Orem’s addition to a holistic dining trend

Pizzeria Seven Twelve (P712) is not for the spoiled consumer whose preference is to sacrifice quality for speed of delivery or quantity. The seating is limited, the rules nonstandard (no moving tables, no scheduling reservations, no takeout, no phoned-in orders) and the diners react as if giddy guests set before a royal banquet table. To be concise, there is nothing subpar in the experience.

“P712 grew out of the desire for sustainability,” wrote former Tree Room Chef Colton Soelberg, co-owner and partner chef to California Culinary Academy graduate Joseph McRae. On their blog, the chefs explained the three goals they set for their restaurant: serving food that is local, seasonable and sustainable. A suggestion of the culinary tradition the chefs draw from, a chalkboard hangs from a P712 wall with a quote from Alice Waters (brainchild of the renowned Chez Panisse and Café Fanny, of California) that reads, “When you have the best and tastiest ingredients, you can cook very simply and the food will be extraordinary because it tastes like what it is.”

Brian Thompson, friend and help to the chefs — who shared in the effort of creating P712 — wrote on the P712 blog, “In the age of the curly fry it is comforting to know that there is a renewed and growing trend towards holistic dining. This is the kind of eating done on the most basic level: from farm, to belly.” The chefs and friend know, however, what they’re up against: Utah Valley’s lack of basic infrastructure for “from farm, to restaurant” produce share. Soelberg explained to the REVIEW that options are limited. The chefs are able to pick from produce at the local farmers markets and from roadside stands, their flour they receive from a Tremont mill, and they often find cheese from local dairies. To answer to the lack, their vision is to build a vertical market of restaurants — bistro and bakery, soup and sandwich place, butcher shop and steakhouse — each restaurant to supply goods to each restaurant.

And then there’s the food. Midrange-priced rarities and oddities mixed in with the familiar and comforting: butter-bathed local corn, garnished with sea salt and brushed with herbs; speck, la quercia prosciuto and soppressata meats mingling with fine cheese, gherkins and spicy mustard; braised beef short rib — over Anson Mills polenta, under a horseradish cream — so tender it falls apart with the nudge of a fork, one delighted customer remarked. Those are just the appetizers. The pizza crust is thin and crisp, cooked in a wood-burning oven — with toppings like hand-pulled mozzarella, rockhill, grana padano, house-made ricotta and other varieties of cheese, basil, slab bacon, caramelized onions, potato, roasted eggplant, olives, onions, chili flakes, and many, many meats. Also served are delicate and crisp salads, Panini sandwiches during lunch hours, and desserts all day best described as (though clichéd) divine.

P712 is located at Midtown Village in Orem, 320 South State Street, Suite 147. For additional information, call P712 at (801) 623-6712 or visit their Web sites at www.pizzeria712.com and www.pizzeria712.blogspot.com