Pizza Quest Webisodes

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…

As our story progresses, we’ve already introduced you to Kelly Whitaker in the previous two segments and now we meet Alan Henkin, the co-owner (with Kelly) and also the Beverage Director of Basta, in Boulder CO.  In this webisode segment, Alan and Kelly take us through a virtual master class of beer and cheese pairing, as well as showing how it compares to more familiar wine and cheese pairings. In…Read More…

In this, the second in our newest webisode series, we continue our conversation with Kelly Whitaker, chef/partner at Basta in Boulder, CO.  You’ll notice a few breakaway shots to some of his menu items, such as a sous vide short rib dish that is phenomenal, cooked under pressure at a precise temperature for 48 to 72 hours, and then fire-charred just before serving. We will have a whole episode on…Read More…

We are beginning with this posting of a new webisode story arc featuring our friends at Basta, the wonderful wood-fired restaurant in Boulder that we’ve featured here in the past. This short opening segment re-introduces you to Kelly Whitaker, the visionary chef/owner of Basta and, in later segments we’ll meet other members of his team and then, over time, we’ll follow his trail all the way to Southern California and…Read More…

  We’ve been wanting to share this webisode with you for quite a while, so here it is. Last year, when we were at the Fire Within Oven Owners Conference, we taped a number of demo’s in the beautiful mobile ovens built by Joseph Pergolizzi and his team of masons and metal craftsmen. Among those in attendance was Andres Salazar, who was just on the verge of releasing his first…Read More…