Peter’s Blog, Nov. 1 2012

Just a few quick notes this week:

–We’ve had some great response to John Arena’s new series on what it takes to open your own pizza restaurant. A very valid question has been raised: how can he tell us to get fast while he (and Brad English, our intrepid pizza quester) also extoll the virtues of super slow pizzaiolo Dom DeMarco of Brooklyn (see Brad’s recent journey, further down the page, on his visit to Pizzeria Di Fara). John, I’m sure, will address this but for those of you who have recently joined us, look back in the archives of our Guest Columns and read John’s earlier pieces in which he defines three categories of pizza makers, including the “artistes” such as Dom, Anthony Mangieri, Chris Bianco, and others. Some great stuff there…

–I’ve been asked by many of you, “When are we going to see more video webisodes?’  The answer is NEXT WEEK!!  It’s a slow and costly process to edit our hours of footage into coherent, quality short films (remember, we shot this originally for long format, PBS-style shows — a dream we still hope to fulfill), but Brad, who produces these webisodes for you, just informed me that we have a few almost ready to post. This new story arc refers back to last year’s hugely fun pizza/beer challenge that I wrote about in previous Peter’s Blogs, culminating in the Big Reveal at last year’s Great American Beer Festival in Denver. It all began at Pizzeria Basta, in Boulder, two years ago, so we have a long story to tell. The first installment should post next week, and then we’ll bring out the others from time to time, as we get them edited. Anyway, check back soon — it’s really going to happen!

–We have had some response threads to your pizza and dough questions. Time to start another. Does anyone have a pressing question or want to resolve an ongoing pizza controversy? Post to the comment section on this post and I’ll choose one for the next round. How about something along the lines of “What makes a pizza memorable?”  Remember, we define great pizza as being memorable, so what makes it so?  I’ll riff on it again, as I’ve done in the past, but what about your riffs? I know there are some strong opinions about this out there, so now’s your chance. If you decide to cite a particular place (and not one that you own), then at least give us the reasons why, what makes it memorable? As I tell my Johnson & Wales students, it’s okay to have a strong opinion but you have to be prepared to defend it with valid criteria. (OR, you can also suggest a different topic or question that we could also grapple with.)

–I’ll be in Chapel Hill in a few weeks, teaching at A Southern Season with my co-author Denene Wallace on Saturday, Nov. 17th on  “The Joy of Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Baking.” Not sure if they’re sold out yet, so contact them directly if you want to come.

–Should have some other good news to share in a week or two about, well, I can’t say yet but I think you’ll be happy to hear about it (this isn’t a false tease, I’m really excited about this, but I  have to wait till it’s all confirmed before spilling the cheese). Soon, though, I promise….