“I’m warning you, we’re getting nerdy in here.” That was Sean Brock’s opening remark, as I sat down to an intimate unveiling of his new East Nashville restaurant, Sho Pizza. Officially opening on April 14, it’s a neighborhood spot with a 12-seat chef’s counter that overlooks all the action — the perfect opportunity to ooh and ahh over dough-tossing and homemade stracciatella-making. You might even catch Sean himself slinging pizzas.
But this isn’t your average pepperoni-and-cheese joint. If you’re picturing deep-dish or New York-style slices, think again. Sho brings a Tokyo-inspired, chef-driven take on neo-Neapolitan pizza — with a whole lot of flair.
And what is a neo-Neapolitan pizza, you ask? Fair question. In short, it’s the stylish younger cousin of traditional Neapolitan pizza, honoring its old-school roots but unafraid to break a few rules for the sake of flavor and creativity.
Chef Brock didn’t exactly grow up dreaming of pizza ovens and fermented dough. Interestingly, his inspiration came from the late culinary icon Anthony Bourdain. “He told me Japan was making the best pizza in the world, and I had to check it out. I’d never really even made pizza before,” Chef Brock admits. “I hadn’t gotten bitten by the bug yet.”
That bug bit hard in Tokyo after a visit to Savoy — a life-changing and crust-altering restaurant. “I saw that as my opportunity to figure out how to do it,” explains Chef Brock, “so I started sending direct messages on Instagram. The chef was so kind. He shared some of his secrets.”
It took several years of flour-dusted trial and error before Chef Brock officially launched his pizza venture. “It probably took me about two years before I had enough courage to serve it to the public — what my rendition was,” he says. “And we would just set up at the Nashville Farmer’s Market every Tuesday to make pizza.”
That started the journey of a thousand pizzas. Literally. Collaborating with Nashville natives Mary Carlisle and Ben Gambill sealed the deal; the trio bonded over their mutual obsession. The result? A pizza bar that blends traditional Italian technique, Japanese precision, and Southern hospitality. Cue the applause.
At the heart (and hearth) of Sho’s magic is Brock’s signature dough, which is fermented over three days in a temperature-controlled dough room, producing a crust that’s light and airy with just the right amount of crunch.
“What blew my mind about that pizza in Tokyo was how elegant it was,” he says. “Light, fluffy, and also crunchy somehow. It wasn’t soggy like a lot of Neapolitan pizza. Its style developed because people were messing with finer grounds of flour and manipulating the stretching process to create a gigantic crust. We combine those two styles to create something unique to us, and we’re chasing multiple textures simultaneously. So, you’ll hear this crunch — Neapolitan pizzas don’t have crunch.”
And there’s more magic in the middle: “There’s garlic — paper thin — right in the center, so your first bite is this punch of garlic,” he explains. “And that continues to season each bite after that. We have a lot of variables that go into something that looks ‘simple.’ That’s why I love it.”
Sourcing plays a starring role, too. “We’ve been scouring the towns and countryside for these special, generational farms with incredible ingredients,” he shares.
Technique is where it all comes together — or crimps together, in this case. Crimping may sound like a trendy TikTok thing, but it’s serious pizza business. “One of the things we’re interested in playing around with is getting more crunch by creating more angles. You can almost see a topographical map,” he explains. “There’s a technique behind it. The hardest thing about Tokyo-style pizza is how they stretch and crimp the dough. It’s very unusual, but it creates all of the beautiful craters — the crunchies and crispies.”
So, what’s on the Sho Pizza menu besides awesome dough? Expect creative pies topped with mozzarella from Italy and meats and veggies from local farms. Favorites include the ever-changing “SHO Stopper” of the day, the “Country Boy” (with ham and smoky wood-fired onions), and go-to classics like Margherita, Marinara, and Bianca. But pizza isn’t the only star — Sho also serves fresh salads, small plates like tuna crudo, and charcuterie.
So, is it Neapolitan? Neo-Neapolitan? Brock thinks it may be something altogether new. “It’s making its way to America, and it’s fun to look at it from a generational standpoint. You’ve got the first generation of Neapolitan, then there’s neo-Neapolitan, and this is a separate generation. I think it’s its own new thing.”
We’re here for it, Chef.
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