I know I am committing pizza purist heresy here, but I have to have a certain amount of saltiness emanating from the topping of the pizza. That means simple unadorned fiore de latte, or fresh unsalted mozzarella, or even buffalo mozzarella, on their own, unadorned with nothing added, do not cut it for me. So if a pizza is going to have only one kind of cheese as a topping, I prefer high-quality aged, low-moisture, whole milk mozzarella, which has a distinctly salty taste. Pizza police, I know I am going to become a wanted man with this proclamation, but so be it. I can take the heat.
Most great pizzerias are the product of one compulsive, obsessive person who lives and dies with every pie. Is it possible for a pizzeria to expand beyond two locations and maintain the quality that makes them great? It's like pizza-obsessed folks have decided that their collective ovens get too hot for them to consider adding a third pizzeria.
For years now I've suffered the shame of never having experienced Anthony Mangieri's pizza magic. Those days are over. My first UPN pie was unequivocally the equal of the very best pizza I've ever eaten. It truly left me in a transcendent, meditative state.
Reaching in to the Slice mailbag, we've got ... a really eagle-eyed pizza nerd out there. ;)
Adam, This is probably high on the pizza nerd scale, but I'd love to see if you can confirm this: Go to Hulu and watch the full episode of the Scarlett Johannsen SNL. At exactly 7:34 in the program, our favorite former East Village pizzaiolo's arm/oven makes a special appearance (in the credits). Right?
Pizza-heads may need no reminder, but Anthony Mangieri, the man many consider the nation's finest Neapolitan pizza-maker, opened his long-awaited San Francisco spot Una Pizza Napoletana several weeks ago. Mangieri had shut down his wildly popular New York pizzeria of the same name in 2009, promising a move out West by early 2010; by the time he finally rolled up the metal gates in September, the pizza-mad citizens of San Francisco had lined up by the dozens, clamoring to get in. A few weeks later, Slice is ready to report.
"Well, I've been meaning to come out here for a long time. I guess you could say that the timing took too long. But, look, I started this whole wacky frenzy [about Neapolitan pizza]. All those other guys know that. Everyone who's planning on opening a Neapolitan pizzeria has been to my place in NYC to check it out. I've tried the pizza at some of the new places out here. It's all good and it's all different. But I've been making pizza since I was 15 years old. I started Una Pizza Napoletana in 1996 when no one else...
This comes to us by way of someone who was shilling in the comments, but it's some hot info so I'm going to take the bait and highlight it ... [Photograph: Undici Restaurant] Tonight in Rumson, New Jersey, for one night only, famed and former UPN pizzamaker Anthony Mangieri will be making pizza one last time on the East Coast before heading to San Francisco. Mangieri has been consulting for Undici Taverna Rustica in this tony Jersey Shore borough (The Boss lives there), supposedly going as far as "tearing apart their kitchen and building an authentic, Naples-style, wood-fired oven." Mangieri...
Yes, you may have seen this video by Michael Evans last month, when it was accidentally leaked on pizzamaking.com. Just wanted to let you know it's now embeddable and officially ready for prime time. If you didn't watch it then, watch it now. You will dig. San Franciscans, take note. A preview of what's to come in the Ci-tay by the Bay. Whoa, oh whoa oh whoa....
Big news coming out of today's Pieman's Craft event: Anthony Mangieri will open Una Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco in SoMa. He hopes to be open by March 2010. That's all he'll say for now. Stay tuned to Slice for more details....
Stills from the video "Naturally Risen". Click images to watch. As Manhattarino fires up and finds its legs, it's not too early to take a wistful look back on Una Pizza Napoletana and its moody pizzaiolo, Anthony Mangieri--particularly if the nostalgia trip is in the form of a beautifully shot, edited, and scored video. Art director and commercial artist Michael Evans is the genius behind the short making-of video called Naturally Risen, which follows Mangieri from dough-making to pizza-baking. Backed by a great Tommy Guerrero instrumental. You'll find the homage on Evans's site: divisionofsafety.com/NATURALLYRISEN. [via Pizzablogger via pizzamaking.com]...
Adam,
