Win over customers with one good cheese pull
Your pizza is dialed in, your beverage program is humming. How’s your appetizer menu?
Fried mozzarella sticks are a universal winner. “Everybody loves their cheese and frying it. Making it crispy, making it gooey delivers the full richness that you really get out of the product,” says Jordan Himmel, chief operating officer for the original Gino’s East of Chicago and its parent company, Bravo Restaurants. “Cold cheese doesn’t have the same pizazz.”
Like pizza, mozzarella sticks are another dynamic pairing of cheese and bread, with infinite options to customize and make them your own.
The Perfect Mozzarella Stick
What makes a good mozzarella stick? Chuck Sillari, one of the founders at Mortadella Head in Somerville, Massachusetts, tells us, “You need a good crust, a crunchy crust, a flavorful crust, and a good crust-cheese ratio.”
You also need the cheese pull.
Mozzarella cheese is uniquely elastic. When it’s at the right temperature, it stretches a surprising amount. That succulent, seductive stretch is a huge social media phenomenon – and you can win big if you nail it.
“The restaurant was put on the map with a viral video of mozzarella sticks,” says Sillari. The video has amassed 7.4 million views on TikTok. “It was crazy when it happened. We couldn’t keep up. There was a line around the sidewalk for mozzarella sticks that month.”
Mozzarella sticks “helped us be a QSR (quick service restaurant) that is actually a destination place – not easy to do,” says Michael Kudrna, a restaurant and business consultant as well as president of Frato’s Kitchen in Schaumburg, Illinois.
Frato’s monster of a mozzarella stick, called El Masivo Gringo, is a four-cheese blend, taco-seasoned, 13-inch log served with spicy salsa verde or marinara. “It was conceived based on market research to specifically go viral on TikTok. It needed to be unique instead of just the ‘same ole’ but bigger.” It’s available on Sundays only, and “we have a solid floor for Sunday orders because of it. During tough economic times – and the fact we have decreasing population in our area but increasing restaurant competitors opening up – it helps us draw traffic.”
Execution Tips
When it comes to mastering mozzarella sticks, our sources agreed on three critical factors: Make them by hand, bread them twice, then dial in timing and temperature control in the fryer. Operators agree that successfully making mozz sticks at large volume requires deep frying to achieve contrasting textures of crunchy and melty.
“It requires a skilled staff member to make,” Kudrna says. “Letting someone inexperienced do it will create lots of broken mozz sticks in the fryer, and then you have to clean the fryer before you can use it again.”
At Mortadella Head, they prep a one-day supply of mozz sticks and keep them refrigerated until frying.
Double coating with breading prevents leaks. “When we first started testing mozzarella sticks, when we didn’t double coat, the mozzarella stick kind of exploded in the fryer,” says Sillari. “The second coat gives it an extra barrier for the molten cheese.”
Kudrna explains: “We have a thick, seasoned coating that fries well and creates a crunchy exterior. This helps it hold up better in the fryer.”
Himmel contends that temperature control is important. “That’s the foundation of a successful cheese stick,” he says. “If you’re not on top of temperature control, you’re gonna have a lot of problems with your product. You get the traditional blowout, where the cheese kind of melts out of the breading.”
Sillari says timing is critical because “if you don’t leave them in long enough, the cheese isn’t fully melted, and you don’t get a really cool cheese pull.” However, he warns that frying too long can make even a double crust crack, causing cheese to ooze out, leaving an empty crust that can’t be served.
Make It Your Own
How are operators creating their own unique spins on mozzarella sticks? There are four components you can vary: cheese, breading, seasoning and dipping sauce.
Cheese
Mozzarella is the classic cheese stick filling for its mild-yet-satisfying flavor and great elasticity. Some operators do something different, such as the four-cheese blend used in Frato’s giant stick, the mozzarella and provolone blend at Dimo’s Apizza in Portland, Oregon, or the house-made cheese and spinach blend at Gino’s East.
You can experiment with the shape of the cheese: sticks, planks or bite-sized nuggets. Gabbiano’s in Portland, Oregon, got famous for their shot-glass-shaped fried mozzarella, served on and filled with marinara. Pesto-filled and prosciutto-wrapped fried mozzarella also have been spotted at pizzerias around the country.
Breading
Try different types of breadcrumbs – from homemade to commercially pre-seasoned to panko. You also can experiment with other starches. For example, try crushing or grinding crackers, corn flakes, potato chips, tortilla chips, Rice Krispies, ramen noodles, etc. If you’ve got gluten-free pizza, offer gluten-free mozzarella sticks.
Seasoning
What’s your pizzeria’s vibe? Who’s your clientele? Stick to tradition with classic Italian seasonings such as garlic and parsley – or try anything from curry powder to Cajun seasoning. Our experts suggest using dried herbs and spices because the fresh stuff may burn in the fryer.
Dipping Sauce
Marinara is the standard dipping sauce, so offer an excellent house-made version. At Mortadella Head, marinara is most popular, followed by Calabrian chili aioli and pink vodka tomato sauce, then by pesto aioli and homemade Caesar. “It’s consumer preference, right? Some people dip it in ranch or blue cheese,” says Himmel. “You can kind of run the gamut on the dipping sauce.”
Kudrna notes, “The better sauce variety, you can appeal to more people and make it more unique.”
If ranch dressing is such a universal win, why not try other salad dressings? Mustard and cheese are a classic combo. Is honey mustard dressing already on your menu? Other sauces worth considering include Romesco, pesto, olive tapenade, chili crisp, hot honey, peanut sauce, gochujang, balsamic glaze, cocktail sauce, mango chutney and tartar sauce.
It’s worth noting that residents of Albany, New York, have dipped their mozz sticks in raspberry sauce (locally known as Melba) for decades. So clearly, anything is possible.
Tossing Sauce
In the tradition of buffalo wings, some chefs toss their sticks in sauce once they’re out of the fryer. Gino’s East offers this for an extra dollar. “People love chicken wings. It’s sort of a hybrid: mozzarella stick meets chicken wing,” Himmel says.
Why not experiment with your own tossing sauce? Buffalo sauce capitalizes on creamy melted butter, hot sauce and vinegar. Play with this idea and make it your own.
Perhaps you can launch an enduring regional cult favorite like that visionary chef did in Albany in the 1980s.
ANNELISE KELLY is a Portland, Oregon-based freelance writer.
