A long time ago, I took a trip with my high school buddy, Milan.\u00a0 We went to Europe one winter to ski and roam around a little.\u00a0 The two of us didn’t have any real plans, beyond hitting some key ski spots like Chamonix, Zermat, Davos, St Anton, and Kitzbuhel among many others.\u00a0 We had a stop planned in a small farm town in Slovakia to visit his relatives but, other than that, our planning consisted of getting tickets and reserving a rental car.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
We hit the ground driving.\u00a0 Leaving Frankfurt, we eventually made a stop in the Black Forest for some German beer on Lake Titisee.\u00a0 It was a cold day, and a blanket of snow covered most things.\u00a0 There weren’t many tourists there that time of year, but we found our beer and it was as beautiful a place for a cold beer as I had ever been.\u00a0 I would find many such places on this trip.<\/p>\n
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I remember sitting in an outdoor cafe in Vienna with yet another beer, or should I say bier<\/em>, and just being amazed at how perfect everything was.\u00a0 It was winter, but the outside tables were set up in the sun, which hit the golden glass of beer making it shine against the grey backdrop of the mostly stone city-surroundings and bare trees.\u00a0 Now that was glorious!<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Our adventure continued over the weeks, driving, skiing, eating, finding a hostel, or pensione <\/em>to sleep in for the night and making sure we got a few cold beers.\u00a0 One night we got lost making our way through the Alps and ended up sleeping in the car in a small town in front of someone’s house.\u00a0 In the morning, we found a cafe where nobody spoke a word of English. We had the typical breakfast of coffee and a great fresh roll with real butter and jam, and stood with the cook pointing to our map as he tried to help direct us to where we intended to go.\u00a0 This was truly a classic road trip. We had decided to go to Innsbruck to see if we could get ourselves onto a bobsled.\u00a0 It seemed reasonable and a good idea at the time.\u00a0 After a long night out, at a place I believe was called The American Bar, we woke to the pensione <\/em>manager telling us it was time to check out. It was about 2 in the afternoon.\u00a0 On our way out of town, we thought we would drive around and find that bobsled that we were hoping to ride on. <\/p>\n As we drove through the foothills, I saw a farm field off to the left.\u00a0 What caught my eye was the picturesque two-track dirt road that wandered over a hill at the end of this beautiful field.\u00a0 There wasn’t much snow on the ground here, which made traveling and sleeping in the car easier, but the skiing wasn’t quite as good as it could have been.\u00a0 In a way, it was more beautiful to be able to see the signs of Spring coming early as we made our way across so many beautiful landscapes.<\/p>\n As we got closer to the farm road I noticed a sign; it was a small black chalkboard mounted on the fence post and it said, “Pizza<\/strong><\/em>,” with an arrow pointing out across the field.\u00a0 That was it.\u00a0 This arrow, scratched onto a chalkboard, that promised some pizza, was pointing to a beautiful little dirt farm road with some trees in the distance where the road disappeared over the hill.\u00a0 Who wouldn’t turn down that road?\u00a0 My friend, Milan, woke up in the passenger seat as our car now rolled over the bumpy dirt road and asked me what I was doing.\u00a0 I told him there was a sign back there that said “Pizza”.\u00a0 He looked confused as he peered out the window, examining his new surroundings as he began to wake up.\u00a0 <\/p>\n Once we got over the hill there were some houses scattered around in the more forested area we’d now come to.\u00a0 The road turned and twisted a bit and, as I was about to give up on this little detour, I saw another chalkboard sign ahead on the right this time posted on a tree.\u00a0 It again encouraged that “Pizza<\/strong><\/em>” wasn’t far away, with another arrow pointing down a dirt driveway to a house.\u00a0 It felt as if the car turned itself at this point, and we found ourselves by the side of a house in what could have been a place to park, but was more probably just the side of someone’s Tyrolean mountain house. <\/p>\n I parked the car and Milan looked at me again and, if he didn’t say it, he thought it: “What on earth are you doing?”\u00a0 But, it was one of those days and I was just sort of following my gut instincts, or following the circumstances and the signs. As I got out of the car to look around, he followed me.\u00a0 We were standing on the front side of this house which was built on a hill.\u00a0 The main entrance appeared to be up above us but it was obscured by the hill and some trees.\u00a0 I don’t know why, but I looked down the right side of the house and decided to wander back there even though there was absolutely no path, no reason to think I should.\u00a0 The roof was lined with icicles that had been warming in the late afternoon sun and they dripped on us while we walked toward the back of this house.\u00a0 <\/p>\n As I describe this I still can’t believe we decided to walk back there. There was nothing but those two chalkboard signs we had passed, and now it seemed we were at someone’s house, not at a restaurant looking for pizza.\u00a0 In the back there was a door to a basement with a couple of windows. Whatever it was, it didn’t look open and there was no evidence of anyone anywhere.\u00a0 The icicles continued to drip into the growing stream of water that now surrounded the house like a small moat.\u00a0 We knocked lightly on the door and looked around the yard to see if we could see anything else as we waited, as well as to look as innocent as possible in case we weren’t supposed to be here.\u00a0 A man opened the door and invited us in.\u00a0 <\/p>\n It was indeed a restaurant!\u00a0 It was a small place, built in their basement, with about 6 tables.\u00a0 The man and his wife, who now opened things up for business, didn’t speak any English!\u00a0 But they were very nice and welcoming.\u00a0 We ended up ordering some biers<\/em> and pizza by a combination of pointing to the menu and speaking English slowly (since, as you know, everyone understands English if you speak it slowly, right?).\u00a0 <\/p>\n As it turns out, this was the most memorable pizza I think I’ve ever had even though I can’t tell you exactly what was on it. But, in my mind and memory, it had a little chopped-up mild sausage, a very basic tomato sauce, and what I now think must have been some fresh mozzarella (based on how the melted cheese looked). It was my first small artisan style pizza.\u00a0 I remember the moment, and now realize that I was having an epiphany about what pizza could be.<\/p>\n I had always liked pizza; growing up on the east coast I at least had access to some great New York style pies and excellent pizza by the slice.\u00a0 One of my favorite things as a kid was to go into New York City with my dad and get a BIG slice of New York City Thin-Crusted Street Pizza. \u00a0 In California, the great ones were harder to come by at the time, but we had our favorites.<\/p>\n This pizza in Innsbruck was different. It was simpler and the flavors were more balanced.\u00a0 It was not over-done on any level –\u00a0 not over-topped or over-sauced.\u00a0 It wasn’t about having a few slices of pizza, but about having a meal.\u00a0 I didn’t fully understand this at the time, but that experience would remain with me to this day, helping to shape how I not only search for the next perfect pizza, but how I go about living my life.<\/p>\n I often think back about this trip with fond memories.\u00a0 Milan and I had the time of our lives just living in the moment on a wild ski vacation together for almost a month.\u00a0 But, interestingly, it was this little side-track detour, taken in the daze of a hang-over, that led me to my pizza awakening.\u00a0 I can still see Milan sitting across from me, nursing his bier<\/em>, maybe not quite as far along out of his daze as I was and probably not having an epiphany moment, but enjoying the fact that the two of us were in a distant place, in someone’s basement, being served good pizza and beer.<\/p>\n This is what the “quest” in Pizza Quest is all about for me; that life is a journey.\u00a0 So, my simple advice is this: follow the chalkboard signs that appear during your own lives.<\/p>\n