Pizza Quest
127 episodes - English - Latest episode: 10 days ago - ★★★★★ - 6 ratingsJoin the conversation! Pizza Quest is certainly about pizza, but it’s so much more! It’s an engaging celebration of artisanship in all its shapes and forms. Award winning author Peter Reinhart interviews many of the greatest pizza makers in the world, as well as growers, cheese makers, millers, and food producers of all kinds who all who have one thing in common: an unquenchable drive to experience and express the highest level of excellence in their work, and to share it with their friends, family, and customers. Peter explores the varying journeys that led them to achieve prominence in their fields, and also offers listeners demonstrations of their craft, whether making their signature pizzas, or taking us on an in-depth tasting tour of their olive oil, tomatoes, cheeses, and toppings. As Peter is fond of saying, “It’s more about the quest than the pizza, and the quest never ends.”
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Episodes
Charles Wekselbaum
June 23, 2024 21:00 - 1 hour - 57.7 MBWe are joined this week by Charles Wekselbaum, owner and head salumeriest for Charlito's Cocina, makers of fine charcuterie. Is it salumi or salami? We'll find out, as Charles guides Peter through a tasting of three of his most popular Spanish-influenced products, and explains how he transforms fresh meat products into cured and fermented dried meats in which his goal is to evoke the full potential of flavor trapped in the meat through application of his charcuterie craft. Together, Peter an...
Tim Lorsch
June 16, 2024 16:00 - 52 minutes - 48.2 MBThis week's guest is a long time friend of mine (we go back to 7th grade together, circa 1963), Tim Lorsch, Nashville musician/sideman, who has created a one-man performance piece called "The Suitcase." The show was inspired when Tim unexpectedly received an old suitcase that had formerly belonged to his great uncle before being sent to Auschwitz, where he was killed by the Nazis. The suitcase triggered a flood of family memories and emotions, so Tim packaged it all into a one hour performan...
Dave Ravanesi
June 09, 2024 16:00 - 58 minutes - 53.9 MBPeter's brother Harry was with Peter the day they discovered Pizzeria Beddia about eight years ago. They watched together as Joe Beddia rocketed to superstardom in the pizza world (not because of us, but our timing was pretty good). So, when Harry called Peter a few weeks ago, excited to have found "the next Pizzeria Beddia," he was taken very seriously. Harry then introduced Peter to Dave Ravanesi, the founder and solo pizzaiolo of Ravanesi Pizza Napoletana in Glen Mill, PA, just outside o...
Domenico Tolomeo
June 02, 2024 16:00 - 27 minutes - 25.2 MBWelcome back to Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart. Our guest this week is Domenico Tolomeo, World Pizza Champions team member, owner of Taglio Pizza in Minneola, NY, and corporate chef for Orlando Foods (importers of Caputo Flour and many other made-in-Italy food products). Domenico, affectionately known in the industry as Mimmo, shares with us his journey from paying his dues during his years as a deli meat guy who then fell in love with pizza, to being mentored by Roberto Caporuscio at Keste...
Paul Tiffany of Lloyd Pans
May 26, 2024 16:00 - 50 minutes - 46.1 MBIn this episode we welcome Paul Tiffany, director of product engineering at Lloyd Pans, to update us on the latest new pan pizza products and to explain the unique manufacturing process that allows Lloyd Pans to respond and customize pans so quickly for the pizza and other food service industries. He also shows us a very cool new product for making handheld Detroit-style pizzas, about the size of a hotdog or burrito, that holds great promise as a concert or ballpark product. I actually made ...
Anna Crucitt
May 21, 2024 16:00 - 22 minutes - 20.8 MBWelcome back to a new episode of Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart. A recurrent theme in our shows during these past few months has been the emergence and growth of the Women in Pizza movement, and this week's guest is one of the key driving forces in all of this. Ironically, Anna Crucitt didn't start out as a pizzaiola, but as a gelato queen. At Mercurio's Creamery and Pizzeria, she and her brothers, Joe and Michael, are makers of both award winning artisan gelato and Neapolitan pizzas at the...
World Pizza Champion Joe Carlucci
May 12, 2024 16:00 - 58 minutes - 53.8 MBOur guest in this episode is long-time world pizza champion, Joe Carlucci. So, you might ask, how did a nice New York area kid end up running an iconic, destination pizzeria, Valentina's Pizzeria and Wine Bar, in Madison, Alabama? It's a long story, and one best told by Joe himself, including the many life lessons that allowed him to crash and burn (and rise from the ashes) many times. On his journey, he finally found the right work/life balance while dialing in on the formula that has estab...
Antimo and Mauro Caputo
May 05, 2024 16:00 - 29 minutes - 27.2 MBThis week, Peter is joined by the legendary Antimo Caputo, along with his nephew and head of milling, Mauro Caputo. Caputo Flour has carved out a beloved place in the hearts of Neapolitan pizza lovers everywhere. But the company, under Antimo's leadership, produces a lot more than just their signature "Italian 00" pizza flour. In fact, a number of American-style pizzerias are now using new flour blends developed by Caputo specifically for their NY and Americano pizzas. Others also use Caputo...
Women In Pizza: Giorgia Caporuscio and Azie Mortati
April 28, 2024 16:00 - 34 minutes - 31.2 MBThis week's episode features two of the founders and leaders of the Women in Pizza movement, Giorgia Caporuscio and Azie Mortati. What started out as a informal fellowship and way to acknowledge the growing role that women are playing in the pizza world, has grown into a dynamic education and philanthropic network that is helping to shape the future of pizza both in the United States and abroad. Hear all about it this week's episode of Pizza Quest! Click here for the video versions of Pizza...
The Search for an Instant Sourdough Starter
April 21, 2024 16:00 - 34 minutes - 32 MBPeter's guests this week are Noel Brohner of Slow Rise Pizza, who has appeared on the show in the past, along with his colleague, molecular biologist James Gaffney. They have been working, along with a few other microbe geniuses, to create a powdered wild yeast sourdough starter that can be used just like instant yeast to make sourdough breads and pizza doughs without the need of keeping a starter in your fridge. How did they do it, when will it be available, and what are the implications of...
Marco's Pizza
April 14, 2024 16:00 - 33 minutes - 30.7 MBWe often focus on independent pizza makers here on Pizza Quest. But, only 50% of the pizzas sold in this country are made by the thousands of independent operators; the other 50% are sold by the many pizza franchise chains, and most of those are from the top five brands. Marco's Pizza has recently climbed into that top tier (along with Domino's, Pizza Hut, Papa John, and Little Caesar's) , as it now boasts more than 1,000 locations, with over 100 more coming this year alone. Peter sits down...
Chef Michael Friedman
April 07, 2024 16:00 - 50 minutes - 46 MBChef Michael Friedman grew up in a New York area Jewish American household (in Westfield, NJ, to be specific) and, like me, was nourished by lots of Chinese and Italian food. Also like me, he attended Boston University's School of Communications, so we share a kindred spirit connectivity. After paying his dues in fine dining restaurants around the world (including stints with Rich Melman's Lettuce Entertain You restaurant group, as well as with Chef Marc Vetri in Philadelphia, and also with ...
A Conversation with the "Most Connected Guy in Pizza," Scott Wiener
March 31, 2024 16:00 - 39 minutes - 35.8 MBPeter just spent a few days at the 2024 International Pizza Expo, where he sat down with the "Energizer Bunny of Pizza," and frequent guest, Scott Wiener, who seems to know everyone in the pizza mega-verse. Together, they cover everything from emerging trends (based on this year's pizza competition at the Expo, where Scott was a lead judge), the growing impact of Slice Out Hunger, the non-profit hunger relief program formed by Scott a number of years ago, the ever-popular pizza tours that fi...
Dairy-Free Cheese that Actually Tastes and Performs Like Cheese
March 24, 2024 16:00 - 51 minutes - 47.4 MBOur guest this week is Inja Radman, co-founder of New Culture Food, a company with a mission to provide the world with dairy-free cheese, beginning with mozzarella, that actually tastes and performs like the milk-based originals. Even those with lactose or dairy sensitivities have a love-hate relationship with the current options of faux cheese, usually made with nut and seed milks. New Culture's breakthrough came by breaking the bio-chemical code of milk cheeses and to zero in on casein as ...
Animal-Free Cheese that Actually Tastes and Performs Like Cheese
March 24, 2024 16:00 - 51 minutes - 47.4 MBOur guest this week is Inja Radman, co-founder of New Culture Food, a company with a mission to provide the world with animal-free cheese, beginning with mozzarella, that actually tastes and performs like the milk-based originals. Even those with lactose or dairy sensitivities have a love-hate relationship with the current options of faux cheese, usually made with nut and seed milks. New Culture's breakthrough came by breaking the bio-chemical code of milk cheeses and to zero in on casein as...
Jillana Miller and Ahmad Butler
March 17, 2024 16:00 - 47 minutes - 43.2 MBThis week's episode features Jillana Miller and Ahmad Butler who, together, are the dynamic team known as MillerButler, a sizzling-hot mobile pizza and catering company, based in San Pedro, California. Ahmad competed against Peter and 10 other finalists at the Real California Pizza Contest in Napa back in August, where they first became friends. That's when Peter learned how MillerButler took on the ultra-competitive Los Angeles marketplace, survived the pandemic, and were soon cooking for t...
Paul Lackey of Lloyd Pans
March 10, 2024 16:00 - 17 minutes - 16.2 MBLloyd Pans has emerged as the leading supplier of pans for every style of pan pizza, and Paul Lackey is their Director of Operations. On this week's podcast, which was recorded at the Northeast Pizza and Pasta Expo in Atlantic City, Paul describes the manufacturing process that enables Lloyd Pans to respond to the ever-changing needs and trends in the pizza industry with durable but lightweight and affordable pans. As Peter notes, watching the sales charts of the various types and styles of ...
No Glass Ceiling, Shannon Mangini
March 03, 2024 17:00 - 54 minutes - 49.9 MBSometimes it just takes moxie. Shannon Mangini is living proof of that. In just a few short years since graduating from U Penn's Wharton School with a degree in economics, entrepreneurship, and finance, Shannon has brought DiFara Pizza to the North Fork of Long Island. In addition, she has been serving as Senior Director of Brands and Partnerships for the OTG Management Group, which owns and operates food concessions in airports around the country. We discuss all of this, happened so quickl...
World Pizza Champion Anthony Berghela
February 25, 2024 17:00 - 39 minutes - 36.1 MBWho would have thought that Glenmont, NY, near Albany, would be home to one of the reigning international pizza champions, but that's where Anthony Berghela, of Romo's Pizza, makes it happen. Hear all about how he honed his craft while working his way to the World Pizza Cup Championships in Naples, Italy, where he won first place last year in the American Pizza Division. This is not an overnight success story, but one of hard work, perseverance, and tenacious dedication to the craft. Anthony...
Anthony Mangieri
February 18, 2024 17:00 - 50 minutes - 46.3 MBAnthony Mangieri is one of our favorite guests. Now that his NYC restaurant Una Pizza Napoletana was recently anointed by one poll as the "best pizzeria in the world," this is a timely return visit to the show. On this episode, Anthony tells us all about his new line of frozen pizzas under the name Genio Della Pizza, and how he managed to create and package a frozen wood-fired pizza, made in Italy, that he is now bringing it to selected outlets here in the States like Whole Foods Markets. A ...
Rob Cervoni, King of Roman-Style Pizza in Mineola, NY
February 11, 2024 17:00 - 34 minutes - 31.5 MBRoman-style pizza is in a steady ascent across the country, due in no small part to the success of this week's guest, Rob Cervoni. Rob is a disciple of the acclaimed Massimiliano Saieva pizza tree, but is now forging his own glittering path. Many of you have seen him kick everyone's butt and become champion on Chopped in 2023, or saw him compete and showcase his work at various Pizza Expo's. Pizza Today named him a rising star in 2022, and now, it's all coming together for him at his Mineola...
Ron Costello
February 04, 2024 17:00 - 1 hour - 55.4 MBPeter hasn't seen Ronnie Costello in 53 years, since they played together on their high school baseball team. It has also been 60 years since they attended Belmont Hills Elementary School together. They lived on different sides of Mary Waters Ford Road, the street that, like the Maginot Line, separated the mostly Irish and Italian kids of "The Hill" from the mostly Jewish kids of Penn Valley. There are a lot of stories that each of them could tell (and have) about living on those two sides o...
Michael Vakneen of Truly Pizza
January 28, 2024 17:00 - 29 minutes - 27.3 MBWelcome back to Pizza Quest. On this episode, Peter talks with one of the fastest rising stars in the pizza firmament, Michael Vakneen, co-founder of Truly Pizza in Dana Point, CA (near Laguna Beach), partnering with pizza legends Chris Decker and John Arena. Michael is also making some of the best pizza in Las Vegas at his Double Zero Pie & Pub. He consults and he competes, winning many of the championships he enters (he's a member of the World Pizza Champions team), working at the highest ...
Bill Crawford of Righteous Slice
January 21, 2024 17:00 - 1 hour - 62.3 MBOn this episode we welcome Bill Crawford, former Air Force jet fighter test pilot and, now, the owner of Righteous Slice in Rexburg, Idaho. Bill shows us all about his Grand Prize winning El Pollo Barracho Pizza (aka "Drunken Chicken" pizza, with tequila marinated chicken) from the 2024 Real California Pizza Contest, sponsored by the California Milk Advisory Board. Peter competed in this contest too (and didn't win), working directly across the bench from Bill during the competition, so he's...
Karen Bornarth of the Bread Baker's Guild of America
January 14, 2024 17:00 - 37 minutes - 34.3 MBThe pizza and artisan bread worlds inevitably found each other during the past two decades, and it's a marriage made in heaven. Now, we see a lot of cross-over as pizzerias are making their own breads and many bakeries are making great pizza. The common denominator in all of this is the Bread Bakers Guild of America, which serves as the networking repository of knowledge and training for everything related to the art and science of bread. The Guild is at the root of the improved quality in ...
Bagels with The Yodi's
January 07, 2024 17:00 - 58 minutes - 53.2 MBWelcome back to Pizza Quest. Yes, the Yodi's are back! John Arena and Brian Spangler, our two original Pizza gurus who helped launch these Pizza Talk/Pizza Quest shows during the pandemic, are joined by the true global bagel poet laureate of our time, Philip Korshak, for a delightful conversation of show-and-tell as we celebrate the emerging bagel renaissance across the land. More and more pizza operators are getting into bagels, as we've discussed on recent shows, and both John and Brian ha...
Roberto Caporuscio and Massimiliano Saieva
December 31, 2023 17:00 - 40 minutes - 37.2 MBThis episode was recorded at the Northeast Pizza and Pasta Expo in Atlantic with two of the giants in the pizza world, Roberto Caporuscio of the acclaimed Kesté Pizza Napoletana in Greenwich Village, and Massimiliano Saieva, the master teacher of the ASR PIZZALAB, who has been featured on Pizza Quest in the past as well as in Peter's book, Pizza Quest. Learn all about how they are raising the bar by educating pizza makers across the world with their pizza schools, and pick up some tips about...
Bagels are Back!
December 17, 2023 17:00 - 1 hour - 55.8 MBYes, bagels are back, with a vengeance! Wonderful shops are bobbing up all over the country, in much the same way as their "kissing cousin" the donut shop. The bagel cycle is fairly predictable, as bagels never really go out of fashion, but the trend often spikes every ten years or so, rejuvenating itself as bakers find more creative ways to make or market them. "Schmears" are sometimes part of the secret sauce of the bagel business, but other factors, such advanced fermentation methods, or ...
Sourdough Pizza with International Champion Will Grant
December 10, 2023 17:00 - 29 minutes - 27.4 MBWill Grant seemingly burst on the scene about 8 years ago as an "overnight success" after winning the Caputo Cup Championship in NYC for his White Sourdough Pizza with Gorgonzola Creme Sauce. For 25 years prior to that, he had simply been a well-kept secret in the Pacific Northwest at his now destination pizzeria, That's A Some Pizza on Bainbridge Island. His 120-year old sourdough starter is even registered in the International Sourdough Library in St. Vith, Belgium, and Will is now a certi...
Blaine Parker of Free the Pizza
December 03, 2023 17:00 - 53 minutes - 49.4 MBThis week Peter talks with Blaine Parker, the creator and host of the website "Free the Pizza," a site devoted to the unending quest of making pizza in a home oven as good as those from a pizzeria. Can it be done? Blaine says yes, and has written an entire book showing readers how, as well as posting humorous essays regularly on his site to chronicle his journey at freethepizza.com. He also started a Pizza Prousti thread, inspired by Marcel Proust's famous book, "Remembrance of Things Past"...
Scott Wiener and John Gutekanst, Pizza Pioneers
November 26, 2023 17:00 - 43 minutes - 39.5 MBTwo of the most creative forces in the ever-growing pizza community join Peter this week in a conversation recorded at the Pizza and Pasta Northeast Expo in Atlantic City, NJ. Both are monthly contributors to Pizza Today Magazine, and are regular presenters at both Pizza Expo's. At Avalanche Pizza in Athens, Ohio, John Gutekanst continually brings together his early background in white tablecloth fine dining into his current world of pizza, expanding the boundaries of what we narrowly think...
All About Pizza University with Francesco Marra
November 19, 2023 17:00 - 40 minutes - 36.8 MBFrancesco Marra is the co-founder of Marra Forni, and also the founder of Pizza University (in Maryland, near Washington DC), where some of the most famous pizza makers in the world teach hands-on classes for both professional and home pizza enthusiasts. In this episode, Francesco tells us of his journey from food service marketing, to creating world class ovens, and now to education, all in the service of advancing the quality and growth of pizza. Click here for the video versions of Pizza...
Ed Zimmerman of The Food Connector
November 12, 2023 17:00 - 51 minutes - 47.1 MBEd Zimmerman is a name not many people outside the pizza and food service industry know (though those of us in the pizza world all know him), but all of us, whether inside or outside of the profession, are impacted by the creative work he does. His company, The Food Connector, organizes the annual Real California Pizza Contest, on behalf of their client, The California Milk Advisory Board (the CMAB). This has turned into a major event for professional pizza makers, with serious prize money, ...
Prime-6: A Game-Changer in Wood-Fire Cooking
November 05, 2023 17:00 - 41 minutes - 38 MBPeter welcomes Oron Franco, co-creator (along with his wife Riki) of Prime-6. If you watch Shark Tank, where the Franco's landed a major "Shark," (Keven O'Leary, aka Mr. Wonderful), you already know that this is not ordinary charcoal and fire logs, but is made from 100% hardwood sawdust that has been compressed into logs without the addition of any binders. As you will learn during this conversation, the burning properties of this product change the whole equation of wood-fired cooking -- bu...
Chef Wylie Dufresne
October 29, 2023 16:00 - 47 minutes - 43.9 MBMost culinary savants are familiar with Chef Wylie Dufresne, who, at his groundbreaking Manhattan restaurant, WD 50, brought modernist molecular gastronomy in the style and spirit of Heston Blumenthal, Grant Achatz, and Ferran Adria to NYC about 10 years ago. Since then, like so many other great fine dining chefs, Wylie has fallen under the spell of pizza and is now expressing his creative genius at Park Avenue's Stretch Pizza. Hear all about Wylie's journey, from his Rhode Island origins, t...
The Rise and Fall of Korshak Bagels, featuring Philip Korshak
October 22, 2023 16:00 - 41 minutes - 38 MBKorshak Bagels, nestled in the heart of Philadelphia's historic Italian Market Neighborhood, was like the mouse that roared. Producing only 1,000 hand-shaped sourdough bagels a day, Philip Korshak's love-child of a Bagelry garnered national press during its brief two-year run, and elicited deep mourning and lines two blocks long during its final week, even when folks were warned they could buy only two bagels per person. Was it Korshak's Instagram poetry posts, the original shmears and curat...
Kyle Ahlgren, Artisan Baking Center
October 15, 2023 16:00 - 50 minutes - 46.7 MBOn this episode, Peter talks with Kyle Ahlgren, the producer/director of the Artisan Baking Center (ABC). A year ago, Peter and Kyle collaborated at the Artisan Baking Center, the educational component of Central Milling in Petaluma, CA. The two recorded a video pizza course based on Peter's most recent book, Pizza Quest. Kyle and his team chose four of the featured pizzas from the book, along with Peter's dough and sauce recipes, and created a dynamic, seven-part pizza course that is availa...
How the Fire Within Keeps Fanning the Flames
October 08, 2023 16:00 - 18 minutes - 17.3 MBAjith Dharmawardhana (aka Ajith Dharma) is the owner of Fire Within, the leading manufacturer of mobile wood-fired oven rigs. In this episode, Ajith describes how Fire Within trains the growing number of oven owners at their Wood-Fired University to achieve maximum success by providing detailed business plans, strategies, and training on the many uses of their mobile ovens. Learn all about this uniquely American success story right here on this week's episode of Pizza Quest with Peter Reinha...
Brick + Dough = Amazing Pizza in Montclair
October 01, 2023 16:00 - 32 minutes - 29.9 MBJason Rosenthal started making pizzas in his apartment for a few lucky locals as a way to maintain his sanity and explore his creativity while exiting a job he didn't love. Soon, he started doing successful pop-ups, then he found a couple of kindred pizza-obsessed spirits, and lo and behold, they teamed up to open Brick+Dough in Montclair, NJ, where the locals are going mad for their inventive, neo-traditional wood-fired pizzas. Based on the buzz, their restaurant seems destined for Razza st...
Landon Pietrini Makes World Championship Pizza in Orange County
September 24, 2023 16:00 - 33 minutes - 31 MBLos Alamitos, California is not known as a pizza haven. That is about to change thanks to Landon Pietrini of Pietrini Pizza Napoletana. Landon is now an international pizza star, having placed 5th at the recent World Championships, and is putting his town on the map. Pietrini's is no longer a local roadside secret, as the Pietrini family has staked out their own slice of the Orange County dream not too far, actually, from Disneyland. Big crowds are now lining up for Landon's wood-fired beau...
Chef Roy Elam
September 17, 2023 16:00 - 1 hour - 56.3 MBChef Roy Elam learned how to cook in the cornfields along the borderland between St. Louis and Illinois, and then paid his culinary dues with some of the country's finest natural foods chefs. But when he decided to open a plant-based restaurant of his own, dedicated to his mom, Donna Jean, Southern California was the logical place to do it. First in San Diego (2017) and, more recently in LA, Donna Jean is drawing big, happy crowds at both locations with its all natural, super inventive vegan...
Inventing a Texas-Style Pizza with Pizza Champions Nicole Bean and Derek Sanchez
September 10, 2023 16:00 - 45 minutes - 42.1 MBTwo internationally known pizza stars are part of the ever-growing cadre of pizza makers putting Texas on the global map. Nicole Bean, award-winning pizzaiola and president of Houston's Pizaro's Pizza, and three-time World Pizza Champion Derek Sanchez, co-founder of Mia Marco's Pizza in Selma (just outside of San Antonio), join Peter to discuss the state of pizza in Texas, and entertain the notion of what a Texas-style pizza would and should be. Click here for the video versions of Pizza Qu...
Scott Deley, Ooni Pizza Project
September 03, 2023 16:00 - 59 minutes - 54.2 MBWelcome Back to Pizza Quest! There is no question that Ooni Ovens have taken the world by storm, even eclipsing their worthy competitor RoccBox, which had a nice head start. How have they done it? Fortunately, Scott Deley, who just published a book called The Ooni Pizza Project, joins the show to tell us all about it. The book is loaded with inspiring recipes created by Scott (but inspired by his many pizza heroes), who has been on his own personal pizza quest for quite a while. He is now an...
Peyton Smith, Mission Pizza
August 27, 2023 16:00 - 40 minutes - 36.7 MBOn this week's episode of Pizza Quest, Peter talks with Peyton Smith of Mission Pizza in Winston-Salem, NC. Peyton found his calling, his life's mission if you will, when he fell in love with real Neapolitan pizza in Italy and decided to bring the experience home to the city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. After nearly ten years, Mission Pizza Napoletana has become a pilgrimage point for pizza freaks near and far, and has been recognized as having one of the best pizzas in the country. No...
Chef John Ash, Godfather of Wine Country Cuisine
August 20, 2023 16:00 - 49 minutes - 45.4 MBThis episode features a conversation with Chef John Ash, who for the past 40 years has been known in Sonoma and Napa as the Godfather of Wine Country Cuisine. His restaurant, John Ash & Company, helped to define what became known as California Cuisine back in the 1980's and 1990's. John, along with chefs like Alice Waters, Jeremiah Tower, Joyce Goldstein, and Michael McCarty, changed the way people cooked and ate across the entire country. Chef Ash has also written a number of award winning ...
Flour + Water Goes NY Style in San Francisco
August 13, 2023 16:00 - 31 minutes - 29.1 MBChefs Thomas McNaughton and Ryan Pollnow, the creative minds behind San Francisco's award-winning Flour + Water, join Peter to discuss their newest restaurant, Flour + Water Pizzeria. Located in the heart of the city's North Beach neighborhood (aka Little Italy), Flour + Water Pizzeria will switch the focus from the Neapolitan style that earned them their legendary status in SF's Mission District, towards a Neo-Neapolitan New York Style. Why the change? Tune in to find out all about it. Cl...
Tony Gemignani: SF Pizza, Beer, and Bagel Fest 2023
August 06, 2023 16:00 - 1 hour - 58.9 MBOn this episode of Pizza Quest, we catch up with the biggest rock star in the pizza universe, multi-world pizza champion Tony Gemignani. Tony is the owner of Tony's Pizza Napoletana and Pizza Rock, along with many other restaurants, bakeries, pizza schools, and even a new bagel shop in San Francisco called Dago Bagel. He tells us about his biggest project ever, the launch of dozens of Slice Shops by Tony Gemignani franchises across the country. Despite all that, the main focus of today's co...
State of Mind Pizza: Something Special in the Bay Area
July 30, 2023 16:00 - 38 minutes - 35.6 MBLars and Cristina Smith must be doing something right. Their restaurant, State of Mind Public House and Pizzeria, is killing it in Los Altos, California, just south of San Francisco. Lars is also competing on the USA Pizza Champions Team and is a fast-rising star in the American pizza community. They are joined in this episode by Lars' former mentor and previous Pizza Quest guest, Leah Scurto, who is having similar success on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge at her popular restaurant...
Meathead Goldwyn
July 23, 2023 16:00 - 52 minutes - 48.5 MBOn this episode of Pizza Quest we take a tangential detour away from pizza (as we often do in our ever-expanding celebration of artisanship wherever we find it) with one of our longtime, favorite guests, Meathead Goldwyn. Meathead (yes, that's his name, the origins of which he explains in this conversation), is the creator and host of the hugely popular website, AmazingRibs.com, where for many years he has provided an encyclopedia's worth of free knowledge on everything related to cooking o...
Women In Pizza
July 16, 2023 16:00 - 37 minutes - 34.2 MBJoin Peter as he meets with three of the leading voices in the USA pizza movement: Laura Meyer, Stephanie Swane, and Alexandra Mortati. As more and more women take the helm of their pizza businesses, they encounter similar but also different challenges than their male counterparts, and bring new creativity to the craft. You will hear all about it on this week's enlightening episode of Pizza Quest. Click here for the video versions of Pizza Quest. If you count on HRN content, become a mont...