissa Wei
Date: June 15, 2017
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The United States has a pig problem. Wild boars have been wreaking havoc on farmlands across the country for decades, causing $1.5 billion in damages and associated costs every year.
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First introduced to North America (in the Southeast) in the early 1500s as a source of food, and then again in the 1900s to give hunting enthusiasts something else to kill, the invasive swine that roam across the country are a hybrid of the originally introduced wild boars and escaped domestic pigs. In 2016, the National Feral Swine Damage Management Program (NFSDMP) estimated between 5 million and 6 million of the beasts were distributed across at least 35 states. They destroy farmland, creating chaos wherever they go and eating nearly everything they see, from crops to man-made waste. They're also terrible for the ecosystem: A study conducted by Rice University and Texas A&M pointed out that areas used by wild pigs saw a significant reduction of plant diversity.
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“One day I was watching the news and saw a segment on wild boar overpopulation,” Emil Chiaberi, co-owner of Burattino Pizza in Rancho Palos Verdes, says. “I think we can all come together as a country and solve it.” Chiaberi called a supplier in Texas that contracts with local hunters and asked for wild boar sausages and custom-made boar pepperoni. His restaurant co-founder and chef Lee Kim took the ingredients and crafted a wild boar pizza.
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The pizza can be ordered with cheese and a scattering of mushrooms, or with black garlic, gorgonzola and cherry tomatoes.
Feral pig meat has a more peppery finish than standard pepperoni. “I’m from Uzbekistan and my uncle used to hunt boar,” Kim says. “It’s a flavor I remember vividly from my childhood.”
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The team hopes to expand its boar menu to include wild boar sausage sandwiches. While it’s an unconventional ingredient, Chiaberi and Kim say their customers have taken a liking to it. “At first we were just giving it to loyal customers, but we got excellent feedback and found out that people really love it,” Chiaberi says.
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For Erik Sun, a chef, restaurateur and hunter based in California, wild boar is an ingredient he hopes will find increased popularity in the mainstream restaurant industry. Sun is an investor at downtown Los Angeles’ Bestia and is in the process of opening two meat-centric restaurants of his own in the Bay Area.
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“If we make a comparison to tuna, everyone starts off liking the fatty toro but then over time gravitates toward the more nuanced akami. As kids we want the sweetest things, but as we grow older we enjoy less sweet desserts," Sun notes. For him, boar is that more nuanced cut of red meat.
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"[It's] loaded with flavor, and the age and sex of the animal can alter the taste,” he says. A hobbyist hunter on both sea and land, Sun starting shooting boar in California's Central Valley more than a decade ago. “One thing led to another and I ended up getting a special permit to hunt pigs because wild pigs have such an overpopulation problem,” he says. “The Department of Fish & Wildlife will give out permits on certain properties that have too many pigs. Pigs have three to four litters every year.”
In California, wild pigs exist in 56 of the state's 58 counties, and the state has an entire manual on how to legally and safely kill and handle the feral swine. It includes recipes. Wild boar in California present an abundance of food, but as someone who processes his own catch, Sun is realistic about the challenges of cooking wild game.
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“People really need to know how to cook it. It can still be tough,” he says, pointing out that these are free-roaming animals whose meat tends to be on the drier side. “I would say 10 out of 100 boars that I catch are truly amazing. And not all the cuts are good.” Still, the taste of the meat can be rather complex, depending on what the boar was foraging. “It can be almonds, figs, pistachios, grapes or pomegranate. What they finish on is what they taste like,” Sun says. “While it's still a niche market, I’ve noticed that people are more open to it now.”
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Publication - perfectmealtoday.com, food blog.
Article: Where Can I Get Wild Boar in Los Angeles? Burattino Brick Oven Pizza!
Author: Michael Hepsworth
Date: June 26, 2017
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Palos Verdes (Perfect Meal Today)6/28/17/–Well the secret is now out and the place to go is Burattino Brick Fire Oven Pizza Palos in Palos Verdes and they would love to see you. The Wild Boar Pepperoni is far more leaner and less greasy than regular pepperoni. It is part of their special pizza section, which also includes the Wild Boar Italian Sausage Pizza. More things to know about the Wild Boar is that it has more protein and less cholesterol than chicken, and less fat than beef, lamb or pork.
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It is also of course 100% wild which means no hormones or antibiotics. The wild boar pepperoni took three attempts by the distributor in Illinois to perfect, and now he is keen to push other exotic pizza toppings such as bison to the curious pizza fanatics in California.
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All the crusts here by design are of the thin variety, so if you are into the thick crusts then this is not the place for you. This is also a pizza restaurant that actually has a chef who is in charge of the specialty pizzas. Chef Lee works seven days a week and is grateful to be earning a living in America. The owner Emil is a tech savvy and marketing expert who jumped into the pizza business about a year ago. He renovated the small restaurant that has four or five tables for in-house dining.
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Another pizza that I tried and liked was the Croatian Pizza, a tasty mélange of mushrooms, beef prosciutto, feta cheese, roasted red peppers, bell peppers, black olives and red onions. In all the pizzas marinara sauce can be substituted for homemade white garlic sauce or BBQ sauce. There is also an extensive list of toppings to choose from from the well designed menu.
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There are also foot long Gourmet Hot Sandwiches such as the Roasted Pork and BBQ Pork or Chicken and if you like pork then be aware this is special house roasted pork. They also have giant sized Calzones on offer that you can build with your own toppings as well as gourmet salads along with a large meatball appetizer in marinara sauce and baked chicken wings.
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