Archives: Podcasts

Alex White’s Great Great Grandfather used a sourdough starter when he ran a shop in the Yukon Territory more than 120 years ago. That same starter lives on in a Las Vegas pizzeria: ⁠Yukon Pizza⁠, where they make sourdough crusts as well as some NYC slices.

As a born-and-bred New Yorker (from Long Beach), Vito DeCandia was literally brought up in a pizzeria. He was stretching dough by the age of 12. His lifetime of baking eventually led him to the West Coast, where his wife was from. Two years ago he opened ⁠Angel City Pizza⁠ in Venice, where he continues to make what he knows: NYC style slices, squares, and even Grandmas! Vito will be one of 40 pizzerias participating at Pizza City Fest L.A. April 26-27. Get your tickets at ⁠pizzacityfest.com

 

John Notaro may have spent his early years in Brooklyn, but there’s no denying pizza and baking are in his DNA. He spent years at Sbarro, then ran a bakery until he became partners at Famous Ben’s, a SoHo landmark since 1979 (they celebrate 46 years in business this month). We talked about his “Palermo” which aficionados will recognize as a sfincione (sans anchovies).

Anthony Mangieri has been making pizzas for 30 years. Starting out on the beach in New Jersey, he’s moved his operation to New York City, San Francisco and has returned to the Lower East Side, where he stretches and bakes all of his pizzas himself.  The pizzas at Una Pizza Napoletana are classic Neapolitans, but with a slightly larger cornicione. Named to the #1 spot on the 50 Top Pizza list two of the last three years, this is truly a pie worth traveling for.

The Federighis had successful careers in commercial production and modeling, but all of that changed during the pandemic, when they shifted more into their love of pizza making. Hopscotching around Chicago and the suburbs, making artisan, then Sicilian and finally Chicago thin (tavern style), they’ve opened one of the most in-demand pizzerias in the city – Pizz’Amici – which makes a textbook Old School Chicago thin pizza.

Darby Aldaco got into some big trouble as a kid, stealing pizzas from stopped delivery cars. At 18, he was arrested for stealing a Domino’s pizza, subsequently losing his prom date. He wound his way through the L.A. bread scene, worked for Nancy Silverton at Triple Beam , then began commuting to Portland for a pizza project. The result is Pizza Thief (and the Bandit Bar next door). They make 18 inch pies and focus on sour dough and whole grains with high hydration. Like so many of their peers in Portland, they get all of their ingredients from local farms, markets and mills in the Northwest.

The Mexico City pizza scene is still in its infancy. Most of the styles tend to follow the Neapolitan model – wood fired, high heat, etc. ⁠Ardente⁠ has two locations in CDMX and we visited their newest location in the Condessa neighborhood, where Alfonso Jarero has brought his expertise in gelato making and is now also making excellent pizzas.

 

Chicago has a wealth of pizza styles – deep-pan, deep-dish, tavern and stuffed are the homegrown styles, but there’s also Sicilian, Detroit and Neapolitan. When it comes to Roman pinsa, however, choices are more limited. Adam Weisell was born in Rome, so he brings a lot of experience and his own taste memories to the menu at ⁠Munno⁠, an Italian restaurant with a dedicated pinsa program.

 

Matthew Grogan loved the pizza from Grimaldi’s (and later, Juliana’s) so much, he quit his job in finance to help Patsy Grimaldi continue his vision. The New York native has seen Grimaldi through good and bad times, and feels the weight of carrying on that vision well into the 21st century. We discuss the complicated history of Grimaldi’s and ⁠Juliana’s⁠, including the special challenges involved in running a coal-fired oven beneath the Brooklyn Bridge.