Industry veterans Leah Highfield and Jeremy Williams are originally from “up north” —Boston and New York respectively — so pizza has always been a part of their lives. These days, Highfield works at Indaco and Williams is part of the crew at Royal American.
“We’ve always liked cooking together,” says Highfield. After years — yes, years — of R&D, the couple is finally ready to launch their own pizza truck, Rosalie’s, named after Williams’ nonna.
“It started as a hobby,” says Highfield, “then the more we started doing it we were nerding out on pizza stuff.”
Highfield and Williams estimate they’ve collectively worked in the industry for upwards of 20 years, both front and back of house. Highfield was even able to get her hands dough-y in the kitchen at Indaco. “To be on the line and make pizza after pizza, that feeling of crunch time and knowing I can handle it, it’s actually really fun,” says Highfield.
Rosalie’s will make three different kinds of pies: classic round pies, grandma pies, and Detroit style. All will be available by the slice, and each is made with premium, organic flour from Central Milling, which operates a farm out of Utah. “We started R&D two years ago,” says Williams. “I’d go back home to New York, and we’d hit up all the pizza places in Boston, Philly.”
Pizza devotees are known to squabble over labels — the couple says their thin crust/classic round pie will be naturally leavened with all-natural starter, reminiscent of a “New York-style, old-school slice place.” The grandma pie is “basically a thin square baked in a pan with oil at the bottom,” says Highfield. And their Detroit pie is a “version of Sicilian but thick and fluffy, we let the dough sit out and get really airy.”
The couple has been operating out of the shared space KTCHeN on Rivers Avenue, and hope to park their truck in the Royal American parking lot for an early 2020 pizza pop-up. The 20-foot trailer was “completely gutted” and now boasts a shiny new paint job, two deck ovens, and a “magical” hood that they’re hoping will keep them cool come springtime.
Highfield and Williams have already hosted friends — like the Royal American’s owner John Kenney, who they say has been begging them to get up and running — and they’re feeling pretty confident about the final menu, which will also include gelato, ices, and salads in addition to the pies. “We always had this idea that it would be fun to have a business together,” says Highfield.
Keep up to date with Rosalie’s first pop-up by following them on Instagram.
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