Every Pizza City Fest has a series of informative panel discussions and demos, and at this year's L.A. event, we brought back "The Dough Whisperers," three of the top bakers on the West Coast, sharing best practices. Tony Gemignani (Tony's, Capo's, Slice House), Daniele Uditi (Pizzana) and Sarah Minnick (Lovely's Fifty-Fifty) join Karen Palmer in the conversation....
Chris Decker worked for 26 years under John Arena at Metro in Las Vegas, but now he's the guy in charge at Truly Pizza in Dana Point, CA. They offer two very distinct styles of pizza and both are incredible. Chris and his crew are going to be featured at Pizza City Fest LA this weekend, where they'll be showing off a very unique pie. He previews it for us on this week's show.
Jeff Barris has always been into pizza, but when he had a chance to buy an established pizzeria in Atwater Village, he jumped at it. Hail Mary already had a cult following, but now that Barris and his team have taken over, they've changed very little (just the sauce), keeping the same all-natural starter intact and employing four different flours.
Coming back after a few years of so-so attendance, still recovering from the pandemic, the 40th International Pizza Expo was a smash in almost every way. I spoke with a few attendees about why they made the trip.
Connie Zotta is the 2nd generation to run Salerno's in Chicago's West Town neighborhood. The pizzeria has been around since 1966, when it opened in a near suburb of Chicago (Berwyn). Zotta's dad, Joe Salerno, founded the business with his brothers, but since he passed away recently, she has been tasked with keeping the tradition alive.
Alex Koons has had an interesting career - audio engineer, pizza delivery guy - but his biggest challenge was attempting to open a vegan pizzeria in L.A. It didn't take long to realize he had to pivot. Today his pizza at Hot Tongue in Silver Lake (both vegan and meat-friendly) is among the best in the city, due mainly to his remarkable dough recipe (with four flours!).
Peter Dorrance and Eric Ehler met while working at Mr. Jiu's, the Michelin-starred restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown. They left to open Outta Sight , a NYC-style pizzeria in the Tenderloin. Convincing locals that it's OK to re-heat slices to-order took some getting used to!
Katsuya Fukushima spent 15 years working for José Andrés in Washington D.C., and it allowed him to travel the world. But his upbringing in Hawaii also influenced his palate, and his Japanese heritage also plays a role on his menus. He now cooks Wafu - Japanese inspired Italian - at Tonari in D.C.'s Chinatown, where he and pastry chef Mary Mendoza have collaborated on a mentaiko corn Detroit style pizza that is just stunning.
Like several of Knoxville's best chefs and restaurants, owner Brian Strutz is an alum of Blackberry Farm's kitchens. A Dopo is an homage to a life-changing trip he took to Italy years ago, where all they had was an oven. Strutz still uses an all-natural starter and his staff pulls mozzarella curds each day. Serious Old School in Tennessee! NOTE : on this episode, we also mention Potchke , an Eastern European-inspired deli Strutz is involved in. His business partner Laurence Faber and wife Emily ...
Jenny Olbrich has had a multi-faceted career - from private chef to designer...eventually landing in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, at The Esters - a bar and restaurant with a tidy pizza program. She talked about her path, and how she managed to crank out hundreds of pies at a time in a kitchen the size of a walk-in closet.
Max Balliet has held odd jobs in mechanics, but a life-changing trip to Italy as a kid shaped his future career. He didn't see much of a pizza culture in his native Louisville, so he decided to create something completely unique - a neo-Neapolitan style pizza based on an all-natural sourdough starter - and now Pizza Lupo is one of the best places to grab a pie in all of Bourbon Country.
Lenny Rago has been working in professional kitchens since he was 14. Now in his 50s, the Chicago native has built Panino's into a pizza powerhouse, creating nearly a half dozen types of pie at three different locations. We met up with him at his Evanston location, where he showed off a classic Chicago tavern style, as well as a preview of his deep-dish, which will be launching in the new year.
Daniele Cason has been the Executive Chef at The Mandarin Oriental in Tokyo for more than a decade. As a Rome native, he wanted to bring pizza to the restaurant, and did so in the form of a small L-shaped bar with just a few seats called The Pizza Bar on 38th . He recently began offering only an omakase (tasting) experience for guests, requiring a two to three month advance reservation. His pizzas are simply sublime....
Ontario native Mike Lange was a graphic designer who happened to be backpacking in Australia when he met his girlfriend (a fellow Canadian). They decided to set up shop in her hometown of Calgary, where Noble Pie has been a hit almost since it opened. Demand these days is off the charts, for Lange's artisan thin pies, inspired by New York City pizza.
Connie DeSousa and her business partner, John Jackson worked together in San Francisco, and since both are Canadians, eventually moved back to open CharCut in Calgary. They’ve also got CharBar there, and more recently, Connie & John’s Pizza , which is a takeout only operation, though you can sometimes eat upstairs from CharBar if there’s seating open. We tried both their New York style, as well as their Detroit, and made an appointment to see them build one of those Detroits in their kitchen...
We’re back in Chicago and no, we're not talking about stuffed or deep-dish or tavern-style, but rather, a hybrid between New York and artisan at Bob's Pizza. The New York part comes from the dough – it’s stretched to 18”, the slices are foldable with no tip sag, they’re baked on stone hearths and toppings are applied judiciously, all in balance. The artisan part comes from the fact the chef and owner – Matthew Wilde – is a trained chef from Minnesota, who might sweat garlic and reduce cream for ...
James Durawa grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, but learned how to make artisan pizza while working at Apizza Scholls in Portland, Oregon. He and his wife moved back to Milwaukee several years ago and opened Wy'East Pizza on the west side of town, serving his guests a unique pizza (by local standards); a strong deviation from the ubiquitous tavern style pies all over town.
There may not be a straight line from the Italian deli and butcher business to pizza making, but Donny Mellozzi isn’t letting that stop him. His passion for pizza has been all-consuming the last several years, and its led to the creation of two types of pizza he’s making in a converted space above a paint shop in a Montreal suburb. Pizza Frankie's is truly a labor of love and commitment.
During the two-day festival at the end of August, we always hold a series of educational and informational panel discussions. We have excerpts this week from "The Dough Whisperers" and the "3rd Wave Deep Dish/Pan" panels, held at The Salt Shed in Chicago.
When he got tired of his corporate job, Brian Tondryk decided to get into the pizza business, because his grandfather - Fred Bartoli - inspired him as a kid. Bartoli started Gino's East in 1966 in Chicago. Tondryk had to talk to old timers, do his research and go back to his childhood to try to recreate the pies he remembered from the 1970s. He now has two Bartoli's locations in Chicago serving both deep-dish and thin pizza.
Devin Bogdan has worked in restaurants around the U.S., some that have received Michelin stars or James Beard awards. For the last four years, he's been in the kitchen at Smith & Lentz Brewery , an East Nashville bar and restaurant with an ambitious menu, drawing upon the seasons. The pizza he has developed is truly remarkable, using several flours, an all-natural starter and a particularly high hydration.
Tony Scardino is a child of the Chicago suburbs. His memories are of thin and crispy tavern style pies, but over the years, as he made his way around the kitchens of some of Chicago's better restaurants, he got the pizza bug. The last few years have seen him and his Professor Pizza brand bouncing around Chicago, but always improving his craft. Today, his kitchen sits atop a building in the hot West Loop, where he makes three styles of pizza - and continues experimenting all of the time....
Luca Platania has had a tough road getting to where he is. A brain tumor scare followed his move from Italy to Finland (he followed his wife back home), where he had to learn the language. Now, he's got several locations of Forza in Finland, and Steve met up with him at his year-old space in Helsinki, where Luca showed off his two styles of pizza.
When you start rolling and tossing dough at the age of five, you have some strong opinions and approaches to pizza making. Chadwick Corcoran sure does. In fact, he feels so strongly about both hand-stretched thins baked on the hearth, as well as pan-baked Sicilians, he decided to offer both at his suburban L-A pizzeria, Two Doughs .
Rick Rosenfield started his career with the Justice Department, going on to become a trial lawyer and prosecutor. But he and his business partner realized early on they wanted out of law, and into the restaurant business. They decided to create a pizza brand based on the California way of living - fresh produce, seasonal ingredients and unique (often misunderstood) flavors for 1980s America. The result was California Pizza Kitchen (CPK) a brand that has more than 200 locations worldwide. We talk...
Our first panel discussion at Pizza City Fest L.A. this year was "The Dough Whisperers," a panel including three of the leading dough experts in L.A. right now: Daniele Uditi ( Pizzana ), Andy Kadin ( Bub & Grandma's ; dough supplier for Nancy Silverton/ Mozza ) and Evan Funke ( Funke , Felix Trattoria , Mother Wolf ). Moderated by our friend Noel Brohner, this slightly edited version includes a few of the audience questions as well. You can watch the entire discussion on our YouTube channel...
Salvatore LoCascio has paid his dues. First in Italy, then in Chicago, working for the city’s best Neapolitan pizza makers. He’s now stationed at Coda di Volpe - one of only three VPN certified pizzerias in the city, where he’s adding a touch of his Sicilian heritage, and adding a new pizza to the traditional lineup.
Michael Schell and his wife operate out of a ghost kitchen in Hyde Park, which is just a few miles from Inglewood and SoFi stadium. It’s a pretty grim block, and it’s hard to spot, but once you do, you’ll be happy you arrived. Schell loved Detroit style pizza, and wanted to create something a little bit different, mimicking shokupan milk bread in Japan. It's light, chewy and pretty dreamy when topped with sausage, red onions and giardiniera. Schellz Pizza Co. is destined for a brick-and-mortar s...
This year's International Pizza Expo was back in full force after a couple of years of limping along. The Las Vegas Convention Center was filled with all kinds of vendors and suppliers, as well as pizza fanatics. I lost my voice the day before the Expo started, so it was a challenge talking to people, but I managed to hear a number of voices from different perspectives in the industry.
Matt Lyons built Tribute Pizza as an homage to some of the greatest pizzas he's ever had. He makes 13" Neo-Neapolitans, pan-baked grandmas and 18" NYC style pies, hand stretched and tossed like a pro. We spoke with Matt just before service, as he make one of his new favorites, inspired the pizzas he had at L'Industrie in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
