Guest Columns

Lately I’ve been thinking about New Orleans. The Crescent City has a huge Sicilian heritage yet it has never been known as a great pizza city. We will explore why at a later date because right now let’s think about something New Orleans is famous for and how it relates to pizza — music. Back in the early 1900’s there was a legendary jazz musician named Freddie Keppard. People who…Read More…

  Lately I’ve been thinking about the student teacher relationship. For the past few weeks I have been training a friend who wants to open an authentic New York style pizzeria in Seoul. James Yu is not your average pizza guy. A native of South Korea, he graduated from Auburn with a degree in Chemical Engineering and worked in the US for several years. Along the way James fell in…Read More…

Note from Peter: We welcome Michael Hanson back with another thought provoking and, maybe even, controversial guest column. I am very curious to hear what you think of his ideas; whether you understand his vision and if you agree or disagree with his world view. This is an open forum and we encourage dialogue with all of our readers. It’s okay to voice your opinion as long as it’s done…Read More…

New York. I grew up in New Jersey.  New York was the big beast that my dad went off to on a hot — or cold — bus for the day, depending on the time of year.  Unfortunately, the bus wasn’t cold in the summer and it wasn’t hot in the winter  the way you would like it to be (as he tells it).  Either way, it was a long…Read More…

Note from Peter: Alan Henkin is a partner at Pizzeria Basta and is also the restaurant’s beverage director. We were so impressed with his knowledge of both wine and beer, and his thoughtful list, that we filmed some special webisode segments with him, which we will show in the future when we run the Bruery Beer and Pizza Challenge series. But, as the time draws near for the Great American…Read More…

Note from Brad: Ever since reading Peter’s “American Pie:  My Search for the Perfect Pizza” I have been trying to get myself to Phoenix, Arizona to experience what Chris Bianco is capable of doing with our favorite food — pizza!  I have to admit, this may have become more and more of an obsession as we developed Pizza Quest.  I will also admit that my obsession may have, just a…Read More…

Note from Peter: Cary and Lillian Steiner are friends of mine from New York who have their own wonderful pizza blog called Passion-4-Pizza (you can link to their site through our Sites We Like section). In fact, the photo of me used on all my postings was taken by Cary when he and  Lillian brought me to Umberto’s in New Hyde Park to experience my first “Grandma’s Pizza.” It was…Read More…

*Note from Peter: “The MacBeth” is a delightful pizza memoir sent in by a friend of Pizza Quest named Jeffrey Ippolito.  We loved it and thought it was a fun piece celebrating fond memories, good pizza (almost), and good friends.  We hope you enjoy it as well, and keep the conversation going. If you have pizza memoirs that you’d like to share and see published here please send them to…Read More…

Note from Peter: Wes Bailey, a good friend of Brad and Jeff’s, was on his way to a long vacation with his family to Napa Valley.  After hearing about these plans, Brad suggested that Wes keep an eye out for a quest-worthy story or two.  Wes sent us this reflective essay that seems to capture the essence of the dichotomy of living the quest, as opposed to the idea of…Read More…

Lately, like many of us across the country I’ve been thinking about heat. Now, I’m no stranger to intense heat. I’ve been working in front of a pizza oven for over 40 years and I live in Las Vegas where, one day last week, the temperature topped out at 119 degrees. So, let’s just say heat is a big part of my life. As pizza makers and bread bakers, we…Read More…