Guest Columns

Note from Peter: Bob Radcliffe was one of our first guest columnists, way back from when we were still out on the road making fun videos with famous pizza makers. At Bob’s Lynch Creek Farm, located deep in the Rocky Ford countryside of North Carolina, he established the non-profit Ben Franklin Society and supports it with freshly baked breads and special pizza events featuring his signature Wood-Fired Oven Tomato Pies.  The development of the…Read More…

What day is it?  For that matter what time is it? I woke up the other night after a “nap” and heard my kids downstairs talking and laughing.  I walked downstairs and my son was sitting playing a video game talking to my daughter who was at the kitchen table painting – making some art.  It was about 3 AM!  I grabbed a glass of water and chatted with them…Read More…

Note from Peter: It’s been a while since we heard from Bob Racliffe, who has been cranking out Jersey -style tomato pies and artisan breads in rural North Carolina for the past few years, via his Ben Franklin Society and Lynch Creek Farm Bakery programs. We all get lots of good ideas and make our “one of these days” lists, but here is a great example of how Bob grabs…Read More…

Note from Peter: Douglas Michael, founder of “Columbia County Bread and Granola,” is all-in on sprouted grain. I, too, am a big believer in the many benefits of sprouted grain (I’ve gone on record saying that I believe sprouted wheat is the future of bread), and am a fan of Columbia County’s breads and snack crackers. Recently, Doug sent me some of his new 100% sprouted wheat pizza crusts to…Read More…

Note from Peter: Welcome back to guest columnist Joseph Calcagno, whose reflective stories about his own personal quest always bring me great joy. Here, he shares some of the valuable things that pizza has taught him. If any of you would like to add your own life lessons to this list, please write to me at Peter@pizzaquest.com and you too can be a guest columnist. The “quest” is a universal…Read More…

Note from Peter: Welcome to 2019!  Here’s a fun way to kick off the new year: our old friend and guest columnist, Bob Radcliffe, is at it again! Many of you know of his Ben Franklin Society at Lynch Creek Farm, and his ongoing pizza and food events in rural Rocky Ford, North Carolina, but now he’s onto a whole new adventure. I’ll let him tell you about it here,…Read More…

Note from Peter: Thank you to our friend and regular guest columnist, Joseph Calcagno, for this holiday reflection, as he looks back over a year filled with a number of indelible pizza memories. This man takes the quest seriously, as I’m sure many of you do as well. Please let me know if you, like Joseph, would like to share some of your pizza adventures here. The more the merrier!…Read More…

Note from Peter: I ran into “World Pizza Champion” Michael Shepherd last week in Atlantic City at the Northeast Pizza & Pasta Show, where he was offering presentations to pizzeria owners on how to run a more successful, profitable operation. He told me he’d been working on a concise summary of his best tips for creating an exit strategy, and offered to share them here on Pizza Quest. As always,…Read More…

Note from Peter: We always say here that it’s more about the quest than it is about the pizza, but Anthony Saporito, the co-founder of Urban Fire in Madison, NJ, has vividly brought those two aspects together, as he describes his own journey in the following guest column. He and I plan to meet up in Atlantic City next week at the Northeast Pizza & Pasta Show (Oct. 3rd and…Read More…

Note from Peter:  Here’s a sweet vignette from contributing columnist Joseph Calcagno, inspired by his first visit to New Haven’s legendary pizzerias. He wrote it at the beginning of summer and, now, here we are already approaching autumn, but I think it is a timely reflection on how time and place can leave indelible memories. Enjoy!   New Haven, Summer of ’18,    by Joseph Calcagno The summer wind, came blowin’…Read More…