CM: You’ve gotten a great rep for being the Graft wine guys. What made you start thinking pizza?
MW: Pizza is something we crave consistently. We know everyone has memories of their hometown pizza joints, and we wanted to be that spot up on King Street that just happens to have an incredible wine program.
FO: Miles and I have always loved the space connected to Graft; the windows drew us in every time we walked by. When it became available, it gave us an opportunity to add to an already thriving little intersection. We feel so lucky to be surrounded by some of our favorite restaurants—Leon’s, Little Jack’s, Melfi’s, and Maison. I think what we have going on up here is really cool. Hopefully, the hardest part of coming to Race and King streets is figuring out where you want to eat because there are so many good options!
CM: What’s with the name?
MW: Graft has always been a music-centric wine shop. In Italian, “tutti” is a musical term for when the entire band plays together—almost as if saying “all together now.” It’s simple, kind of fun to say, and just made sense. It didn’t hurt that we call my mom, Callie White, Tootie, as she has always been one of our biggest influences.
CM: You are in a partnership with Anthony Guerra of Oakwood Pizza Box in Raleigh. Tell us about that.
MW: The three of us all own Tutti equally. [Chef] Jason Stanhope took me to Oakwood Pizza Box on my first trip to Raleigh. He had been talking up Anthony and his pizza for years. He seamlessly blends an old-school slice shop with one of the best curations of wine we’ve seen in a while. On top of that, his pizza is, simply put, some of the best I’ve ever had. There are zero frills, zero fluff, just great Italian-American, NYC pizza. At Tutti, we are using his methods as we get ourselves and our systems situated, but there may be some collective tweaks here and there as we’re super excited about our team and their creativity.
CM: Who did the interior design?
FO: I think we had a pretty good vision and idea of what we wanted—for it to feel casual, but slightly buttoned up so it still felt like a night out. Jude Yeager over at David Thompson Studio helped us flesh out our vision and bring it to life.
CM: How are the round and square pies different?
AG: Because it’s fermented longer and cooked in olive oil, the square pan pie becomes something different. It’s not a “grandma” pie, it’s not a Sicilian; it’s just something else altogether. The longer cook time in the oven also changes the sauce and cheese interaction.
CM: So, great pizza with great wine. No straw basket Chianti for Tutti?
FO: We actually do have a straw basket Chianti! It’s from one of our favorite producers, and the wine is very good—it’s fun to break it out and see people’s reactions. One of the things we love about Oakwood is that you can walk in and get either a Narragansett Lager or crazy allocated Barolo to drink with your pepperoni pizza. On the flip side, sometimes we just want a Coors Light in an icy mug or a crushable, value-driven, Italian red. We have it all, and those options let people drive their own experience.
