Webisodes

Welcome Back! We have 10 webisodes in this interview series with Peppe Miele, so we’ll be covering a lot in the coming weeks. In this segment, Peppe explains a little more about the Vera Pizza Napoletana school of thought, focusing on the famous tomatoes from San Marzano. As you will see, the sauce made from these tomatoes is beautiful (and it tastes as good as it looks, with a fresh,…Read More…

We’re back with a new series of webisodes featuring a fascinating conversation with Peppe Miele, the first restaurateur to open a certified Vera Pizza Napoletana pizzeria in the United States. We did this interview a couple of years ago, before he closed his beautiful cafe, Antica Pizzeria, in Marina del Rey, California, due to a massive rent increase (it wasn’t far from the LA Airport — listen carefully and you…Read More…

So we come to the end of the story, at least this story that began with Kelly Whitaker and I challenging Patrick Rue to make a beer inspired by a pizza. If you’ve been following it from the start this finale segment is kind of a denouement, as we, sated and satisfied, drift off into the Denver sunset, having our own Pizza Quest version of a Rocky Mountain high. If…Read More…

So, if you’ve been following our webisode series, we’ve been building up to the moment when the pizza, created by Kelly Whitaker and Alan Henkin of Basta, along with me and the Pizza Quest team — who came up with the Germainia Malted Dough — finally meet the beer created by Patrick Rue and his Bruery team. In the previous segment, we showed the Bruery guys two different pizzas and…Read More…

In our previous webisode we made two different pizzas for Patrick Rue and his team and challenged them to create a beer inspired by one of them. In this segment, you will see the choice that Patrick and his head brewer Tyler made, as well as an interesting discussion on the thinking behind all the choices. The red pizza was made with spiced pork jowl (guanciale), local pistachios, Mimolette cheese,…Read More…

When Kelly Whitaker and Al Henkin, of Boulder’s wonderful brick oven restaurant, Basta, collaborated with me and our Pizza Quest team to create two pizzas, one red and one white, to challenge Patrick Rue and his Bruery team, we came up with a couple of very strong contenders. You can hear, as they explain the rationale and sourcing they put into each of their ingredients, how much thought went into…Read More…

The story unfolds (and if you are just joining us, you can see all the segments leading up to this one by going to the Webisodes section — see the button above — and catch up): So, here we are, the Basta team, our Pizza Quest team, and Patrick Rue, the owner and beermeister visionary of The Bruery, in Placentia, CA (Orange County). We threw down the gauntlet in our…Read More…

After all the prelude webisodes you’ve been watching, things are starting to heat up as we now head into the main story. This segment contains the moment when we threw down the gauntlet and asked Patrick Rue, world famous brewmeister and owner of The Bruery, not knowing if he’d go for it, if he would be willing to create a beer inspired by a pizza that we would make.  But…Read More…

We are moving now closer to the showdown between Kelly Whitaker, Al Henkin, and me on pizza versus Patrick Rue on beer.  It all began at, and was inspired by, this dinner at Basta – Wood Fired Eatery and Pizzeria, where Kelly and Al came up with a wonderful tasting menu inspired by some of the beers from Orange County artisan brewery, The Bruery.  In this segment you will see…Read More…

In this installment of the Basta series, as we inch closer to the big pizza/beer throw down, Kelly Whitaker takes us through his process for making one of the most amazing meat dishes I’ve ever had. A few years ago very few people knew of the cooking method called sous vide, which means, “under vacuum.” Now, because of high profile chefs like Thomas Keller, as well as exposure on television…Read More…