We had the good fortune of connecting with Jeffrey Perce and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Jeffrey, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I have been working as a chef for nearly thirty years across the Western United States. Serving delicious food that brightens peoples lives has always been at the center of my life. I have always wanted my own restaurant, yet never felt like I was in the right place with the right opportunity, and preferred to work for other chefs as I learned about many different cooking styles. When I moved back to my home state of Colorado with my wife in 2017 we intended to eventually start a restaurant. We ended up in the small community of Norwood in Southwestern Colorado and our son was born in December of 2018. Oven the years that we have lived in Norwood, we looked at several different restaurant locations and developed various restaurant concepts that all turned out to just not be a good fit for us. When the long-time local pizza shop in Norwood was closing, leaving the building and tradition open, we jumped on the opportunity. Having been dedicated regulars to the previous pizza shop, we already felt connected to the place. Serving delicious food to our small Colorado community and having our own business in which we can raise our child, who is often with us at the restaurant, is a dream we have been working toward for many years. We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity and the support we have from our community.
Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I have spent many years working in fine dining and occasionally, casual restaurants. I love the art and attention to detail in fine dining but often miss the community that develops in a casual restaurant, where a much broader set of guests can afford to regularly eat. Dark Sky Pie is a completely scratch kitchen using high quality and often local ingredients to produce classic appetizers, salads, sandwiches and hand tossed pizza for our local community. We are lucky to have an organization in Norwood that sources local food products from farmers and ranchers in the surrounding area called the Fresh Food Foundation. The Food Hub, as they are locally known, makes it easy for us to use local ingredients at our shop. We are very proud to be using local flour from Cortez Milling Company for our pizza dough and a blend of mozzarella that includes local cheese from Rocking W Cheese and Milk in Olathe to top our Pizza and sandwiches. We also proudly use bread from our local bakery, Blue Grouse Bread to make our sandwiches and salad croutons.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Much of our time would be spent outdoors enjoying the wild bounty of our area. We can start with a drive to Telluride, stopping at Sawpit Mercantile in the San Miguel Canyon for a BBQ lunch. After which, drive up to Alta Lakes to do some hiking, fishing and relaxing. Then we can make our way into Telluride and grab a coffee and donut at Baked in Telluride before some more hiking around Bridal Veil Falls. We can head back to Norwood, have a drink, some delicious dinner and play some pool at the local favorite, Lone Cone Restaurant and Bar. On another day, we can take a drive west and grab some burgers at Blondies Drive In in Naturita on our way to Paradox Valley to explore the many interesting mining roads that traverse the area. At night, we can find a nice spot for stargazing around Norwood, which is designated as an International Dark Sky Community due to the lack of light pollution that inspired the name of our restaurant, Dark Sky Pie.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There have been so many people along the way who have been instrumental in the development of my career as a chef and our humble little pizza shop, Dark Sky Pie. Two very notable individuals who deserve a shoutout – Patrick Lambert, Chef Owner of Cowgirl in Santa Fe, NM was my first chef and the man who gave me a chance in the industry.
Eliza Gavin, Chef Owner of 221 South Oak Bistro in Telluride, CO was my most recent chef, who I learned much from.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DarkSkyPiePizza/