Netflix & Grill: Bloody ‘burbs, homemade deep dish, booze, tunes

Watch, listen, eat, drink

Welcome back to Netflix and Grill, where we piece together some grub, a boozy drink, an album, and a binge-worthy show. Along the way, we plug the local establishments that make Columbus shine. This entry Rocks the Suburbs with the Netflix’s Santa Clarita Diet, a deep dish pizza using ingredients from a local butcher shop and Ben Folds solo debut. Let’s eat some dinner, drink some beer and gossip about our neighbors lawns!

Entrée

In the spirit of the Santa Clarita diet and it’s undead, flesh eating protagonist Shelia (Drew Barrymore) we are going to make a deep dish meat lovers pizza! The cervalot (thinly sliced pork pepperoni), smoked bacon and sausage was purchased at south end institution Thurn’s Butcher Shop. Let’s start with the sauce:

Sauce – mix and refrigerate

1 15 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 clove minced garlic
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup dry Spanish red wine (Tempranillo or Garnacha will help with the smoky flavor)

Dough

4 cups King Arthur all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
1 packet instant yeast
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons Sriracha (If you favor a Hounddog’s Smokin’ Joe/Spicy flavor)
1 stick melted butter
1 cup warm water

1. Mix all ingredients in a stand mixer or if you hate yourself, by hand.
2. Let ingredients mix on low for about 10 minutes or until ingredients start to ball together.
3. Remove dough from mixer and transform into ball.
4. Place dough ball in buttered bowl and cover for two hours so that dough rises.

Now it’s time to roll some crust

1. Sprinkle your rolling surface with flour.
2. Roll with rolling pin for at least 5 minutes.
3. Lightly grease 14′ pie pan with olive oil so that crust doesn’t stick.
4. Roll dough to edge of pan and push towards lip.
5. Cover pie pan with dish towel for additional 30 minutes.

Assembly

½ lb smoked bacon
¼ lb cervalot
1 lb smoked bacon

1. While the crust is rising cook the bacon and sausage, set aside and turn oven to 425 degrees.
2. Cook crust for 10 minutes and remove
3. Lightly brush crust with olive oil
4. Add 1lb sliced mozzarella and cook for additional 10 minutes
5. Remove and add cervaot, bacon and sausage and top with sauce
6. Insert pizza back into still heated 425-degree oven for 20 minutes.
7. Remove and sprinkle to taste with Parmesan cheese.
8. Re-insert pizza for five minutes, remove and sprinkle with fresh basil.

That should do it! A delicious and meaty pizza that should make any zombie happy!

Drink

We usually pair our meal with a drink, but today we are going to focus on a dark and deadly after dinner drink. This label should explain it all:

Purchased at Crafted Drafts in the author’s suburb of Hilliard, the Amber Smashed Face Ale is a collaboration between metal legends Cannibal Corpse and Three Floyds Brewery. At 7.6 % ABV, this hoppy amber ale is the perfect beer to sip on after eating a big dinner…maybe just don’t look at the label for too long.

Vinyl

Purchased at Used Kids (the UPSTAIRS Used Kids) Folds’ solo debut is not exactly a concept album, but the songs do flow together to paint a picture of suburban American life at the turn of the century. Unfortunately released on September 11th, 2001, this album did not chart well, but was certainly an ambitious project as Folds wrote all songs, played all instruments. Highlights include:

Zak and Sara – a poppy tale of puppy love set against the backdrop of a music store.
Fred Jones Part 2 – the saddest song ever recorded. This minor key piano masterpiece tells the tale of Fred, who is forced to retire from his newspaper job and go home to his lonely suburban existence.
Not The Same – a great arrangement about changing and starting life over, which is the theme of Santa Clarita Diet.
Perennial proposal/wedding first dance The Luckiest is a beautiful tune that I am sure you have seen in a television program or movie montage.

Crank it up, contemplate your suburban existence and Rock The Suburbs!

Streaming

George A. Romero (director of Night of the Living Dead and modern zombie impresario) knew that good zombie entertainment is never about the zombies, it’s about the subtext. The subtext for the Santa Clarita Diet is life in the suburbs.

Without giving too much away, suburban wife and mother Sheila becomes undead. She doesn’t become a brain-dead, drooling ghoul but ironically is invigorated with physical, mental and spiritual energy. She uses her new energy to bring the spark back into her long-term marriage to husband Joel (Tim Olyphant), to become a better mother and a better realtor and to conquer her snooty clique of soccer moms and lawn obsessed dads.

Of course, she still does crave flesh.

Ironically, as Joel and Sheila look for a cure to bring Shelia back to ‘life’, they realize that their marriage hasn’t felt this alive in years. Hijinks ensue and this is where the fun begins. The Santa Clarita diet borders on parody, never takes itself too seriously, but does have gratuitous, silly and over the top gore.

As Santa Clarita Diet makes the jump from solid season one to outstanding season two, Barrymore and Olyphant have great chemistry and are aided by newcomers Liv Hewson, Skyler Gisondo as well as on screen veterans Mary Elizabeth Ellis and Nathan Fillon. Gerald McRaney, Andy Richter and Joel McHale are also involved, which is never a bad thing.

Put your reservations aside and enjoy the ride.

Both seasons of The Santa Clarita Diet are available to stream on Netflix.

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