Pizza Quest with Peter Reinhart

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…

When I make a few pizzas, the one I often end up liking the best was the one that wasn’t planned so much, but just sort of came together.  This pizza may have been born because I was in a store and something caught my eye.  I might have come across a new pile of chili peppers.  I might have sampled 5 or 6 salted pork products and found something…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…

Usually, I post a new Peter’s Blog on Tuesdays but this week we received such a great Guest Column from our friend and frequent contributor, John Arena, that I wanted to post it ASAP, so I’m switching places with him (see below) and I’ll be back at the end of the week with my regular Peter’s Blog. In addition, Brad is currently in NYC on a filming project and is…Read More…

Answering The Big Question We are all very lucky that the quest for pizza excellence involves some really interesting and (usually) very tasty field research. In fact, although I grew up in a pizzeria I didn’t really start to understand my craft until I began traveling, observing and, most importantly, eating pizzas around the country and around the world. Those journeys, over more than 40 years of pizza obsession, have…Read More…

I’m currently exploring some of Pizzeria Basta’s great pizzas.  The word Basta means “enough” in Italian.  I think that word offers a great insight into Kelly’s cooking in general.  With Basta he created a pizzeria restaurant that showcases delicious foods in a simple and pure way.  He also wants everything to be “touched by the fire,” so literally everything eventually sees some time in his custom wood fired oven, either…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…

When we first began contemplating what Pizza Quest could be as a Travel/Food Series, one of our early goals was that the show would vicariously transport viewers around the world as we journeyed on our quest to find the secrets to that perfect pizza. I wanted people to feel what I had when I first read Peter’s book, “American Pie: My Search for the Perfect Pizza”.  As I read the…Read More…

I had lots of things to blog about this week but something happened a few days ago in Charlotte that knocked all the other news into next week. Emeril Lagasse opened a new restaurant right here in Charlotte, called e2. This city, which is hosting the Democratic National Convention in September and has, for the past fifteen years been carrying out a dynamic strategic plan to turn Charlotte into America’s…Read More…

  We’ve been wanting to share this webisode with you for quite a while, so here it is. Last year, when we were at the Fire Within Oven Owners Conference, we taped a number of demo’s in the beautiful mobile ovens built by Joseph Pergolizzi and his team of masons and metal craftsmen. Among those in attendance was Andres Salazar, who was just on the verge of releasing his first…Read More…