Five Points' antipasto platter.
Every restaurant has its own journey to opening day. Five Points Pizza’s just started at a different place.
First, owners Tara and Dave Tieman and Tanner Jacobs spent a year formulating a dough recipe. Well, no — first the Tiemans spent 12 years as attorneys. Then they looked around their East Nashville neighborhood and said, “What would we be really excited to see open here?” Came the answer: pizza by the slice.
They then spent a year renovating the former bike shop at 1012 Woodland St. When they weren't renovating or overseeing renovation, they were working on the recipe for crust. Different combinations of flour and water, different water, different flour, rise times — there are dozens of variables to test. They consulted bakers, researched online, and spent a week working at a pizzeria on Staten Island, N.Y.
In the end, they came back to the dough recipe they developed. But they learned a lot about operating a restaurant, using the ovens and more.
And then there was sauce. Oh, and the beer permit. I don’t need to tell you that was a nightmare. Both Tiemans went through the application over and over, yet with their combined 24 years in practice, they couldn’t figure out how to fill out the application. In the end, they got their beer license, and Tara Tieman is helping the Metro Beer Board overhaul its permit application form, which should gladden many prospective restaurant owners.
The Five Points crew originally envisioned being BYOB, since Woodland Wines is across the street. But in Nashville, things are not so simple. That beer permit turned out to be a mixed blessing: It allows them to serve beer, but not to serve or allow any other alcohol — including BYOB. So now they’re working toward the limited license that will allow them to sell wine and high-gravity beer.
