(rhythmic synth music)
- Pizza is good,
it's so familiar and like, inviting.
This pan pizza, it had a special place in our hearts
because every Friday we had it at school, you know,
special occasions we had in the penitentiary, you know?
(laughing) So it was like, always a pan-style pizza.
What better way to break into the culinary industry
than with pizza.
(deep rhythmic music)
- So I use warm water first, infused with yeast and sugar,
to activate the yeast. (water splashing)
(whisk clanking)
The whole thing, as far for us and the dough,
it's not like it's a secret ingredient and all that,
it's just the process of doing it.
You got flour, water, oil, sugar and yeast,
basic things to make a dough.
(liquid splashing)
If I was to use like, cold water with the dough,
it would be hard to pull out.
But when you're using a certain type of temperature of water
it makes the dough easy to proof,
easy to rise, easy to manipulate.
(bag crinkling)
I'm gonna add the flour.
50-pound bags of flour.
(bag crinkling)
I've dealt with dough before,
but not as far as like this.
(gentle music) Mike, he had a whole idea
as far as doing the dough different
than from what other pizza shops do.
Can't say exactly what that is,
but it's what separates our dough from everybody else.
(upbeat synth music)
So now I'm gonna add our oil.
- Our specific type of dough is super hydrated.
Our dough is so resilient
under the temperatures that we put it in
and it remains soft.
- Yeah, well we used to do this a lot,
so I got to do it a lot with 'em.
But going through trial and error,
"Yo, let's try this, yo, let's try that."
And just try to keep finding ways of tweaking it
then making it better.
I get all night to do it.
I got 10 hours to knock this out.
(upbeat synth music)
Being in here at night, all I hear is hand-chopping,
maybe rain against the window, the dough.
(machine humming)
If you listen, you can hear it talking.
(machine humming) Like that screeching?
It's the dough, it's pulling from a--
You hear it? Like it's pulling
from the inside of the cylinder of the mixer.
So now I know it's properly mixing,
it's pulling from the side.
Our dough rats.
(rhythmic synth music)
The salt we're gonna put in
as far as going near the end of the spin
and we don't wanna kill the yeast too early,
'cause we want it be able to proof properly.
When I let the salt blend in, it's really gonna smooth out,
like a ball, and I'll be able to pull it out,
get to whammin' with it.
(melodic, rhythmic synth music)
This is mthe funny part, when I gotta grease all up,
so the dough don't stick to my skin.
(melodic, rhythmic synth music)
I got the burns and everything on me
from going deep in the oven and I put oil over it.
Then the fun part is when I gotta stick these hands,
that's covered in oil, back in the oven.
(Mar laughing)
(rhythmic synth music)
The funny thing is, as I'm pulling it out,
the dough is fighting to get back in.
From the tension and the resistance from it, yeah.
- Actually, the overhydration came by mistake.
Especially like during the summertime, making the dough,
like you got the humidity in the summertime,
so it was really about finding out
how much water we had to add.
And then once we hit that ratio it was like, we're here;
"Mortimer, we're back!"
(staccato synth music)
- This is about 80 pounds.
See how that happen? (laughing)
(rhythmic synth music)
So there's a certain amount of grams
as far as we go for each dough.
So these pans are like the old Detroit motor tins
that they used to use back in the day.
I'm gonna grease them up and get to whippin' with it.
We're not just in it just to make a dollar,
'cause as far as what our mission is,
as far as what our premise, as far as what our goal is
and it's to make change.
You know, we already got the label on us anyway.
A lot of things they don't be wanting to hear period;
skillset, nothing.
Shout-out to Muhammad.
You know what?
We don't hire nobody unless they're previously convicted.
We take care of ourself, we provide for ourself
and we love ourself.
Like a lot of us came a long way;
10-years ago to think I'd be doing pizza.
(laughing) You know what I mean?
Talking to y'all, this, that and the third. (tsking)
We was in dark places, it's like a good thing
for us to be able to come here, you know, do something good.
I got five sons, I'm like, I'm trying to leave something,
be a part of something that they could say,
"Yo, yeah, my dad did that yo, that's my dad."
Be able to provide to 'em, so that-
You know what I mean?
They can achieve better, that stepping stone,
something that somebody never left for us.
So a lot of people wrap their dough,
and I was sitting in here one day
and somebody had the heat on blazing.
That's like, proofing faster.
So that's just one of the secrets
so as far as with the dough; I turn the heat all the way up,
it's saving me a step, happy dough.
(rhythmic synth music)
- The thing that the carceral system has evolved in
is like a big, big business.
You know, the second largest employer in the United States.
You can get people to do things
for a fraction of which you would have to pay 'em
if they were out here on the street.
You know, a lot of everyday things
are made within the prison.
Over time, seeing the benefits of utilizing these people,
you know essentially as an extension of slavery,
we're trying to just mitigate a lot,
people going in and out of the system.
- Who has joined us is the executive chef, Mike Carter,
the man behind the dough.
I just make the dough, he made the dough,
you know what I mean?
I'm happy 'cause you here.
(laughing) Please keep in mind
that we are previously convicted,
so we strongly are about ours.
We are happy, we are smiling, but we are serious about ours.
(rhythmic synth music)
- So right now I'm pressing the dough.
You ever get a piece of pizza
and it has like that big-ass air bubble in it?
So what I'm doing right now
is pressing this out and basically condensing it;
that's where you get the chewiness of the dough at.
People have to understand like,
in order to get this perfect square pie,
you have to press it into the corners.
Like, it's real laborious work, but it's worth it;
it's part of the craft, you gotta put that love into it.
Mar used to be my boss, man.
- No, no, no, we don't use words like that at Down North;
"previously was working with Mike."
- But he used to give me hours. (laughing)
So, like basically the same part that I played for him
once upon a time, like he play that for me.
Mar was one of the first people I called,
and we've been rockin' out,
Scarface and Manolo minus Gina, ever since.
(discordant synth music)
- We don't have no outside, everything is in-house;
this is a hundred percent private, it's ours.
(staccato synth music)
- I think this style was more of Muhammad's push
towards the nostalgia where he was talking about like,
when we grew up off Elio's and that school pizza
of all you had to do is come home from school,
set the oven and there you go.
There is something about pizza, man.
(rhythmic synth music)
You can see how it starts filling the pan up,
like rising all the way up;
it's all the way into the corners.
It's ready to be a canvas.
We got Blodgett Deck ovens,
they go up to 650, and they're hot as shit;
I got the proof (laughing) an all that
all the way up to the top of my arm.
We always bake 'em off prior to orders,
so that we're ready to fire.
(Michael exclaiming)
- [Producer] It turned off?
- Yeah.
The oven repair guy, I watched him enough
that I do it myself now so we don't have to call. (laughing)
Learn how to fix your equipment.
I opened this restaurant with the top oven not working,
it just went out on 'em, and I still had to make it happen.
Everything was down here and I was doing so many squats,
(laughing) my legs started locking up on me.
When you talk about hard work and dedication,
I can literally kick doors off the hinges.
(gentle music)
(Michael laughing)
(gentle music)
See, a lot of people go by
the dictionary definition of recidivism,
which is somebody who comes from prison and re-offends,
but recidivism is a system that works
to recycle people back into the system.
And in 2017, I actually caught a case.
The officer in my case was shot in the line of duty,
so they postponed my case for 27 months.
I only owed the state six months for a violation,
an absconding violation.
They were able to hold me without bail for 27 months.
Every judge that it went in front of,
"Nuh, we're gonna hold it over for the officer."
And then I get in front of this lady and she's like,
"He been sitting for 27 months and the only reason
he's still in here is because he's on parole
for something that happened when he was 19?
Man, dismissed with prejudice."
That same officer, he retired two years after that,
he never came back to the line of duty.
So technically, if I didn't get in front of that one judge,
I woulda sat for five years
on a case I was never convicted of.
So can't have a hotel that's full of vacancies,
you gotta fill it up,
and that's what we deal with every day;
one foot in the jail, one foot out the jail.
(gentle music)
(can opener clicking)
As you can see, I need to get a better can opener,
but I make it happen.
The North Sauce is our signature tomato sauce;
spicy, smokey, sweet, savory sauce
that's better than anybody's sauce.
(upbeat gentle music)
We're about to dress this sauce up real nice.
This is the sauce that I use for my lasagna.
This is the sauce I use for my spaghetti. (laughing)
Arrabbiata sauce, the angry sauce?
I had that at a restaurant when I was younger
and it was just like, "Yeah, I like it like this."
Even when I lived with my Grandmom, I'm like,
"Mama, can I get a little, make my own little spicy here?"
She's like, "Y'all love some spicy stuff
in your mom family." Yeah, we do.
It's just that I grew up eating hot shit,
like, my whole family.
Like, we've been eating hot sauce since we was babies.
It's art to me, it's like I was always an artist,
an artsy kinda kid; I just fell into the streets,
more or less a survival-type situation, economical.
My whole life I've been around chefs, cooks;
we always sat around the table and we broke bread.
I'm grandma's baby, so I'm always inside of the house,
"Mama, what you making? Mama, let me taste that."
And Mama making macaroni and cheese,
I'm stealin' the cubes.
I was that kid so like,
this has always been a part of me, like, cooking.
Before I got locked up when I was 19,
I was registered to go to the restaurant school
at Walnut Hill and it's the way I survived
when I was in jail.
Even when I was incarcerated, it was always like,
what can I make with these soups and these crackers?
Oh, pizza dough.
Like, that's my original pizza dough
that I was making when I was locked up;
I was using ramen noodles and Cheez-Its (laughing)
with a water circulator and a bucket.
(Michael and producer laughing)
(gentle music)
But this is normally how I like to start off.
I try to get, keep all cheese on the dough,
and cheese is the primer. (chuckling)
(gentle music)
So we have a four-cheese blend,
provolone-mozz blend, Gran Moravia;
it's like a Ukrainian Parmesan, same funky effect.
All of 'em use the same type of cheese,
except for my vegan pies.
With a No Betta Love, what perfect name for a cheese pizza,
'cause everybody loves cheese pizza.
So this is the No Betta Love, our top-seller
next to the Roc Da Mic, which is the beef pepperoni one.
- You need basic necessities,
you need food, you need shelter.
When so many doors are being shut,
essentially y'all just giving them a basket
to carry water in.
For you to be pigeonholed to something that happened
while you were figuring out life for the rest of your life?
That's not fair, 'cause people are constantly growing.
The common misconception about returning citizens
is that they are not trying to evolve,
they're trying their hardest.
Before they, you know, come out,
they're talking about what they wanna do.
Anything as simple as interaction with a police officer
is considered a violation that could put you back in.
(rhythmic synth music)
- This is the Roc Da Mic.
Roc Da Mic, that's our beef pepperoni pie,
all our beef products are halal.
All right, we coming out with the Uptown Vibes.
Uptown Vibes, that's our veggie pie.
I've had to lie my way into every kitchen I ever been into;
like, I mean, you get that big work gap in your resume.
I was working at SCI Greensburg in the kitchen.
Here, you don't have to lie about who you are,
it's just like the same struggle
that people don't know about.
It bonds us.
I mean, like, we've been humbled in the worst way,
so like when people see us, a little antisocial to them,
but it's like, it's normal to us.
Like, we've been dehumanized,
we're tryna like, re-humanize us to like, society.
We joke all day, all games, laugh, play and it's like,
we wouldn't get a chance to actually be our true selves
in another work environment where we gotta hide that.
Okay, this is the Roc Da Mic.
Like a big part of Down North opening up I'm like,
"Um, it's illegal for us to be together."
Like my guys, we all working together,
it's a parole violation
to be in the company of other felons,
so we're gonna need a lawyer.
He made sure, "Yeah, we got a lawyer."
- The foundation, the support,
the resources that we provide.
One thing is giving them a job,
we also have apartments that we have
that they have access to if they need 'em.
We want to amplify that and put that on the forefront
of what we do and why we do it,
'cause a lot of it boils down to lack of resources.
Given chances, given resources,
how they can turn things around;
a place where they can be the best version of they self
because they are being themselves.
(rhythmic music) - Ooh.
That's the Break You Off right there.
Gettin' that?
(Michael laughing)
Now the Break You Off is a white pizza,
so I got a lemon ricotta base that I start with
then my traditional, four-cheese blend.
We got a spicy lamb sausage.
My guy Miles, he wanted to do this lamb sausage situation;
it was just like, I had some garlic honey up there
that I had sitting for months and it was like,
it was so pungent and garlicky.
And so when we pulled it out, it was just like,
at first we were just gonna put za'atar on top of it
and then it was like, "Eh, let's put this on there."
And it's like... (gasping)
we got it.
(rhythmic music)
We put it out on Thursday
and we were sold out by Saturday afternoon
and it's been a staple ever since.
And can't forget that cheese fence.
Crown in the industry, but it's the fence,
'cause we're combating recidivism.
(pan scraping)
Okay, so this is...
the Flipside.
(bright pleasant music)
Economically, like, just neighborhood is impoverished
so you have people that do whatever to survive.
So when they get a chance to actually see
some entrepreneurs coming to the neighborhood
that actually care about the neighborhood
and they're outside sweeping, they're cleaning up...
That's dope, 'cause I feel like representation is big
and a lot of us are underrepresented.
(oven door clanking)
(Michael whooping)
Okay, it is time.
We have a special right now.
Only reason I didn't put it on the menu 'cause it's like,
it's Philadelphia, they expect us to have
a cheesesteak pizza all the time.
So the My Side of Town, I got a shaved rib-eye,
some fried onions on top...
and a house made a wiz,
so it's like a wiz with pizza.
Tales of a hustler, I'm from West Philly,
so young Sparks from the backstreet
where them grams are slow. (laughing)
(dramatic rhythmic music)
I feel like that song, for our era, my generation,
was like the anthem for Philly.
I like to call it North Philly Pan Pizza, Detroit Pan Pizza,
you know what I mean? 'Cause we definitely made it our own
and every pie is named after a Philadelphia hip-hop song
or a Philadelphia song.
I feel like it relates to the people.
The food may bring you in here,
but you going get the mission and the culture of the city.
We're here to show people, people that offended
came out here, built something from nothing
and actually helped the community.
Down North is doing this like we're being the catalyst
to that change.
(rhythmic hip-hop music)