Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephan T. Nedwetzky.
After leaving the Marines in ’99, Stephan started a landscaping business, which kept him busy for awhile. But a desire to cook great barbecue lead to selling meat on Saturdays at a local nursery. It wasn’t long before his side hustle encroached on his real business and he left landscaping for greener pastures… no pastures, rather.
But barbecue only satisfied one’s taste. A love and lack of good Neapolitan pizza made Stephan once again, seek out the best ingredients. And after he mastered that, he married his meats with his pies and Texapolitan Pizza™ was born.
After serving his food at breweries around the Metroplex, Stephan landed at Lakewood, parking his bright red pizza trailer and his smoker behind the brewery next to the beer garden.
Ask him about his oven, which comes from Bread Stone Ovens and is an official Neapolitan pizza oven. Or, see how it only takes 90 seconds to fire the perfect pie. And stop by on a Saturday and discover why Wagyu beef is worth waiting for.
It won’t take you long to understand why he is the PIT COMMANDER™.
Stephen, please tell us about Pit Commander Barbecue™ & Texapolitan Pizza™.
Our TEXAPOLITAN Pizza™dough is made with the highest quality ingredients! We give it a three-day cold fermentation to allow the yeast to build complex flavors that can never be achieved in chain pizzerias. Our San Marzano Tomatoes come from the Sarnese Nocerino area of Italy, literally in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius. The rich volcanic soil, high water table and ideal Mediterranean microclimate give our pizzas a unique sweet and savory flavor! We top our pizzas with the highest quality meat toppings. We hand stretch each individual pizza and cook them in a brick-lined, wood-fired oven at over 900 degrees with oak wood—cooking them in 90 seconds!
For the last decade, I have worked tirelessly to build this barbecue and now pizza business out of pure love and integrity for the artisanal craft that goes into producing the HIGH quality food that these products are! I am thankful for all the people through the years that have supported me in this endeavor.
It has not been easy and at times, I questioned myself as to what the hell am I doing! I can not imagine doing anything else! This is my purpose in life!
I love seeing the reactions on peoples faces when they see the pit open and a huge brisket is put down in front of them and sliced to their specific cut of lean or fatty (moist)!…(I know some people dislike the word MOIST so, I’ll leave it up to your professional expertise of printing FATTY or MOIST cut of Brisket).
These are some links to articles written about me from Fort Myers to Naples, Florida where I love to barbecue in the winter months from November through April.
http://naplesherald.com/2017/02/09/pit-commander-barbecue-true-texas-roots-swfl/
https://southwestfloridaforks.blogspot.com/2017/02/a-tale-of-three-naples-barbecues.html?m=1
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I don’t even know where to begin with this. The road so far… (SUPERNATURALS “Carry on my wayward son” playing) lol!
The road was and still is anything but smooth! From day one, Dallas, TX, Plano, TX and all the surrounding areas has fought me about my barbecue trailer!
I’m a former heavy metal guitarist for the band LETHARGY in upstate Rochester, New York. I played with Brann Dailor the mighty Drummer of MASTODON for years! We grew up together playing technical heavy metal and we always did things our way! People always told us, told me you can’t do that! You can’t play this! I’m so glad we didn’t listen because we made it and made it big! Brann Dailor, Bill Kelliher and Erik Burke made it in music. I’m so proud of all of them and MASTODON recently won a GRAMMY award!!! Still doing things our way.
I’m a former United States MARINE! I adapt, I improvised and overcome! I did Black OPS Barbecue for awhile off grid to get my PRIME and WAGYU beef out to the public! Tell me NO again and see what I do! That was and still is my current attitude about barbecuing in DFW. I’m received and welcomed more in Florida than my home state of Texas and it breaks my heart!!!
Since when did my beloved TEXAS become New York and California??? DFW is telling me my beautiful 500 gallon off set wood burner is ILLEGAL to cook on for barbecue! WHAT??? Yes that’s right, you heard me. I’m told that I have to cook my barbecue in a commercial kitchen not on my smoker! I could say some stuff but I digress.
I’ve barbecued through monsoon rainstorms, hail, tornadoes, major lightning storms, snow, ICE STORMS!!! Mega heat waves and here I stand (chest out)! All the 24-48 hour straight cooks are worth it all! I love it! This is my life now and I will fight tooth and nail to make it a commercially viable business in all 50 states before I depart from this earth! That is my end game goal!
My TEXAPOLITAN Pizza™ business has been much smoother with only a few bumps. I’ve fallen in love with this amazing pizza style I created. It’s simply a combination of my central Texas barbecue and the real traditional neapolitan pizza from Naples, Italy. Hence, the name Texapolitan Pizza™
I’m currently going over every item in both of my businesses building a portfolio to pitch to potential investors in PIT COMMANDER Barbecue & TEXAPOLITAN Pizza™.
I’m at a point now realizing, I need financial help to get that brick and mortar store front. It’s very tough from a trailer selling stand point.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
PIT COMMANDER Barbecue & TEXAPOLITAN Pizza™ is a central Texas style barbecue/pizza company that only uses the highest quality local meats and spices! Everything is made from scratch!
My motto is: “Quality not Quantity”.
What do I do:
Literally everything! Sourcing products, buying, setting up creating events, social media marketing, menu building, butchering all the meats, created the PIT COMMANDER rubs, Texas style barbecue sauce and sweet, heat sauce, barbecuing all the meats, created the dough recipe for our pizzas, constantly researching products and creating new recipes, setting up and tearing down the trailer for daily business, selling meat products, cut to order, making pizzas to order, traveling for events, LITERALLY EVERYTHING! Only recently with the help of my fiancé, mother and employee Josh, have I gotten some help to ease the burdens.
I specialize in central Texas Barbecue smoked meats and Texapolitan pizzas. I’m known for my tender moist meats.
Overcoming all the obstacles and odds when people said I could not. Maintaining strict INTEGRITY of my food products, not taking the easy short cuts most barbecue places do! You would be stunned to know the things I know about your beloved local barbecue joints!!! Especially, one in particular that has lied about who they are from the beginning! It’s shameful.
What sets PIT COMMANDER Barbecue & TEXAPOLITAN Pizza™ apart from others is our integrity, commitment to excellence and quality. My rugged wild man handsomeness and personality.
What were you like growing up?
I played varsity golf from the seventh grade. My golf couch had to get special permission from my middle school to allow me to participate in high school at the varsity level. I played varsity every year while playing in a band.
I played in a heavy metal band called LETHARGY in Rochester, New York for a few years and did some touring. I was one of the rhythm/lead guitarists and Erik Burke was the other guitarist.
When I left for the Marine Corps, Bill Kelliher replaced me as the guitarist. Bill and Brann Dailor would eventually leave Rochester, NY for ATLANTA, Georgia to form MASTODON! The rest is history.
I love Sci-Fi movies, horror movies, fantasy movies, comics, sports, cooking food, camping, outdoors, shootici targets, bowling, darts, etc…
Personality wise, I was reserved until it was time not to be. Calm, cool and level headed. Always thinking outside the box! Later in life, a quick to anger personality emerged because of people in general lack of comprehension.
Growing up, I was a loving, fun, energetic, funny make you laugh kinda child. Class clown if you will but kind of an elder statesmen seriousness, too. If you’re down, I’d do anything to cheer you up! My house was definitely the place all my friends came over to eat at!!!
Some say I’m stoic.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.pitcommanderbbq.com
- Phone: 972-400-0234
- Email: snedwetzky@yahoo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pitcommander/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PitCommanderBarbecueandTexapolitanPizza/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/PitCommanderBBQ
Image Credit:
Stephan T. Nedwetzky
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