by Stephen Faure
Generations of wide-eyed customers have packed the house to witness the dough-tossing, pizza-pan-juggling, pie-making magic that is Paul Schrems and crew in action on a weekend night at the Pizza Man in Covington.
The pizza assembly and baking area is fronted with glass that the kids press up against to watch the spectacle. The walls are lined with pizza boxes decorated by local artist Suzanne King that are a witty and whimsical treasure. Each season is represented by a set of her creations. The holiday-themed boxes just came down. Before that, the back to school, football and hurricane season works were on display.
There are boxes providing visual representations of the songs on the restaurant’s old-style jukebox, which contains quite a blend of old standards, including big-band and folk tunes. All this action may keep the customers entertained, but it’s the quality of the Pizza Man’s award-winning pies that keeps them coming back year after year.
Tom Fitzmorris, one of the New Orleans area’s top restaurant critics, sums the whole scene up nicely: “The pizza-box art is brilliant, the selection of music on the jukebox knows no equal for eclecticism and listenability, the attitude of the staff—especially Pizza Man Paul himself—makes you love them. And on top of that, they make a pizza that ranks with the best.”
Paul has been the Pizza Man of Covington going on 30 years now. He started the restaurant at a time when, he remembers, there was only one sign on the road to the city; it read “Deer Crossing.” Back then, the Pizza Man was located on Boston Street, but when parking on the street was eliminated about eighteen years ago, he relocated the restaurant to its present spot on Collins (Highway 190).
The business has always been about family: his family, his employees’ families and his customers’ families.
His wife, Evelyn, has handled the business end since the beginning. She came from a pizza family. Her father, Bob Scheon, opened Bob’s Pizza Palace in Houma, Louisiana almost fifty years ago. Recipes and techniques he developed live on at the Pizza Man, most notably the homemade Italian sausage. In homage to his father-in-law, one of Paul’s specialty pies is named the “Pizza Palace,” which is topped with homemade Italian sausage, pepperoni, blanched green peppers, meatballs and onions.
Evelyn and Paul’s sons, Aaron and Dustin, became involved as soon as they were big enough, although both have moved on to other pursuits—for now. Twenty-five-year-old Aaron is in international banking, and his younger brother Dustin is a U.S. Marine who recently returned to the United States from a tour of duty in Iraq.
“One of the biggest blessings in my life has been the opportunity to work with my boys,” says Paul. The boys grew up helping with every aspect of the operation, from sweeping floors to taking phone orders and making pizzas, and neither has ruled out returning to the Pizza Man in the future. It proved to be valuable experience for them. “Aaron told me he realized he had learned more about business and people at the restaurant than in college,” Paul recalls. Dustin taught himself juggling one year so that he and his father could juggle pans and pies in the window to delight the customers.
Hurricane Katrina provided the Schrems family a mixed blessing; the company Aaron works for granted him temporary leave from his posting abroad to return home and help get the family’s property cleaned up.
Paul’s other employees may as well be family, too. Some have been with him more than 25 years, and some of the younger staff follow in the footsteps of older brothers and sisters who have worked there through high school and college.
The Pizza Man’s pizzas have definitely made their mark on the northshore. Signature pies include innovative toppings of the highest quality, and an option not often found is to have your pizza made with garlic and olive oil instead of the typical red tomato sauce.
Paul will do anything to please the customer, and offers partially-baked pies for take-home customers to finish baking in the oven at home, allowing even Slidellians to enjoy fresh-baked Pizza Man pizza. He’ll cut a pie into nine slices for a party of three, and will make “road cuts,” small, square slices for eating in the car on the Causeway.
The biggest seller is “The Board,” topped with handfuls of fresh spinach, mushrooms, spicy cappacola ham, feta cheese, onions and garlic. Another specialty is the “WOW,” a white pizza with cheese and olive oil, crabmeat or crawfish, artichokes and asparagus.
The Board has legions of fans, and Tom Fitzmorris is a definite devotee. It tops his list of best spinach dishes in the New Orleans area, quite an honor, given that Antoine’s creamed spinach is number two. As a northshore resident, Tom keeps regular tabs on his number-one spinach dish. “I need my Board Special Pizza fix every few weeks lest I go mad,” he says, adding, in typical food-loving fashion, “Oh, wait—an Italian salad with anchovies, too, please!”
Another fan of the The Board is Parish National Bank president Gary Blossman, who Paul says prefers a customized chunky version of the pie that adds pesto, tomato and artichokes. Gary can appreciate why the Pizza Man has been a success year after year. “Paul has the talent of making every customer feel like his most important customer. He practices what we call ‘heads-up banking’ at Parish National Bank. Keep your head up so you can greet everyone as they come in to make them feel welcome.”
Gary is one of many customers who are a special delight to Paul—those he remembers coming in with their parents not so long ago who now are parents themselves bringing their children to eat at the Pizza Man. He gets a kick out of parents playing “Puff the Magic Dragon,” a jukebox favorite, telling their kids how they use to sing along, and then teaching them the song, too.
If they’re lucky, in not-too-many years, those kids will be able to bring their own children to stand in front of the glass window and watch the Pizza Man magic.
The Pizza Man of Covington, located at 1248 Collins Blvd., opens for dinner only at 5 p.m., seven days a week. (985) 892-9874.
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