Archives: Podcasts

Partners Hannah Ziskin and Aaron Lindell created two businesses during COVID: House of Gluten (Hannah) and Quarter Sheets Pizza Club (Aaron). Now the two have integrated both into a small shop in Echo Park, just off Sunset Boulevard, near Dodger Stadium in L.A. The pies are resplendent with soft crumb (made from various artisan flours) and sturdy crust, the result of an all-natural starter.

Noel Brohner grew up in the 1970s eating a lot of frozen pizza in California. But as the child of parents hailing from both New York and Chicago, his early impressions were shaped by frequent visits to both cities. After a life-changing experience in culinary school, he emerged as a dough whisperer of sorts, helping some of L.A.’s biggest names develop their pizza programs. Known as @slowrisepizza on Instagram, Brohner is now busy eating, baking and consulting all over California. He talked to us just outside one of his latest finds. More info about him here.

Ryan Baddeley is the owner of Pizzeria Badiali, a fantastic slice shop in Queen West, a hipster area in Toronto. We talked about the must-visit places in Toronto (sorry we didn’t get to North of Brooklyn) but kudos to our friend Amy Rosen, who insisted we meet for a slice at Badiali. This is a unique pizza in a city full of Neapolitans.

 

Victor Barry is a chef and restaurateur in Toronto who continues evolving. He’s got three Piano Pianos, a Piccolo Piano plus two shops dedicated to pizza, and now a slowly growing frozen business. I first had his pizza sitting at the restaurant’s bar about six years ago, and I still remember how much I enjoyed it. Very Neapolitan, and very dialed-in to the list of imported ingredients. But most important, he makes sure he has a pizzaiolo who knows how to work the oven.

Chris Getchell is widely acknowledged as the founder, creator, mastermind at Descendant in Toronto. It’s in Leslieville, on Queen East, and it’s among the best Detroit style pizzas anywhere. Steve was back in Toronto a few weeks ago, and so when he set up the interview, expecting to meet Chris, he instead met Ike Tzakis, another partner and pizzamaker there. Ike’s going to break some news on today’s show, so if you’re at all interested in the Toronto pizza scene, listen carefully.

 

Justin Haines missed his beloved Lou Malnati’s so much when he moved to Amsterdam, that he quit his job in logistics to open his own place. Determined to recreate the buttery crusts of his childhood, he sought out an Italian chef, took him to Chicago to eat a ton, then returned to Amsterdam to open The Ugly Duck to attempt to serve Europeans his favorite childhood pizza. It’s not exactly Lou’s, but it’s also not half bad.

 

Rotterdam native Bas Scheffer has been traveling to Italy since he was a child. That sparked a lifelong love for Italian culture and pizza. During COVID, he and his girlfriend would make pizzas in an Ooni oven, which led to the birth of Pizza Project, a pizzeria just a few blocks from Vondelpark. In a city full of Neapolitan pizzas, this one really stands out, due in part to their longer fermentation and use of a pre-ferment.

Eytan Sugarman certainly has strong opinions about pizza. He grew up on the Upper West Side, eating slices all over the city. So when his friend suggested they open a place together, the research and development phase took on a life of its own. The result is Made in New York Pizza, which opened on the Upper West Side in 2018 and recently opened a second location in the West Village.

 

Pete Ternes really just wanted to make beer. But when he and his partners opened Bungalow by Middle Brow, their sprawling space in Chicago’s Logan Square, they realized they needed to offer something besides just drinks. Bread for sure, but why not pizza? It was an experience at Roberta’s in Bushwick that really convinced Ternes he could create something unique in Chicago. The result is one of the best artisan pies in town, with an all-natural starter and a long fermentation.

 

Copeland Moore is the 4th generation at La Segunda Bakery, which was started by his great-grandfather in 1915 in Ybor City, near the port in Tampa Bay. It’s here where Cubans, Spanish, Germans and Italians all settled together. The city was a huge cigar producer and gave birth to the Cuban Sandwich (but with the addition of Genoa Salami, which you don’t find in Miami). This melting pot really influenced the bread, the pastries and the pizza in the area. There are now a half dozen well-known bakeries in the area all offering slightly different versions of scachatta, but the OG is La Segunda.