Durham’s already great pizza scene is about to get hotter with this new restaurant
There’s no shortage of great pizza in Durham, but two more wood-fired ovens are on the way from Italy looking to heat things up.
The popular Greensboro-based pizzeria Cugino Forno will open a new restaurant this summer in Durham’s Golden Belt development, the latest artisan pizza shop to open in the Bull City. This will be Cugino Forno’s fourth pizzeria in four years, following openings in Greensboro in 2017, then Winston-Salem and Clemmons.
“Durham was always in our mind, it’s a great city with great potential for us,” co-owner Joseph Ozbey said in an interview. “The food scene there is very, very, very rich.”
The Durham Cugino Forno will open in a 4,000 square foot space in the Golden Belt building, a former textile mill that’s been turned into a mixed-use development. The pizzeria will be situated between Hi-Wire Brewing and J. Lights Market and Cafe and across from Two Roosters Ice Cream.
Cugino Forno’s pizzas will be made in a pair of wood-burning ovens that can reach temperatures of more than 1,000 degrees, Ozbey said, cooking bubbly and charred pizzas in a brisk 90 seconds. The ovens are being shipped in from Italy as Cugino Forno aims for an August opening.
“The pizza is very unique, it’s made exactly the same as in Naples in the 18th century,” Ozbey said. “You can see it start to cook right in front of your eyes the second the pizza goes in the oven.”
Pizza beginnings
Cugino Forno is owned by three cousins from Turkey — Ozbey, Yilmaz Guver and Adam Aksoy. Ozbey said the cousins’ love of pizza was formed through many trips from Turkey to Italy, especially through the city of Naples, which has made pizzas for centuries.
After living in Charlotte, Ozbey said he crisscrossed North Carolina countless times, putting 20,000 miles on his 2009 Camry as he searched for the spot to open a pizzeria. It turned out to be Greensboro, first opening a large, three-oven restaurant in the Revolution Mill development.
“North Carolina was a perfect home for us,” Ozbey said.
After opening three locations in three years, Cugino Forno looked eastward and signed a lease early this year.
While Cugino Forno will bring one of the Triad’s most popular pizzas to Durham, the city is already bursting with great pies. The likes of Pizzeria Toro, Pompieri and Napoli turn out acclaimed wood-fired pizzas of their own, and newcomers like Hutchins Garage and the Oakwood Pizza Box outpost Little Pizza Box have cult followings.
Ozbey believes the city can never have too much great pizza and that Cugino Forno will offer something new.
“Durham is a great city with a lot of great pizza places, but we’re a bit different than the others that are already here,” Ozbey said. “We don’t consider ourselves a restaurant, but more of a bakery. ... I don’t think (the pizza scene) will be crowded; there will be enough room for all of us. We just want to add something new to that rich scenery.”
Pineapple policy
The Durham Cugino Forno will mirror the other locations, serving only pizza, salads and gelato. There are around a dozen different Neapolitan-style pizzas, including a classic Margarita with creamy buffalo mozzarella and brightened by San Marzano tomatoes and basil. Ozbey said the foundation of Cugino Forno’s pizzas, the flour, tomatoes and mozzarella will all be imported from Italy.
“The double zero flour we use comes from Italy, the Calabrian peppers come from Italy,” Ozbey said. “All those little details are important when you’re making pizza like you’d find in Naples. The first thing that comes to mind when you hear Italy is the pizza.”
Ozbey said not to expect pizzas with chicken or the polarizing pineapple, as such styles would never be found in a Naples pizzeria.
“That’s a red line,” Ozbey said of pineapple on a pizza. “I just don’t think it belongs on a pizza. I just don’t think, with my heart and soul, that fruit belongs on pizza. In Naples they’ll probably kick you out.”
Opening details
Ozbey said the Cugino Forno owners sought out a historic building for their Durham pizzeria, and in Golden Belt they’ve found an old textile mill converted into loft apartments, event spaces, a brewery and restaurant.
“We try to do our locations in buildings that have a lot of history to them,” Ozbey said. “There’s history in these walls and columns (in Golden Belt). We’re combining American history and Italian history.”
Like the three other Cugino Fornos, the Durham location will have long communal butcher-block tables and an open kitchen with the pizza ovens on display. Ozbey said construction is underway at Golden Belt.
“We’re shooting for the moon, and the moon is August,” Ozbey said.
This story was originally published June 4, 2021 at 10:00 AM.
