This story is featured in CityBeat's Dec. 13 print edition.
Matt Owens, executive chef and co-owner of Companion, grew up making pizzas alongside his grandma. "She'd invite all the grandkids over and do sheet pan pizza and make pizzas for everybody, and I just always loved that," said Owens. "Ever since I was a kid, I always liked cooking. My grandma was one of my initial influences and was a great cook."
He turned his love of cooking into a career and attended the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont. One of his first chef jobs was taking the reins as the executive chef of Harvest Pizzeria in Columbus in 2011, where he worked for four years. Though his career took different turns along the way, he returned to the basics during the pandemic: making pizza.
"During the pandemic, I bought myself a pizza oven," Owens said. "I had been working on my pizza dough recipe for a long time and actually got back into making pizzas during the pandemic as a way to get creative again and develop things just for fun." And with this creative outlet, the idea for Companion sprung to life.
Owens saw a space in Cincinnati for his style of pizza, which he refers to as Neopolitan-ish slow dough. "I like to call it Neopolitan-ish because it's kind of inspired by Neapolitan pizza, but I don't follow the traditional recipes," said Owens. As for the slow dough process, Owens explains that his pizza dough goes through a 72-hour fermentation process, which is longer than most recipes require. "This allows the yeast to leaven at a slow and steady pace, and it develops a better gluten structure and more complex flavor to the dough," he said.
When he first started thinking about launching Companion, Owens reached out to the owners of The Rhined and Oakley Wines, Stephanie and Dave Webster, whom he had gotten to know while he worked as the manager of Findlay Kitchen. "They have a history of supporting small pop-up restaurants," said Owens. He also liked that their locations’ focus on natural wines, which he thinks is the perfect complement to his pizzas and one of the reasons he chose to name the restaurant Companion. "It just kind of struck me that pizza and wine are kind of natural companions, so that's where the companion part comes from," he said.
Companion started hosting their pop-up kitchen at Oakley Wines in June of this year and has returned most Sundays ever since. Each week, they offer a rotating menu, which thus far has consisted of almost 20 different pizzas and a medley of flavorful salads and small plates.
"I try to think of every pizza as a composed dish," said Owens. "I try to balance all the different elements of taste — sweet, sour, salty, fatty, bitter, umami, and all that, to hopefully get some unexpected and delicious flavor combinations altogether." He aims to keep the rotating menu inventive and fun to keep people coming back. "I just don't want it to be expected," he said. "So if it's a little unexpected, if it's a little fun, that's kind of where some of the inspiration comes from. More than anything, hopefully, it all just tastes delicious," said Owens.
Some of Owens' pizza creations include a crispy onion pizza, which he describes as a mix between "French Onion Soup and the best parts of Green Bean Casserole," and a finocchiona pizza, made with a caramelized fennel cream sauce, rich Taleggio cheese, shaved Brussels sprouts and pistachios, topped with a drizzle of spicy Calabrian buckwheat honey and fennel fronds.
Owens searches for the best quality ingredients, which can be difficult for a small pop-up business. He focuses on sourcing ingredients from the best and most trusted in the industry, like using Stanislaus tomatoes and Grande Cheese varieties. Still, Owens also makes it a point to use seasonal ingredients in his recipes, like with his seasonal butternut squash pizza that was a part of the fall menu, and sources ingredients locally when possible. "Findlay Market has been a huge resource," he said.
Outside of Companion’s Sunday residency at Oakley Wines, they're also available for catering events throughout the year, which Owens notes is easier to do since they are a pop-up restaurant. "Being a pop-up restaurant, we move a lot of equipment to Oakley Wines each week, so it's simple to move equipment to do catering and events."
Owens hopes to one day have a brick-and-mortar location for Companion, where he plans to pair his inventive recipes with natural wines and small plates. But for now, he looks forward to his residency at Oakley Wines every other Sunday through the end of the year, where they've already started to grow a following and a group of loyal regulars.
"I'm just really grateful for the support that we've gotten," said Owens. "Not only from Oakey Wines but the people in the neighborhood and the people who have found us on Instagram and come to check us out."
For upcoming dates when Companion will be at Oakley Wines, along with their rotating menu, visit instagram.com/companionpizza.
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