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Welcome back to Pizza Quest, Leo Spizzirri, Maestro of Pizza, is back, with all sorts of good news for us. He used to be known as “the greatest guy you never heard of” until his classes across the country, and especially at Pizza University, became legendary. His videos on Instagram and TikTok have turned him into an international celebrity and, now, having consulted for years behind the scenes for restaurants…Read More…

Welcome back to Pizza Quest! In this episode, we welcome Brett McKay, the founder of the immensely popular website/newsletter/podcast, The Art of Manliness. For the past fifteen+ years Brett, along with his wife Kate, have been on their own quest to explore every aspect of what it means to be a man — really, a human — at this particular time in history. Their site has clearly struck a chord,…Read More…

Welcome Back to Pizza Quest! This week we welcome fellow podcaster Jimmy Carbone, host of HRN’s Beer Sessions podcast. Jimmy has been hosting his “convivial ale salon” on HRN (Heritage Radio Network) from the network’s earliest days, beginning about 15 years ago.  Peter recently was a guest of Jimmy’s on Beer Sessions, talking about the pizza/beer connection, so this time Jimmy returns the favor and joins us here to share…Read More…

Welcome back to Pizza Quest. Mark Todd is a recurring guest here on Pizza Quest because, one, I love cheese (every kind!), and two, he’s so interesting and makes cheese interesting too as he demystifies this magical, fermented, “spoiled” solid milk so that we can enjoy it in all it’s mighty nuances and permutations. In past episodes with Mark, we’ve explored stretched cheeses in the “pasta filata” category, cheddar cheeses,…Read More…

Welcome back to Pizza Quest! Muhammad Abdul-Hadi’s and Michael Carter’s new book, “We the Pizza,” just came out this week. They join us from their restaurant, Down North Pizza, in Philadelphia’s Strawberry Hill Neighborhood, to tell us all about it. The subtitle of the book, “Slangin’ Pies and Saving Lives” is really what makes Down North Pizza unique among the many great pizzerias we feature here. The restaurant represents a…Read More…

Welcome back to Pizza Quest! Joel Kostman helped support his family for over 30 years as a New York City locksmith, but that was just his day job. By night, he was (and still is) a serious writer who channeled his locksmithing adventures into a semi-autobiographical fictional cult classic story collection called, “Keys to the City: Tales of a New York City Locksmith.” The New York Times even called him…Read More…

Welcome back to Pizza Quest! In this episode, we are joined by Eddie Fischer (no, not the famous singer and husband of Debbie Reynolds and father of Carrie Fisher), but the OTHER Eddie Fischer, a Jersey guy, the founder of How U Doin?, a new boys and girls club about to launch near Dallas, Texas. Yes, he and I share a long, shared history of East Coast pizza questing but,…Read More…

Welcome back to Pizza Quest 2025, for a new season with lots of exciting guests, both new and returning!  We kick off the new season with Chef David Nayfeld, chef and owner of a hot new restaurant in the shadow of San Francisco’s dynamic sports complex in an area called Thrift City (the restaurant is located on Warrior Way, lest there be any doubts about his Golden State bona fides). …Read More…

Welcome back to Pizza Quest and Happy New Year!! We’ll soon be posting all new podcast interviews but, while we gear up for that, I wanted to let you know about my upcoming Sourdough Fundamentals livestream (aka, Sourdough 101) via The Milk Street Online Cooking School, on January 22nd. This link will take you to the sign up page and you can get a 15% discount by using the code…Read More…

Welcome back to Pizza Quest!      Marco Pacelli is doing something wonderful in Redondo Beach, California at his pasta shop, Fatto a Mano’. After a lifetime of working for Michelin-level fine dining restaurants, he and his wife, Arlene, decided to open a small pasta and Roman-style pizza shop showcasing the foods inspired by Marco’s Aunt Concettina, the woman who shaped his culinary passion during the summers he spent with her…Read More…