Guest Bloggers

I’ve been thinking a lot, lately, about my recent adventure on a coffee farm in Costa Rica. It was, for me, a life changing experience–or at least it forever changed my relationship with that powerful bean — and I don’t even drink coffee. But now I can’t even smell it brewing without thinking about how disconnected most people are to where it comes from and what the real costs are…Read More…

Recently I have been thinking about artisanship, integrity, and the pizzaiolo. I am an Englishman with no Italian heritage and, as such, do not feel well qualified to make pronouncements about what constitutes an authentic pizza, if in fact there is such a thing. But I am a professional pizza maker, and have been wondering what shortcuts can be made without sacrificing authenticity. I perfected my pizza making skills with…Read More…

  Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about three inspirational pizza makers. At the risk of sounding blasphemous, I often call them the Father, Son and Holy Spirit of pizza. They are three men who couldn’t be more different in their contributions to the world of pizza, but together create, represent, and inspire all that we should be in our quest to serve pizza that is both delicious and meaningful….Read More…

  By Guest Columnist Caleb Schiff Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about balance and pizza. A Neapolitan pizza, for example, is best summarized by the short description: “Fresh ingredients on good bread.” It’s really a simple concept. Yet, because of the focus on the basics, the room for perceived-error is small. Other pizza styles that may be heavily topped or have many components can hide inconsistencies in the dough…Read More…

Lately, I’ve been thinking about pizza as a form of self-expression. On a recent holiday shopping expedition, I found myself fascinated by what are called Fine Art Galleries in the mall. I’m sure you’ve seen them, places that sell the mass-produced work of a particular “artist” who seems to be capable of turning out thousands of paintings at an alarming rate, each new one eerily similar to the last. Well,…Read More…

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about something called Third Places because, in these challenging times, it’s so hard to make real connections with real people. Our homes are being built closer together while our family schedules have caused us to live further apart. In our quest to become more efficient at work we now have even more work to do yet less time to do it in effectively. It seems…Read More…

  Hi Everyone, This week we offer you the second in a weekly series of essays by the Pizza Quest Contributors (last week I got the ball rolling with an essay on food carts, but now I’m passing the baton to our esteemed group of contributors). This week, we’ll be hearing from world champion pizzaiolo, Tony Gemignani, of Tony’s Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco. We have some great footage of…Read More…

Respect The Craft So many things about pizza run through my mind each day, but lately, I’ve been thinking about pizza as a craft.  I laugh when I see people, writers, critics, or bloggers comparing pizzas from different pizzerias when I believe that they should be celebrating pizza in it’s entirety. In the restaurant business we call it the uneducated palate. Understanding all the details of different styles is so…Read More…

This is the first in what promises to be an exciting feature on PizzaQuest.com, a series of short personal essays and thought pieces, by many of the people featured in our video webisodes, as well as from other thought leaders in the world of artisanship, culinary and other. These essays are not promotions of the various businesses of the writers but, rather, a peek inside the passion and vision that…Read More…