Michael Bauer, food critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, continues his Pizza Friday series on his blog Between Meals with a trip to A16 in San Francisco. A16 makes a Neapolitan-style pizza that's been verfied as authentically Neapolitan by the "pizza police," aka the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana. Bauer reports that the pizza went downhill after the original pizzaiolo, Christophe Hille, left two years ago. But, he says, the staff there, led by chef and co-owner Nate Appleman, has once again brought the product up to snuff.
Michael Bauer, food critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, continues his Pizza Friday series on his blog Between Meals with a trip to Za Pizza in San Francisco. Za Pizza makes a thin-crust New Yorkish–style pizza:
Michael Bauer, food critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, continues his Pizza Friday series on his blog Between Meals with a trip to Local Kitchen & Wine Merchant in San Francisco. Local Kitchen & Wine Merchant makes a Neapolitan-style pizza:
Michael Bauer, food critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, continues his Pizza Friday series on his blog Between Meals with a trip to Pizzeria Delfina in San Francisco. Delfina makes a thin-crust Neapolitan-style pie, "with a nod to New York," Bauer says.
I figured I'd compile a list of all the styles I've eaten or heard or read about. Sorry it took so long, HeartofGlass. It's a long list, and it appears after the jump.
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 18, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Michael Bauer, food critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, continues his Pizza Friday series on his blog Between Meals with a trip to Pizzeria Picco in Larkspur, California. Pizzeria Picco makes a Neapolitan-style pie in a wood-burning oven:
Bauer says:
Thin with crisp, blistered edges. The Margherita, drizzled with De Padova extra virgin olive oil sets the standards for this ubiquitous combination. The Marin features roasted garlic, young potatoes that crisp at the edges, mozzarella, Parmesan and a slight drizzle of rosemary oil. The Cannondale is my favorite: house-made sausage, roasted peppers, onions, basil, and mozzarella.
Pizzeria Picco
Address: 320 Magnolia Avenue, Larkspur CA 94939 (at King Street; map) Phone: 415-945-8900 Website:pizzeriapicco.com
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 11, 2008 at 12:00 PM
Michael Bauer, food critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, continues his Pizza Friday series on his blog Between Meals with a trip to Pauline's in San Francisco. Pauline's makes California-style pizza:
Bauer says:
The dough is made with whole milk, olive oil and sea salt, producing a crust that is miraculously both chewy and crisp.
The pesto pizza is the must-order topping; for many, it's better than tomato. Garlic lovers swear by the garlic pizza with fontina cheese, and I love the more traditional Italian combination with salami, Italian sausage, mushrooms and green onions.
Pauline's
Address: 260 Valencia Street, San Francisco CA 94103 (at 14th Street; map) Phone: 415-552-2050 Website:paulinespizza.com Hours: Tues. to Sat., 5 to 10 p.m.
Ed LaDou—the pioneer of California-style pizza, the man behind Wolfgang Puck's Spago pizzas and the original California Pizza Kitchen menu, and the owner of Caioti Pizza Café in Studio City, California—died on December 27, 2007, of cancer in Santa Monica.
In January 1982, Spago opened with LaDou as pizza chef, carrying out the visions of Puck. There was pizza topped with smoked salmon and pizza topped with duck sausage. Puck also allowed LaDou to select toppings. "It was like being an artist who'd worked with 10 colors all of his life and then got to use 300," LaDou once said.
The "chef-pizza" craze kicked into high gear in 1982, when Wolfgang Puck opened Spago. There, pizza chef Ed LaDou (now of Caioti Pizza Café) expanded the range of toppings to include barbecued chicken, merguez (lamb sausage), smoked salmon and crème fraîche, and Peking duck.
Michael Bauer, food critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, continues his Pizza Friday series on his blog Between Meals with a trip to Frankie, Johnny, and Luigi Too in Mountain View, California. The joint makes New York–style pizza:
Bauer says:
No crust outside of cardboard could hold the weight of the toppings applied; it's got a little crispness at the edges, but the hand-tossed dough bakes to a breadlike texture.
With our waiters' help, we chose the Tina's Too Too Much, with too much salami, pepperoni, sausage, linguica, mushrooms, onions and bell peppers. We also tried the New York Style: oregano-laced tomato sauce, Italian sausage and mushrooms.
Frankie, Johnny, and Luigi Too
Address: 939 West El Camino Real, Mountain View CA 94040 (at CrossstreetTK; map) Phone: 650-967-5384 Website:fjlsanjose.com
Posted by Adam Kuban, November 26, 2007 at 5:30 PM
Michael Bauer, food critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, continues his Pizza Friday series on his blog Between Meals with a trip to Zachary's in Oakland. Zachary's is wildly popular in the Bay Area for its Chicago-style stuffed pies.
Bauer says:
Crust: The stuffed pizza had a thick crust, almost like dried toasted bread with raw floury underpinning, at least on my visit. The stuffed also has a second crust that's laid on top of the cheese, then covered with a thick layer of chunky tomato sauce. As it bakes, the crust melts into the cheese. The thin crust was crisp, about the size of a double cracker, dusted with semolina flour.
Pizza tried: I chose thin crust with cheese tomato, which was heavy on the oregano and had that generic taste of bottled "pizza sauce" and loads of stringy, gooey mozzarella cheese. In deep dish, the waiter suggested the Zachary's Special with chunky tomatoes glazing generous handfuls of green pepper, sausage and onions. One or two pieces (of the six pieces) definitely is a meal; it's like eating a casserole with your hands.
Zachary's
Address: 5801 College Avenue, Oakland CA (near Rockridge BART Station; map) Phone: 510-655-6385 Website:zacharys.com Hours: Vary depending on location; more info here Other Locations: 1853 Solano Avenue, Berkeley CA 94707; 510-525-5950. 3110 Crow Canyon Place, Suite D, San Ramon CA 94583; 925-244-1222
Posted by Adam Kuban, November 16, 2007 at 1:15 PM
Michael Bauer, food critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, continues his Pizza Friday series on his blog Between Meals with a trip to Piccino.Piccino makes an ultra-thin-crust Roman-style pizza:
Bauer says:
Pizza tried: The Margherita is slathered with a sauce as thick as tomato paste, puddles of mozzarella and a few shards of basil. The waiter recommended the house-made sausage pizza, with restrained dollops of mozzarella on a background of thin slices of roasted gypsy peppers and delicate whisps of chives that added fresh depth to the other ingredients.
Hmm. I can't tell if he liked it or not ...
Piccino
Address: 801 22nd Street, San Francisco CA 94107 (at Tennessee; map) Phone: 415-824-4224 Website:piccinocafe.com Hours: Breakfast and lunch daily; dinner Wed.–Sat.
Michael Bauer, food critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, continues his Pizza Friday series on his blog Between Meals with a trip to Pizzaiolo in Oakland, California. Pizzaiolo makes a Neapolitan-style pizza and is owned and helmed by Charlie Hallowell, a longtime pizza-maker at Alice Waters's famed Chez Panisse:
Bauer says:
Crust: The thin crust has well-formed blisters that shatter into a dozen pieces on contact, and a chewiness that gives the jaw a good workout.
Pizza tried: The classic Margherita has a restrained swipe of savory tomato sauce, pools of buttery mozzarella and shards of intensely flavored basil. We also tried a pizza with chunks of ground sausage, basil, and orange and yellow gypsy peppers, enhanced with a last minute drizzle of fragrant olive oil.
Crust: The thin crust has blisters that crumble like crackers; the light color often belies the crispness. What we had: The Margherita had a great sauce made in-house from fresh tomatoes, a slick of Polly-O mozzarella cheese and basil, which was missing from the blend on my visit. Still, it was a satisfying combination. The flavor of the mushroom and sausage, with a thick blanket of tomato sauce and cheese, was bold, but the crust sagged and couldn't support the weight of the additions, especially in the center where the majority were scattered.
Pazzia Caffee & Trattoria
Address: 337 Third Street, San Francisco CA 94107 (near Folsom; map) Website:pazzia.ypguides.net Phone: 415-512-1693 Hours: Lunch, Mon.–Fri.; dinner, Mon.–Sat.
Michael Bauer, food critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, continues his Pizza Friday series on his blog Between Meals with a trip to Pizza Azzurro in Napa, California. Azzurro makes thin-crust Roman-style pizza:
Bauer says:
Crust: One of the thinnest crusts I've encountered, with a chewiness at the center and a blackened edge whose rim shatters into a half dozen bites. It takes about five minutes to achieve this texture.
Pizza tried: The Margherita has a judicious slather of acidic tomato sauce, with seeds, stringy mozzarella and thick shards of fresh basil. It was a perfect complement that didn't overpower the crust. I also tried what the waiter said is the most popular, the Salsiccia, with the same tomato and mozzarella and the addition of chunks of sausage and thin threads of red onions.
Pizza Azzurro
Address: 1400 2nd Street, Napa CA 94559 (map) Phone: 707-255-5552 Hours: Lunch and dinner Mon.–Fri.; dinner, Sat., from 5 p.m.
Crust: The deep dish offers a crisp crust (about 3/8 inch at its widest point) made with butter and oil with the taste of cornmeal. It takes about 20 minutes to bake. The thin crust, which takes about 10 minutes, stays vertical when picked up, even with the generous toppings.
Pizza tried: The Little Star thick-crust pizza offers spinach, cheese and a topping of slightly chunky tomato sauce, a pizza that hits the palate with garlic, garlic and more garlic. The popular thin-crust Classic features big chunks of ground sausage, a dominant hit of onions, and green bell peppers. A friend commented that it was one step above the typical "college" pizza.
Little Star Pizza
Address: 846 Divisadero Street, San Francisco CA 94117 (map) Phone: 415-441-1118 Also located at: 400 Valencia Street, San Francisco CA 94103 (map); 415-551-7827 Website:littlestarpizza.com/ Hours: Dinner, Tues.–Sun. Notes: Cash only
Michael Bauer, food critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, continues his Pizza Friday series on his blog Between Meals with a trip to Dopo in Oakland, which makes an thin-crust Neapolitan-style pizza:
Bauer says:
The well seasoned dough is hand formed on a marble surface to create a rustic crisp chewy base, with a rim that has a ciabatta-like taste and texture. Most are meatless, so we tried the version with gypsy peppers and red onions, which nicely balances the tomato sauce that makes Dopo's efforts stand out. It has a clean, bright flavor with a pleasant acidity. We also tried the one with pancetta, slightly spicy Calabrian chiles and a light dusting of fennel pollen.
Awesome. I just remembered to check back on the San Francisco Chronicle's Michael Bauer and his blog, Between Meals. Bauer is, of course, the food critic there, and he pledged last week to begin a "Pizza Friday" series. He did indeed drop the first one. Here's a video from it:
It's from Gialina in the Glen Park section of San Francisco. And I'm so upset I missed this place when I was out there in the summer of 2006. Actually, it didn't even exist at that point. See, I stayed very close to Gialina's future location and caught the BART every day at the station that's pretty much across the street from the joint. At the time, a place called Sunset Pizza (right) sat on the corner of Diamond and Kern streets, and its last day in business was the first day I ever sat foot in the City by the Bay. Oh well. So had I visited just a year later, I could have stopped in at this place. Oh well. I guess there's always another time.
Anyway, Bauer seems to have liked the joint ("Crust: The hand-formed dough, which takes about 12 minutes to bake, has a generous puffy ridge around the edge that's darkened but not blistered, creating a delicately chewy texture"). And it's gotten many a rave on Yelp. Here's the contact info:
Gialina Pizzeria
Address: 2842 Diamond Street, San Francisco, CA 94131 (map) Phone: 415-239-8500 Website:gialina.com
"It hurts me, because they act as if I'm trying to get something over on them. I wish I had the nerve to charge $50, because that's what it's worth." —Anthony Mangieri
The pies there inspired him to talk to some of the acknowledged masters of pizza: Anthony Mangieri (Una Pizza Napoletana, New York), Chris Bianco (Pizzeria Bianco, Phoenix), and Nancy Silverton (Mozza).
Not only that, but readers hungry for San Francisco pies will be pleased to note that Mr. Bauer is launching "Pizza Friday" on his blog; it promises to be a "multimedia feature" that will document his quest to find the Bay Area's best pizzas.
Some choice excerpts from the pizza feature, after the jump.
Anyone familiar with the grilled pizzas of Al Forno, the Italian restaurant in Providence, R.I., will be glad that Kevin Garcia, who once worked the dough there, is serving very satisfying clones of those crackling crusted gems at Accademia di Vino, where he is now the chef.
X-ray-thin crusts have judicious coatings of cheese — robiola, goat cheese, ricotta, sheep cheese — and sparing but flavorful toppings like broccoli rabe, black truffle pâté and soppressata. The tomato and mozzarella pie is dotted with cherry tomato halves and fresh basil. One pizza caveat: skip the watermelon.
1081 Third Avenue at 64th Street, New York NY 10021 (Upper East Side); 212-888-6333
The crowd—attractive local hipsters, artists, club kids, and even a few yuppies—was torn. "The skinny Williamsburg hipster fags need the carbs," griped Earl Dax, a promoter and performance-art curator. Some wished for a happy medium. "In a perfect world . . . " sighed a man in a harlequin get-up with sad, wistful eyes. Justin Bond (of Kiki & Herb) found the solution: "I've done performance where I strapped a pizza to me and then served it to the audience."
You also have the option of starting with a thin-crusted pizza, and they're very decent for a place that doesn't have a wood-burning oven. Classic too. The handful of choices includes a Margherita and a burrata pizza made with fresh tomatoes.
9255 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles CA 90069; 310-270-4455
Mormon missionary discovers pizza in Italy, opens own pizzeria Stateside: "I don't think I was a great missionary, and Italy is mainly Catholic. I got over the fact that I wasn't going to convert people and just started helping people.... I loved the pizza there and it was a business that I didn't think had been tapped into very well in America."
"The demographic of pizza eaters is about the same as oxygen breathers," says Steve Green, publisher of PMQ's Pizza Magazine, a trade publication.
Recent pizza growth has been in artisan, take-n'-bake and rising-crust pizzas, Green says. Now, Subway and Dunkin' think faster, smaller pizzas may find a niche.
You: A hot, shapely Italian number that I can place my burning wood in.
Me: An eager young pizzaiolo used to playing with fire. I've played around most of my life; now looking to settle down with the right oven.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, champion pizza-maker Tony Gemignani hopes to open a wood-burning pizzeria with an oven worthy of his talent, according to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Gemignani, long known in the pizza world for his pizza-spinning techniques (he's been called "the Michael Jordan of pizza-tossing"), got tired of dough acrobatics a couple years ago and started to focus on making true Neapolitan-style pies.
After installing a portable Beehive oven in his backyard and practicing the craft, he went to Italy to compete in the Trofeo Citta de Napoli Championato Internationale per Pizzaioli in June. And he won.
"It was a big win," he said. "People are comparing it to Stag's Leap (Wine Cellars) going to Paris," and beating the best French Bordeaux makers in the 1976 tasting that put California Cabernet Sauvignon on the map.
Trouble is, strict air-quality standards in the Napa Valley usually don't allow for wood-burning ovens there.
But the Vera Pizza Napoletana association (aka "the Pizza Police") is going to allow Gemignani and his brothers to open a pizza school under its aegis. If so, Gemignani and family hope to talk the local government into making an exception. As the Chronicle says, "If that happens, they hope to start construction late this before year and move from their current location in a strip mall near Interstate 580."
Bon Appétit magazine, in conjunction with the Food Network, went across the country looking for the best pizza, hamburgers, ribs, fried chicken, and tacos. Three finalists in each category are written up in the September issue of the magazine (the blurbs are rather generic-sounding), and the winner is going to be announced on a Food Network special hosted by Alton Brown August 18.
What isn't clear to me after reading about their search is the methodology they used. What criteria did they use in each category? How did they go about finding and then eating at the best places in each category? Did at least one or more persons eat at all three finalists in a given week?
Methodology is important when it comes to determining ultimate pizza, hamburger, rib, fried chicken, and taco superiority. The "best" is a big, big, claim that shouldn't—and can't —be taken lightly. I'll try to find out their methodology and report back.
In the meantime, the only category I have eaten in all three finalists is pizza. The three they chose, Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles, and Di Fara in Brooklyn, are certainly worthy contenders, although it is difficult to compare Mozza and Bianco, where the pizza (whole pies only) is made in wood-burning ovens utilizing the best, mostly house-made ingredients and sophisticated toppings, and Di Fara, where Dom DeMarco uses a conventional gas pizza oven and sells slices made with high-quality store-bought cheese and sausage.
To lead off this pizza link roundup, here's a great one that I didn't get to last week. Jason Perlow of Off the Broiler was invited along on a New Jersey pizza odyssey in the Newark Star-LedgerMunchmobile. Perlow and other Jersey food bloggers visited The Brothers (Red Bank), Sciortino's (South Amboy), Pizzatown USA (Elmwood Park), Cafe Capri (East Rutherford), and Santillo's (Elizabeth). Also blogging the Munchmobile ride: Baristanet, GoOutJersey, Hoboken411, and redbankgreen.
Grub Street visits Dean's Pizzeria on the Upper West Side but doesn't really say much about how the pizza was. The quote that got our attention, though, was from Dean's adviser Nick Angelis (of Nick's fame): "The recipes are basically the same [between my places and Dean’s]. It varies according to who’s making it, what the dough is like that day, how the wind is blowing … each place has its own slightly different spin."
Our man Ed Levine visited Dean's a couple weeks ago and called it "semiserious pizza"—pies that are very good but that lack the careful attention of a serious pizzaiolo who really loves his craft. Dean's Pizzeria: 215 West 85th Street 10024 (near Broadway; map); 212-875-1100
These Boots were made for walkin'. New York City–based minichain Two Boots, whose footwear represents its culinary influences—Italian and Cajun (Louisiana kinda looks like a boot, too)—is branching out to the Echo Park neighborhood. Two Boots L.A.: Sunset Boulevard between Lemoyne Street and Glendale Boulevard [map]
A throwaway four-paragraph story in the Detroit Free Pressreports that you can now order Domino's online. Meh—old news. What caught my attention was this comment on the paper's website: "Is it delivered by e-mail? I suspect if I print it out on decent paper it will taste about the same."
The New York Times heads west and checks out the pizza at Mozza, the Mario Batali–Nancy Silverton upscale pizza joint in Los Angeles.
Ms. Silverton, who started her career as a pastry chef and is an accomplished baker, makes crusts with extraordinary character: softly chewy in spots, crisply charred in others, ever so faintly sweet, even more faintly sour. There’s some rye flour in her dough and some malt, and she lets it sit for 36 hours before she uses it....
Although not conventionally thick, her crusts are denser and weightier than the Neapolitan ideal, reflecting her stated love of the pizza bianca sold by several bakeries around Campo de’ Fiori in Rome. Instead of an actual topping, pizza bianca has perhaps a gloss of oil and maybe a dusting of herbs, forcing you to focus on what has become of the dough. It’s spongy, like focaccia, but with less air inside and more crunch outside....
Although Ms. Silverton is fixated on dough, she doesn’t ignore the balance of the pizza. The toppings for each of roughly 15 kinds of pies have well-chosen, well-balanced ingredients: meaty fennel sausage, creamy buffalo milk mozzarella, expertly cured meats....
It's an overwhelmingly positive review, and the only complaint Mr. Bruni had about the pizza was that the crusts of a few pies were too broad, as you can see in this photo.
FURTHER READING
Slice's overlord, Ed Levine tried the pizza at Mozza ages ago. Here's his take.
Slice overlord Ed Levine went to Pizzeria Mozza last week, and all I got was this lousy video. ;) Ed didn't even bring me back a measly bit of crust. Hmmph. ... Enjoy!
Posted by Adam Kuban, December 5, 2006 at 12:17 PM
Could you eat an entire 20-inch pizza by yourself? With two toppings? What if it guaranteed you free pizza for a year? Blogger Bear Silber reaches for the eye of the tiger:
The Pizza and Pipes Belly Buster challenge was a success. A few men set out to make history, two became boys while one became a legend. What exactly is the Belly Buster challenge you ask. Simple, it’s a 20” pizza that must be consumed in one hour or less by one individual. To date many have tried but none have been victorious. The Hall of Shame is filled with Polaroids of individuals who’ve attempted to conquer the Belly Buster while the Hall of Fame lay bare.
Did Mr. Silber succeed? You'll have to read his post to find out.
The previous post about Ed Levine's top pizza picks drew some emailed and IMed responses that the choices were mostly all coastal and that there were no Chicago joints on it whatsoever. Well, here's a list that ran earlier this month in USA Today. In it, Jeff Ruby, coauthor of Everybody Loves Pizza (along with Penny Pollack), gives the paper his and Ms. Pollack's top spots:
Metro Pizza [four locations, Las Vegas NV; metropizza.com]
"The pizza menu at this gourmet oasis in the desert reads like a map of regional flavors. With grilled shrimp on the New Orleans, barbecued chicken atop the Memphis and pineapple on the Honolulu, there's something for everybody...."
The Cheese Board Pizza Collective [1512 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley CA 94709; map]
" 'The Cheese Board is a collective, owned by its members, that brings sustainable agriculture to the pizza table,' Ruby says. Each day the menu, featuring a single sourdough vegetarian pizza, is decided collectively by the group...."
Posted by Adam Kuban, October 30, 2006 at 11:48 AM
Pity poor Ed Levine. When his workday doesn't involve ordering one of each doughnut at a well-regarded New York City doughnuttery, he gets to eat pizza from some of the country's best pizzerias and write about it for Details magazine. His findings cover some familiar ground to readers of Slice and of Mr. Levine's 2005 book PIzza: A Slice of Heaven, but there are some new entries to be savored.
Pizzeria Bianco [623 East Adams Street, Phoenix AZ 85004; map]
"The sauce tastes like a distillation of the ripest tomatoes."
Di Fara[1424 Avenue J, Brooklyn NY 11230; map]
"... a Di Fara slice has a one-of-a-kind flavor."
Totonno's [1524 Neptune Ave., Brooklyn NY 11224; map]
"Order the white pie, made with ricotta, mozzarella, and enough fresh garlic to ward off a roomful of vampires."
Tech gossip blog Valleywag reports on a publicity stunt by software incubator Cambrian House. Their ploy? According to Valleywag, to "thank Google for changing the dot-com industry." There's video of the company dropping in on the Google campus unannounced to deliver 1,000 pies. The still image above shows the pile of pizza. Click the YouTube vid below to watch.
Caioti Pizza Café's Ed LaDou is a certified California pizza pioneer. He moved his nondescript, unassuming pizzeria from Laurel Canyon to its current Studio City location a few years ago, and he's never looked back. LaDou is a pizza toppings master. His barbecued chicken pizza will make it impossible to eat the pale imitation at a California Pizza Kitchen ever again. His toppings, which feature roast garlic, bacon, shallots, and lamb sausage, let you know that there is a serious culinary mind at work here. The only thing that's slightly disappointing at Caioti is the crust. It's a perfectly OK, thinnish crust that somewhat surprisingly comes out of a conventional gas-fired oven, but it's not unlike crust you've had a many other pizza places. Toppings this good created by someone as talented as LaDou deserve a better crust.
A number of people tell me (most of them native San Franciscans) that the best Chicago deep dish is found in the Bay Area, at a joint called Zachary's. And now, folks in San Ramon, California, will be able to see what the fuss is about:
Since finding out that Zachary's Chicago Pizza would be moving to the city, residents have been waiting in mouth-watering anticipation to know when the establishment would open.
Construction on the 11,000-square-foot shopping plaza — named Crow Canyon Crest -- that includes the pizzeria has been going on for two months, and tenants will be able to start construction on their own lots next week.
J. P. LaRussa, Zachary's general manager, gives a target date of mid-September for the opening.
Well, they say 13 is an unlucky number, right? I mean, only one New York City pizzeria on this list? And it's John's? John's is good, sure, but not the best in NYC. And maybe we should hold our tongue until we've had pizza from the Grimaldi's branch in Arizona, but how can it be any better than the homegrown original Grimaldi's? I guess AOL had to tailor its list to please people across the country. And it's further evidence that these lists are always flawed. Heck, even if Slice put out a list, I'm sure someone—lots of someones—would find fault with it. But they're always good for debate, so have at it. Comments welcome.
Here's the American Pizzeria Timeline, which includes only two non–Pizza Belt entries, Tommaso's and Uno's:
1905: Lombardi's, on Spring Street in New York City, is granted the nation's first license to sell pizza. 1910: Joe's Tomato Pies opens in the Trenton, New Jersey, Chambersburg neighborhood. 1912: Papa's Tomato Pies in Trenton opened by Papa, who learned his trade at Joe's. 1924: Anthony (Totonno) Pero leaves Lombardi's and opens Totonno's in Coney Island, New York. 1925: Frank Pepe opens on Wooster Street in New Haven, Connecticut.
With a cover reminiscent of a retro pizza box and contents almost as tasty as the real thing, Everybody Loves Pizza, by Penny Pollack and Jeff Ruby, has earned a place on the Slice Bookshelf.
Full disclosure: I know one of the authors. Mr. Ruby and I were in the same journalism program at university. Still, that didn't stop me from turning a critical eye on this book. In fact, my initial reaction when hearing about it was, "Oy! Another pizza book!? What more can be said?"
Fortunately, Penny and Jeff find plenty new to say, particularly with some interesting history and facts that, surprisingly, I haven't read elsewhere. Concerning one of Slice's favorite pizzaioli, Dom DeMarco, for example, the authors tell us that he ends each pizza-filled day by drinking a "$100 bottle of Amarone Valpolicella—he buys 1 bottle a day and 2 on Saturday because the liquor store is closed on Sunday." Who knew!? (More important, how does Dom get himself into work by 7 a.m. after drinking a bottle of fine wine post midnight?)
In junior high, a friend imparted some wisdom to me by way of his grandfather: "If something's free, take it." (His pops also advised, "If there's a chair, sit down," as well as a third axiom that has been lost to time.) Anyway, residents of San Francisco should be advised that Yahoo! will be giving out free pizzas on from 11 a.m. to midnight on Wednesday, October 26.
What's the deal? It's a stunt to promote the Web portal's "Best Of" campaign. Show up at North Beach Pizza at the designated time, and you'll get a free medium Yahoo! North Beach Pizza. More info after the jump.
NORTH BEACH PIZZA Location: 1499 Grant Avenue (at Union Street) Phone: 415-433-2444
The baseball playoffs are upon us, and once again the Yankees are enabling hizzoner's gambling habit. The Bronx Bombers managed to scrape themselves into postseason play, prompting Bloomie to place a bet on the Yankees-Angels series with Anaheim's mayor, Curt Pringle.
If the Angels win, Mayor Mike will cough up "some of New York's best to the people of Anaheim, including two dozen hot dogs from Nathan's Famous, two pounds each of pastrami, corned beef and brisket, three loaves of jumbo seedless rye bread and two pounds of mustard from Katz's Deli, and two Pizza alla Vodka pies from Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza and Pasta. And for dessert, one 2.5 gallon container of Lemon Ice from the Lemon Ice King of Corona and plenty of cake from Parrilla Latina."
What will New Yorkers get if the Yanks win?
A crate of Anaheim chili peppers; a crate of Sunkist California oranges; merchandise from Disneyland's 50th anniversary, including a pair of golden Mickey Mouse ears; an autographed script from Fox Broadcasting Co.'s hit show "The O.C."; a surfboard from Huntington Beach-based Jack's Surfboards; a Halo Hybrid Utility Club from Cleveland Golf in Huntington Beach; $50 in gift certificates from Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear; surf apparel from Newport Beach-based Toes on the Nose; sunglasses from San Juan Capistrano-based Hoven Sunglasses; swimwear from Newport Beach-based Tyler Rose Swimwear; a gift basket from Orange County-based Diedrich's Coffee; a case of boysenberry jam and a bucket of Mrs. Knott's chicken from Knott's Berry Farm.
Once again, our rival city gets the better deal if it wins the bet.
Ok, firstly, as far as East Bay rags go, the Berkeley Daily Planet is not exactly a gold standard. This is the same paper that in 2002, following a random possible hate crime against a rabbi and his son, ran the headline "The Jews Are Attacked Near Campus." (And yes, I'm biased, I was an editor at the Daily Californian.)
The Telegraph joints (Blondie's, Fat Slice) are good given their proximity to campus, but not for much else. If you're near campus and you can't do anything else, this is acceptable, but if you can spare a ten-minute walk (less if you're on the westside of campus), then there's no reason you shouldn't go to Arinell's. Blondie's gets points for having cool décor and magazines taped up to the wall so you have something to read if you're going solo.
If you're willing to head up to Hopkins Street in North Berkeley, (which might as well be on the other side of the world for traditionally lazy Berkeley students), the place to go is Gioia. [Earlier Slice entry on Gioia.]
That said, the new hotness in town (ok, North Oakland, but all Berkeley students have free bus passes, so there's no excuse) is Pizzialo. I haven't been myself yet, but my sources say it's good.
Also the new kid on the block is Pie in the Sky (New Jersey–style pizza, apparently).
Thanks for that rundown, Cyrus. We know you know your pies, so readers would do well to take heed of this slice syllabus.
It's back-to-school time, which is welcome news to college-town pizza purveyors nationwide. The rumbling thunder of keg parties and the flash of rush-week hazing signal an end to the summerlong drought of business that typically plagues merchants used to the steady drizzle of crumpled student dollars.
It also means that at least a few back-to-school pie guides appear on the horizon, breaking down the options for freshmen not yet wise to the ways the local slice winds blow. They are the Farmer's Almanacs of the college pie world. One such guide recently came to our attention. It was compiled for Berkeley students. It is the Berkeley Pizza Guide, printed in the Berkeley Daily Planet. Some highlights:
Domino’s Pizza: I’m starting with Domino’s for one simple reason. It’s a chain, and as such, it sucks. If you have a particular attachment to their pizza, there are two in town, one on Adeline (652-8077) and one on University (849-9000). The only good thing about Domino’s is that they’re open fairly late—the stores are open until 1 a.m. and the last delivery is at 12:30 a.m. A large pizza (all large pizzas are 14 inches, unless noted otherwise) is $10.99. Minimum charge for delivery is $10.39 and there is a $1 delivery fee.
We like where this is going already.
La Val’s is in the basement of 2516 Durant. It’s pretty large for a pizza place, which is good, since it also features an arcade complete with DDR and a pay-to-play pool table. There are booths and long, family-style tables upon which to consume your pizza and beer. A large cheese is $12.95 and a pint is $3.50. If you’re looking for atmosphere with your pizza, this is the place for you. The crowd is mixed and there are always a few biker dudes hanging around.
The Cheeseboard (549-3055), this is a venerable Berkeley institution. An offshoot of the neighboring Cheeseboard Collective, the pizza parlor has wonky hours (Tues.–Fri. 11:30 a.m.–2 p.m., 4:30 p.m.–8 p.m.; Sat. 12 p.m.–3 p.m., 4:30 p.m.–8 p.m.) and offers only one flavor of pizza each day. It’s cash only, not much seating, and the lines are usually long. But they move quickly and there’s often live music to entertain you while you wait. A pie is $18 (which is actually a pie plus two pieces) and a slice is $2.25. There’s no delivery, so you’ll just have to go down there. I can’t tell you what the plain pizza is like, because they don’t make plain pizza, but here’s the amazing part. I ate the pizza they gave me, with tomatoes, red peppers, onion, mozzarella, parmesan, basil and olive oil. I didn’t pick any of it off, and that’s the highest endorsement I can give to a pizza. This is the place in Berkeley for gourmet pizza.
Seems Slice is making a virtual road trip west. Here's yet more out-of-state New York–style-pizza news, this time from the Contra Costa Times out in Bay Area's Contra Costa County.
But it sounds like Berkeleyites are in good hands: Will Gioia, the proprietor, is Brooklyn-raised. Moreover, Filucci claims that the California pedigree brings fresh ingredients to the pie and compares Gioia's use of fresh, organic cremini mushrooms to the canned "yellowish-beige," "briny," and "cold" mushrooms of Gotham slices. So it's not the use of Thai shrimp on an otherwise New York slice she's talking about—it's just the Californian attention to high-quality ingredients. Sure, California chefs have a reputation for such persnicketiness, but we could point to several Big Apple pizzerias that use only the finest ingredients.
Anyway, we'll stop picking nits here and cut to the meat of the article. Here's what she says about Gioia:
The mushroom pizza I'm devouring in my car is the perfect blend of New York and Bay Area. The crust is thin and crisp, the sauce is red and sweet-tangy, the cheese is modestly distributed -- so far the perfect New York slice, and then the mushrooms are fresh, organic, woodsy creminis. In New York, pizza mushrooms come out of a can; they're yellowish-beige; they taste briny; and they're often still a little cold when you bite into your slice.
Will Gioia wouldn't serve cold, briny mushrooms in his pizzeria, even though he's probably eaten his share while growing up in Brooklyn. At his pizzeria, Gioia merges his sweetest food memories -- walking down the block with a slice and a Coke -- with his Culinary Institute of America training and his Oliveto, Zuni Cafe and Mazzini Trattoria experience.
The Hopkins Street location is tiny -- just enough room to squeeze in, order your slice or pick up your pie and duck out. Or you could sit at one of the handful of stools and scarf down your slice, or order from the sidewalk through the takeout window -- just like in Brooklyn.
There's the plain cheese ($2.50 slice, $10 pie), with homemade sauce (Gioia says he uses canned tomatoes in his sauce, but when the season really hits, he'll start using fresh tomatoes). [ continue reading >> ]
A bit pricey for slices, but it is the Bay Area. Slice wonders if prices there match the public-transport fares, as they're rumored to do here. If so, BART's a rip-off.
Halloween night's Larry King Live featured an interview with Ted Rowlands of KTVU and Laura Ingle of KFI radio, who were in the courtroom for day three of alleged wife-and-baby-killer Scott Peterson's preliminary hearing. (Nancy Grace w
Ed LaDou—the pioneer of California-style pizza, the man behind Wolfgang Puck's Spago pizzas and the original California Pizza Kitchen menu, and the owner of 
Michael Bauer, the food critic of the San Francisco Chronicle, 
The previous post about 
In junior high, a friend imparted some wisdom to me by way of his grandfather: "If something's free, take it." (His pops also advised, "If there's a chair, sit down," as well as a third axiom that has been lost to time.) Anyway, residents of San Francisco should be advised that Yahoo! will be giving out free pizzas on from 11 a.m. to midnight on Wednesday, October 26.
The baseball playoffs are upon us, and once again the Yankees are enabling hizzoner's gambling habit. The Bronx Bombers managed to scrape themselves into postseason play, prompting Bloomie to 
The Telegraph joints (Blondie's, Fat Slice) are good given their proximity to campus, but not for much else. If you're near campus and you can't do anything else, this is acceptable, but if you can spare a ten-minute walk (less if you're on the westside of campus), then there's no reason you shouldn't go to Arinell's. Blondie's gets points for having cool décor and magazines taped up to the wall so you have something to read if you're going solo.
Seems Slice is making a virtual road trip west. Here's yet more out-of-state New York–style-pizza news, this time from the 
Halloween night's