Chris Pandel teamed up with fellow Boka Restaurant Group Chef Lee Wolen to create Zarella , a pizzeria and taverna with two styles of pizza: a thin artisan and an even thinner tavern. Pandel tackled the latter, and he's damn proud of the results.
Argentinian born, Italian raised. Guillermo Paolisso came to Chicago and realized there was a gap in the market: Roman style. He and his wife now make their crunchy slices each day at Capriccio in the Lincoln Square neighborhood.
Hunter Leslie started out with a food truck, but realized pretty quickly as he moved from Detroit to L.A., the future was in a brick and mortar. He was one of the first Midwest transplants to open a Detroit style pizzeria in L.A. with Detroit Pizza Depot .
Jeff Scheer ended up on Maui like a lot of people - by accident. But his commitment to the culinary scene there, as nascent as it is, has been admirable. We discovered his sourdough pizza at Marlow , in an upcountry mall, where the menu has lots of highlights.
Their motto is "One Part Milan, One Part Brooklyn, All Maui," so you know a pizza from Sal e Pepe is going to be special. This is a love story for sure, but it's also a story of resilience and courage, in the wake of the deadly Lahaina wildfires from 2023.
Bronwen Kinzler-Britton & Jose Ibarra both came from more fine-dining backgrounds, but realized they just wanted to work for themselves and make great pizza. Naughty Pie Nature operates out of a tiny corner kitchen space (no dine-in) in Echo Park, but they've had a nice, steady growth pattern since they were just a pop-up a year or so ago.
Alex White's Great Great Grandfather used a sourdough starter when he ran a shop in the Yukon Territory more than 120 years ago. That same starter lives on in a Las Vegas pizzeria: Yukon Pizza , where they make sourdough crusts as well as some NYC slices.
As a born-and-bred New Yorker (from Long Beach), Vito DeCandia was literally brought up in a pizzeria. He was stretching dough by the age of 12. His lifetime of baking eventually led him to the West Coast, where his wife was from. Two years ago he opened Angel City Pizza in Venice, where he continues to make what he knows: NYC style slices, squares, and even Grandmas! Vito will be one of 40 pizzerias participating at Pizza City Fest L.A. April 26-27. Get your tickets at pizzacityfest.com...
John Notaro may have spent his early years in Brooklyn, but there's no denying pizza and baking are in his DNA. He spent years at Sbarro, then ran a bakery until he became partners at Famous Ben's , a SoHo landmark since 1979 (they celebrate 46 years in business this month). We talked about his "Palermo" which aficionados will recognize as a sfincione (sans anchovies).
Wylie Dufresne has spent his life and career in New York City. He worked for Jean Georges Vongerichten, ran notable restaurants like 71 Clinton Fresh Food and WD50, and was starting a doughnut business until the pandemic changed everything. Pizza saved him, and his creation - Stretch - has brought a new evolution to what "NYC Pizza" means.
Mr. Mangieri is a two-time winner (#1 ranking) in the 50 Top Pizza list and is currently on the 6th iteration of his Una Pizza Napoletana , now on New York's Lower East Side. He spent 9 years in San Francisco, with stints in New Jersey as well. But now Mangieri is firmly in control of his craft, limiting the offerings to just a half dozen each night with a few simple starters and a pair of desserts. It's truly a Neapolitan worth the journey.
The Federighis had successful careers in commercial production and modeling, but all of that changed during the pandemic, when they shifted more into their love of pizza making. Hopscotching around Chicago and the suburbs, making artisan, then Sicilian and finally Chicago thin (tavern style), they've opened one of the most in-demand pizzerias in the city - Pizz'Amici - which makes a textbook Old School Chicago thin pizza.
Darby Aldaco got into some big trouble as a kid, stealing pizzas from stopped delivery cars. At 18, he was arrested for stealing a Domino’s pizza, subsequently losing his prom date. He wound his way through the L.A. bread scene, worked for Nancy Silverton at Triple Beam , then began commuting to Portland for a pizza project. The result is Pizza Thief (and the Bandit Bar next door). They make 18 inch pies and focus on sour dough and whole grains with high hydration. Like so many of their peers in...
The Mexico City pizza scene is still in its infancy. Most of the styles tend to follow the Neapolitan model - wood fired, high heat, etc. Ardente has two locations in CDMX and we visited their newest location in the Condessa neighborhood, where Alfonso Jarero has brought his expertise in gelato making and is now also making excellent pizzas.
Chicago has a wealth of pizza styles - deep-pan, deep-dish, tavern and stuffed are the homegrown styles, but there's also Sicilian, Detroit and Neapolitan. When it comes to Roman pinsa, however, choices are more limited. Adam Weisell was born in Rome, so he brings a lot of experience and his own taste memories to the menu at Munno , an Italian restaurant with a dedicated pinsa program.
Matthew Grogan loved the pizza from Grimaldi's (and later, Juliana's) so much, he quit his job in finance to help Patsy Grimaldi continue his vision. The New York native has seen Grimaldi through good and bad times, and feels the weight of carrying on that vision well into the 21st century. We discuss the complicated history of Grimaldi's and Juliana's , including the special challenges involved in running a coal-fired oven beneath the Brooklyn Bridge....
Vincenzo Onnembo was a film student in Rotterdam, but in 2018 wound up in Amsterdam with a business partner, making Neapolitan-inspired pizzas at nNea . He has since opened a carryout operation next door, since getting a reservation at the restaurant could take months.
David Peña fell hard for New Haven style apizza, so after a deep research trip - where he spent time in some famous kitchens like Frank Pepe's - he returned to Texas with new vigor and the idea to replicate the traditional apizza (ah-BEETS) in the Lone Star state, about 30 minutes outside Dallas at Fortunate Son (yes, named for the Creedence Clearwater Revival song).
Rony Stark grew up in Italy, with an appreciation for homemade pasta and pizza. But when he moved to Nashville several years ago, he saw an opportunity to create something no one had done before: Roman pinsas. At PennePazze he offers both handmade pasta and these light and airy pizzas, and is expanding the business.
A pair of Filipino cousins joined forces with their Mexican friend to open a unique pizzeria in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. Novel Pizza Cafe combines both of the partners' cultures, but also thinks of itself as and all-day cafe. We took a closer look at how they make both a Chicago thin pie as well as a deep-pan.
We revisit this wonderful pizzeria from the Upper West Side of NYC, now that they have a second location downtown. Frank Tuttolomondo's square slices at Mama's TOO! are incredible.
We revisit L'industrie in NYC this week, after they came in 80th in the world from the 50 Top Pizza organization. We are revisiting this classic because they now have a second location in the West Village, but we spoke with owner Massimo Laviglia way back in 2020, when he was still finding his footing.
For nearly 80 years, Rose Barraco George has been a part of legendary Vito & Nick's in Chicago. A true blue collar joint since it's inception as a bar in 1920, the bar/restaurant continues its tradition of making one of the finest tavern style pizzas in the city.
Four years ago, we had Thomas McNaughton on the show, talking about his new concept, Flour + Water Pizzeria in the Mission District in San Francisco. Since the pandemic, he and his co-Chef/Culinary Director, Ryan Pollnow, moved and expanded the operation, tweaking the recipe, and deciding to set up a commissary in the new store that will ultimately support additional stores. Meanwhile, they operate a sit-down pizzeria in front and a slice shop in the back. That’s where I met Pollnow, to talk abo...
A Chicago native who grew up on NYC slices, Don Hernandez traveled around the country, ending up in Nashville several years ago. He never intended to open a pizzeria, but he found that it was recession and pandemic-proof, and the community just outside of town, in Madison, was incredibly supportive. His NYC-inspired slices at Pinky Ring Pizza go a few steps further, employing not one but two all-natural starters.
Jason Vincent (Giant, Chef's Special) has worked in Chicago as a Chef for nearly 20 years. After stints at Lula and Nightwood, he struck out on his own and despite running two successful restaurants in town, decided to pursue pizza in a serious was during the pandemic. At Pizza Matta, he offers both an E. Coast-inspired thin as well as a Midwestern tavern style.
Kim Hayes' background as a culinary employee at Macy's and Marshall Fields laid the groundwork for her lifelong dream: to open a pizza farm with her husband, Brad. They've spent the last 10 years renovating the Alpha & Omega Farm in Princeton, MN, about an hour north of Minneapolis, creating "Pizza Nights" on Thursdays and Saturdays in the Summer and Fall. Steve spent the day with Kim as she prepped for a recent dinner service.
Ryan Ososky has worked for some of the biggest chefs on the West Coast - Bradley Ogden, Michael Mina, Wolfgang Puck - and when he decided to go out on his own, he felt the most appropriate use of his skills would be pizza. Not just any pie though, he had to make the Detroit style pizzas he remembered growing up Michigan. But Ryan's pies at Dtown go way beyond just pepperoni; he now offers a $100 pie with A5 Wagyu and caviar...
Jerry Czerwinski grew up in Skokie, IL, a child of mostly thin crust and some deep-dish. He had a long career as a carpenter, before going head-first into pizza, really getting the bug about a decade ago. He and his family now run Uncle Jerry's Pizza Co. , a small suburban pizzeria where they've completely reimagined deep-dish, creating a pie with one of the best OBRs (optimal bite ratios) anywhere.
We always have a couple of panel discussions and demos at Pizza City Fest, and a few weeks ago in L.A., we brought together three brilliant pizza makers who think visually as much as they do about the recipes. Justin De Leon (Apollonia's), Ines Glaser (Lupa Cotta) and Thomas McNaughton (Flour & Water Pizzeria, SF) join the LA Food Podcast's Luca Servodio to talk about their process.
