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August 23, 2023
ELKHART LAKE – Pizza, pizza, get your pizza!
After a longer-than-expected wait, Harry’s Pizza e Vino Restaurant and Wine Bar has opened in Elkhart Lake.
Located at 111 E. Rhine St. in the former home of a Subway sandwich shop and minutes from the 14-turn Road America course, Harry’s Co-owners Al and Laurie Latifi said the establishment is just the second pizza restaurant in Elkhart Lake’s 100-plus year history.
“It’s been a long road,” Laurie, who began working in her grandma’s restaurant when she was 12, said. “We expected to open in June, but we were waiting for three-phase electrical to power the big oven in the kitchen. It ended up being pushed until now. There is a lot of excitement – for us, ourselves and the people of Elkhart Lake. They all (wanted) to be first in line.”
The restaurant, which offers seating for up to 50 patrons, serves dinner dine-in and carry-out from 4-9 p.m.
The introductory menu at Harry’s features 12-inch personal-size pizzas with specialty toppings.
In addition, the dinner menu also includes appetizers, salads and desserts.
It’s not all about pizza and food at Harry’s – the bar will feature specialty cocktail drinks, beer and spirits along with an array of wines – hence the name: e Vino.
“We feature some Macedonian (Yugoslavia) wines here to honor the Latifi family heritage,” Al said. “We love wine, so why not put them together – delicious pizza with wines from around the world. We have wines from California, Chile, Argentina, Spain, etc. We want to accommodate everyone’s palate. Every region is known for something.”
Al said the former Subway restaurant now housing Harry’s needed “some work” to get ready for pizza.
“There were empty walls in here,” he said. “We added a new floor, painted and added furniture. All the wall décor is done by Laurie – she’s good at that. She even sewed the velvet curtains at home. When people come in, it looks like a saloon-style bar. This is us doing our thing – the style ‘screams’ Elkhart Lake.”
The lure of Elkhart Lake
Al said the proximity to Road America, among other things, made Elkhart Lake the “perfect location” for Harry’s Pizza e Vino Restaurant and Wine Bar.
“There are many reasons,” he said. “Laurie and I enjoy the races – we really do. We used to come to Elkhart Lake all the time and bring our boat with our kids – it’s beautiful.”
Harry’s Pizza Co-owners Laurie and Al Latifi said they are excited to bring Roman-style pizza to Elkhart Lake. Submitted Photo
Additionally, Al said the lack of a pizza restaurant in town was also a draw.
“We know several other business owners in town, and they know what we’re about,” he said. “It was suggested we join the group of restaurants to make Elkhart Lake more beautiful than it is. I like to mention how welcomed we’ve been made to feel – it’s unbelievable. We are happy to be here.”
Roman-style pizza
The pizza at Harry’s, Al said, isn’t just “normal” pizza – it’s Roman-style pizza.
“First of all, we’re the only certified Roman-style pizza restaurant in the state,” he said. “It’s quite the process to prepare the dough.”
Al said he and his nephew Adrian traveled to Miami in 2019 for a week to learn the art of Roman-style pizza making.
The pair were two of the first 100 chefs in the U.S. to earn the Roman al Taglio Pizza accreditation and are the only two certificate holders in Wisconsin.
The certificates were presented by Massimiliano Saieva, lead instructor of Roman Pizza Academy.
“We learned everything there is to know about making Roman-style pizza,” Al said. “It’s different from other dough – it’s a high-hydration dough, meaning there is quite a bit more water than a traditional pizza. The flour we use is a special blend we get from Italy. It’s a strong flour – it can handle up to 96 hours of fermentation.”
Al said when you combine the fermentation process – breaking down the enzymes, the gluten, the protein and the high hydration – you get a unique crust.
“It ends up being a super airy, light, crunchy crust – it is delicious,” he said. “The crust is the canvas, the rest of what is put on it is up to you. We source our ingredients locally and also from Italy.”
Al said Roman-style pizza making is a “relatively new thing” in the U.S.
“Roman-style pizza making is a trained skill, and there are only about 50 Roman pizza restaurants in the United States,” he said. “More and more places are popping up all over.”
Al Latifi said the process to create Roman-style pizza dough takes up to 96 hours. Submitted Photo
Because the process to create the dough takes up to 96 hours, Al said “there has to be a plan.”
“For example, if you’re enjoying a pizza on a Tuesday, the process (to make the dough) started three or four days before that,” he said. “Today, you make the dough, it rises for 24 hours, then it matures and then (ferments). After that, we make individual dough balls, which are temperature controlled as well. You take one dough ball and stretch it by hand and then you top it as you wish.”
How the journey began
After moving to the United States from their hometown in the former Yugoslavia in 1985, brothers Harry and Al Latifi and Harry’s son Adrian began their restaurant entrepreneurship journey.
The Harry’s restaurant group includes:
Harry’s Diner on Calumet in Sheboygan (opened in 2000) – A 1950s-style diner with wait staff wearing poodle skirts in the presence of a life-size Elvis statue. It is owned and operated by Harry Latifi.Harry’s Diner at Interstate in Sheboygan (opened in 2006) – 1950s-style, family-style American diner open for breakfast and lunch, which is owned and operated by Latifi relative Adem Brava and his wife Dina. It closed for a time because of the COVID-19 pandemic and reopened as Harry’s Pizza Market.Harry’s Prohibition Bistro in Sheboygan (opened in 2013) – a 1920s-themed Neapolitan pizzeria specializing in wood-fired Naples-style pizza open for dinner. It is owned and operated by Adrian Latifi.
“Because of the demands on pizza and all of the stuff during COVID, we did a remodel (of Harry’s Diner at Interstate) and opened a Roman-style pizza restaurant (at its location),” Al said.
Though Al said they knew it wasn’t the location for it.
“We needed a better place,” he said. “We began looking for a different location, but it took a couple of years. Elkhart Lake came up as an option.”
Laurie said the locals have been coming to the Latifi family’s establishments for the past 20 years.
“We’re from Sheboygan, but Elkhart Lake is only a 20-minute drive,” she said. “We know a lot of these people in Elkhart Lake already – that helps a lot.”
For up-to-date information, follow the business on social media at @harryspizzaevino on Instagram and Facebook.
