Peter's Blog

Note from Peter: I met Brigit Binns in the Fall of 2015 when we were both featured presenters at the “Forno Bravo Wood-Fire Expo” in Salinas California (you will see her featured in some of our upcoming video webisodes over the next few months). Her food was (and is) amazing, and she and her husband, Casey, made an an amazing team at the Expo, bringing his theatrical background and her…Read More…

Hi Everyone, Just a short post this week to let everyone know that On The Rise: The 2017 Johnson & Wales International Symposium on Bread, presented by Puratos, has completely sold out and we now have a waiting list of 25 people!  I just want to thank all of you for helping to spread the word and, if any of you reading this are coming the Symposium on May 22nd…Read More…

I just got back from what I think is, like, the 32nd annual International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas (or is it 23 — anyone know?). There may have been either 22 or 31 of these before but this was my first, and you know what they say about the first time….yes, it was memorable! Pete LaChapelle, the publisher of Pizza Today Magazine, and the organizer of this event, told…Read More…

To all my fellow bread-heads, I want to share this link to a major event I’ve organized in Charlotte, NC on May 22-23. It’s called, “On the Rise: The Johnson & Wales University International Symposium on Bread.”  The theme of the symposium is “The Future of Bread,” and we will be featuring 10 internationally important experts on all facets of bread. Some of the speakers include Chad Robertson, of Tartine…Read More…

Every New Yorker claims to know where to find the best slice in the city. They argue about it as if it were a question with a definite answer. And even if a real answer existed, confirming its legitimacy would require tasting every single slice in town. Enter Colin Hagendorf, the only man who can truly claim to have explored the depths in search of New York’s best slice. Between…Read More…

Note from Peter:  A few months ago I received an e-mail from Steve Marquez, who you will meet below, correcting my spelling of the word “chile,” as in chile pepper (and not as in chili con carne, which was my error). He was right, of course, and I could see he was really passionate and deeply connected to his beloved Colorado and New Mexico chile (and not chiles — it…Read More…

A few years ago A fellow named Andris Lagsdin wrote to me here at Pizza Quest to introduce himself and to tell me about a tool he had developed called The Baking Steel. I was skeptical that it would work as well as he promised but he offered to send me one, and also one for Brad English, to play around with. Needless to say, we both loved the Steel…Read More…

Hi Everyone,     As noted in my post of January 19th, I got to spend some time with Phillip Korshak in Austin, Texas at his pizzeria Home Slice, where they make about three thousand pizzas and slices a day to an unending line of both sit-down and take-out customers. The place was hopping and I imagine it always is.  It was our first time meeting face to face and…Read More…

Hi Everybody, Our friend Daniel Young, author of the essential book Where to Eat Pizza, has a terrific newsletter that he sends out regularly with fun posts of his never ending search for pizza excellence. Here’s a link to his most recent post, about a guy from New Haven who went to Naples on his honeymoon to find out for himself whether his beloved New Haven pizza could stand up…Read More…

Hi Everyone, I’m back from a fun and exciting trip through Texas, which entailed visiting five cities in five days, teaching artisan bread classes at the Central Market Cooking Schools in San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Fort Worth, and Dallas. By exciting, I mean that on Sunday, while I was teaching my final class, in Dallas (and while the Cowboys were getting beat by the Packers in an amazing finish, just up…Read More…