'Who Doesn't Like Wood Fired Brick Oven Pizza?'

Provolone and mozzarella cheese topped with rosemary and Kalamata olives on a crispy Neapolitan style crust is the signature pie that comes out of the wood fired brick oven in back of the Skinny Pines truck. The owner, Jeff Borofsky, will be dishing out the Bianca and other piping hot personal pizzas at the Monroe Farmers Market Friday afternoon.

Skinny Pines brick oven catering uses healthy ingredients from local farms in making its pies, which are nine to 10 inches in diameter. The green Dodge pick up truck will be set up on the grassy area in front of Monroe Town Hall for the weekly event to be held from 3 to 6 p.m.

Borofsky said the Bianca is among his three main pies, which also includes cheese — the most popular among children — and pepperoni. But that's not all visitors to the Monroe Farmers Market can expect.

"Usually we have special pies," Borofsky said. "Today we had sausage and onion and corn, zuchinni and oregano at the Westport Farmers Market. We'll have the sausage and onion and something different tomorrow," he added of the specials at the Monroe market.

What's Borofsky's favorite pizza?

"My favorite pizza is the Bianca," he said. "But I like mine with either chorizo or sausage. Chorizo is a Mexican-style, spicy sausage."

Susan Muro, manager of the Monroe Farmers Market, contacted Skinny Pines about catering at the town's market. In addition to doing his first Monroe market Friday, Borofsky said his truck will be in town on Aug. 12, Sept. 19 and Oct. 21.

Since it started in February of 2010, most of Skinny Pines' appearances have been at farmers markets.

"It's really great that we've done so well in such a short time without advertising," Borofsky said. "We've really relied on farmers markets to drive our catering business."

In fact, most of Skinny Pines' ingredients were grown or raised on local farms. "We buy or barter with the farmers," Borofsky said. "It's a great way to promote each others' product. We source our ingredients locally as much as we can."

The pepperoni is from Applegate Farm and purchased at Whole Foods. Borofsky said the meat is nitrate free. Grey Ledge Farm in Roxbury provides Skinny Pines' bacon and sausage. And the rosemary that goes on the Bianca is grown at Morefield Herb Farm in Trumbull.

"The dough is made from flour milled fresh for us from a bakery farm in Dutchess County, New York," he said of Wild Hive Farm.

It's Not Takeout

The name Skinny Pines comes from the trees outside Borofsky's house in Easton, where he and his wife, Beth, have three daughters and a fourth child on the way.

Borosky grew up in Easton and graduated from the Connecticut Culinary Institute in 2004. Victor Malindretos, Borofsky's friend since high school, has been helping him since last August.

Two college students also do part-time work for the business.

"One goes to school in Toronto and another in Scotland," Borofsky said. "They're fabulous. They can run the whole show."

As Skinny Pines' business grows, Borofsky is considering buying a second truck.

The brick oven Skinny Pines uses has been heated to 1,000 degrees before, according to Borofsky, though he said he usually cooks his pizzas at between 800 and 900 degrees.

"It cooks everything good," he said. "Who doesn't like wood fired brick oven pizza?"

At events it takes five minutes to prepare each pie, but once it's in the oven, Borofsky said it only cooks for about two minutes. The oven is actually hot enough to bake a pie in 90 seconds, he added.

For Borofsky, making the pizza in the mobile brick oven is all part of the fun.

"You're having this oven come to an event," he said. "If you just wanted pizza, you would get takeout? We're providing entertainment and the freshest pizza you're gonna eat."