I love North Beach, the legendary Little Italy of San Francisco, where the beatniks ruled during my youth, Carol Doda launched a whole new kind of soul baring, and some of the best Italian restaurants and espresso cafes have ruled for decades (and now lots of great Chinese and pretty much something from every ethnicity). It was especially fun to return just after local boy, Tony Gemignani, opened Tony's Pizza Napoletana in the shadow of the beautiful Sts. Peter and Paul Church (where, Tony points out in this webisode, not only was he married but also where, sixty some years earlier, Joe DiMaggio married Marilyn Monroe--North Beach has seen it all!!)

In this short, introductory webisode, Tony welcomes us and shows us the oven dedicated to making his World Championship Margherita pizza. In another section he begins making a Sicilian style pizza and gives us a quick briefing on San Marzano tomatoes, which he uses only on a few of the pizzas on his menu.

If you look closely you'll see a quick shot of Audrey Pagnotta Sherman, who we last saw in my July blog as the head pizzaiola at 900 Degrees in New York City. At the time of this filming, Audrey was a student at Tony's Pizza School and also his apprentice in training. In an upcoming video she tells us she eventually wants to open her own place in Boulder--bet she didn't have any idea she'd soon be opening in the Big Apple instead.

That's one of the best things about this Quest--we get to meet so many great people, some at the top of their game and some who will be the stars of the next generation. It can happen fast, but over the next few weeks we'll be getting to know Tony pretty well, and we're catching him as he's about to become one of the biggest superstars in the pizza world, having first mastered the entertainment side as the unbeatable Acrobatic Dough Spinning  champ, and now, the first non-Napoletano to win the World Margherita championship.

So, let's meet Tony and dive into his world--there's a lot more to come….