Welcome to the family-friendly restaurant specializing in ingredient-driven Neapolitan style pizzas and frozen custards in central Vancouver, Washington’s new shopping and dining destination, The Mill. Alan Maniscalco, the husband, serves as Executive Chef, creating classic and seasonal pizzas, salads and sides featuring local ingredients and nearly everything made in-house, from mozzarella to house smoked meats. Shan Wickham, the wife, is General Manager and Pastry Chef specializing in rich, decadent vanilla frozen custard ‘concretes’ and sundaes. We offer a great selection of Northwest wine, beer and spirits, and a convenient walk-up counter for to-go orders any night of the week.
Alan started his culinary career over 20 years ago in Portland and has worked as a baker, a cook and pizza maker with many exemplary food artisans. In 1997, Alan helped open Restaurant Zibibbo in Palo Alto, where he crafted the Mediterranean restaurant’s artisan bread and viennoiserie program. At Zibibbo, he met his now wife Shan Wickham. Shan grew up baking with her mother and grandmother, and eating ice cream everyday from the shop across the street from her house. She followed her passion for dessert and graduated from the California Culinary Academy for baking and pastry. In addition to serving as General Manager of Rally Pizza, Shan’s pastry skills are seen in the soft-serve French vanilla frozen custard served with her house baked goods mixed in to create the Midwest favorite treat, ‘concrete’.
Alan and Shan moved to Canton, Michigan in 1998 to open Stone House Bread South, baking gorgeous breads and pastries out of a massive Spanish-made wood burning oven and creating a loyal following in the Detroit and Ann Arbor region, especially around Alan’s Roman-style pizzas. Alan was also the opening consultant for Avalon International Breads, a community supported bakery in the center of Detroit that has been credited with being a catalyst for the city’s artisan resurgence. Shan ran the pastry department on Avalon, while Alan was in charge of breads and savory foods.
In 2000, Alan and Shan were offered the unique opportunity to redesign the Whole Foods Market artisan bread line. They opened the store in West Bloomfield, MI, where Shan managed the bakery and Alan ran the bread program. That store became the pilot program for the Midwest region’s new artisan bread line and Alan’s recipes became the new standard for all the region’s stores and the regional bakehouse. Alan became the Team Leader Trainer for the region, training team members on how to craft the new line of products.
In the spring of 2003, Alan and Shan gave up their Midwest jobs and returned to the West Coast where Shan and Alan planned to raise their daughter, Sage, in the splendor of the Pacific Northwest. Alan started as bread baker at Portland’s Ken’s Artisan Bakery and was soon promoted to production manager. After seeing instant success with the launch of a Monday Night Pizza program at the bakery, Alan and Ken opened Ken’s Artisan Pizza in the summer of 2006, which became one of Portland’s busiest and most respected restaurants and gained national notoriety as one of America’s top pizzerias.
