Peter's Blog

Last week I spent five exciting days in NYC attending the annual IACP Conference, which I referenced a couple of posts ago (especially for those culinarians among you who may want to join).  I think of it as fantasy camp for professional foodies.  There were over 40 workshops, panels, tasting sessions, field trips, throughout the conference so it was impossible to attend more than a small percentage of them —…Read More…

This is a quickie, with more details to come later this week. Bottom line: we didn’t win for Best Food Blog of the Year after all. That honor went to a terrific blog called 5 Second Rule (5secondrule.typepad.com). Many of you voted for us — thank you so much — and I promised  to post the results asap, so here it is, just to put everyone out of the misery…Read More…

I’m headed to NYC, the Big Apple, for the annual IACP Conference (the first time it’s ever been held in NYC — it moves to a different city every year — next year it will be in San Francisco). It will be like fantasy camp for foodies this weekend, culminating on Monday at the Awards Gala when we’ll find out whether Pizza Quest wins for Best Food Blog of the…Read More…

It’s hard to believe, but the time has come for another Asheville Artisan Bread Festival, this Saturday, March 24th.  Seems like just yesterday we were there, that I posted some photos here on Pizza Quest, and that we had a chance to celebrate with artisan bread bakers, cheese makers, and other Asheville area craftspeople in the lovely foothills of the Smokey Mountains.  This is our 8th annual event and I’ve…Read More…

I mentioned last week that Anthony Strong was recently named San Francisco’s 2012 Rising Star Chef for his work at Locanda, Craig Stoll’s newest restaurant, located just around the corner from Delfina and Pizzeria Delfina in the part of town they affectionately call, The Gastro. So, in tribute to Anthony’s well deserved success and budding fame, and for those who missed this the first time around, we’re replaying our visit…Read More…

March Madness begins this week in college basketball — my favorite sporting event of the year, full of last second drama and indelible moments of sports greatness. But it is also a big week for pizza too. Tomorrow, the annual Pizza Expo begins in Las Vegas — the biggest, baddest pizza show in the world and we’re sending the intrepid Brad English to cover it for Pizza Quest. I expect…Read More…

This week, because we’ve had so many new visitors to Pizza Quest, we’ve decided to re-post one of our earliest video webisodes, from Pizzeria Mozza, in Hollywood.  I chose this particular segment because Matt Molina, who is the Executive Chef at Pizzeria Mozza, fills us in about what it’s like to be working under the tutelage of owners Nancy Silverton and Mario Batali and we also get some great shots…Read More…

Hi again.  We’ve kept a lot of recent postings on the home page because we’ve been getting a number of new viewers and one thing I’ve noticed is that most people tend to stay on the home page rather than explore the archives or section categories (I know this thanks to Google Analytics!!). So, we’re going to leave things up as long as we can before they automatically default to…Read More…

Yesterday was my birthday and among the terrific gifts I received, including a fabulous dinner with Susan at Charlotte’s  delightfully romantic Passion8 Bistro — a real gem of a place — I got some especially great news: Pizza Quest has been nominated by the International Association of Culinary Professionals (the IACP) as one of three finalists for best food blog of the year! Here’s a link to all the nominees…Read More…

A couple of weeks ago I presented a demo on gluten-free baking at the annual Professional Association of International Innkeepers Conference (PAII for short). This year the conference was held in Little Rock, Arkansas and I had a wonderful time hanging out with people who really get the spirit of hospitality. Let’s face it, to own a bed & breakfast inn or small lodge, as the attendees do, you don’t…Read More…