101
THE
HEARTH
The focal point
of the kitchen at the
Wolf’s Tailor is
the dramatic wood-
fired oven, which
Whitaker installed
specifically to bake
the restaurant’s
signature piada
bread. The recipe for
the fluffy, pita-like
rounds—which he
also serves at his
Boulder spot, Basta—
changes throughout
the seasons
depending on the
grains available at
the time. Piada that’s
served in the fall
and winter months
is often made by
incorporating more
earthy, nutty-tasting
winter wheats, such
as red fife, while
summertime breads
are made with lighter
spring white wheat.
Piada with farmer’s
cheese, edamame
purée, and benneTHE
PICKLES
Like any serious
restaurant in 2019,
the Wolf’s Tailor
has an extensive in-
house fermentation
program for making
everything from
miso to a rainbow
of seasonal pickles.
But Whitaker takes
pickling even further
by incorporating
the bran left over
from milling his own
flours. He mixes the
bran with water and
various seasonings
to create a mash
that’s inoculated
with kombucha,
then uses this to bury
vegetables for
making nukazuke,
a Japanese bran
pickle. For the dish
pictured at left,
Whitaker buries
whole Napa
cabbages in bran
mash mixed with
Calabrian chiles and
dried anchovies.
Twelve to 24 hours
later: pickles!Piada dough gets
stretched before it goes
into the oven.