Pizza Quest

Los Alamitos, California is not known as a pizza haven. That is about to change thanks to Landon Pietrini of Pietrini Pizza Napoletana. Landon is now an international pizza star, having placed 5th at the recent World Championships, and is putting his town on the map.

Pietrini's is no longer a local roadside secret, as the Pietrini family has staked out their own slice of the Orange County dream not too far, actually, from Disneyland. Big crowds are now lining up for Landon's wood-fired beauties and the sky is the limit. Hear all about it right here, on this week's episode of Pizza Quest.

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Chef Roy Elam learned how to cook in the cornfields along the borderland between St. Louis and Illinois, and then paid his culinary dues with some of the country's finest natural foods chefs. But when he decided to open a plant-based restaurant of his own, dedicated to his mom, Donna Jean, Southern California was the logical place to do it. First in San Diego (2017) and, more recently in LA, Donna Jean is drawing big, happy crowds at both locations with its all natural, super inventive vegan cuisine and plant-based cheeses, including pizzas that break all the rules but deliver so much flavor that customers (many of them not vegans or vegetarians) simply don't care about the so-called "rules."

Join Peter in this inspiring conversation with rising star chef, Roy Elam, who was cited a few years ago by The Huffington Post for making the "Best vegan mac & cheese ever!"

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Two internationally known pizza stars are part of the ever-growing cadre of pizza makers putting Texas on the global map. Nicole Bean, award-winning pizzaiola and president of Houston's Pizaro's Pizza, and three-time World Pizza Champion Derek Sanchez, co-founder of Mia Marco's Pizza in Selma (just outside of San Antonio), join Peter to discuss the state of pizza in Texas, and entertain the notion of what a Texas-style pizza would and should be.

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Welcome Back to Pizza Quest! There is no question that Ooni Ovens have taken the world by storm, even eclipsing their worthy competitor RoccBox, which had a nice head start. How have they done it? Fortunately, Scott Deley, who just published a book called The Ooni Pizza Project, joins the show to tell us all about it. The book is loaded with inspiring recipes created by Scott (but inspired by his many pizza heroes), who has been on his own personal pizza quest for quite a while. He is now an official Ooni Brand Ambassador, posting regularly on social media to help establish Ooni as a brand to reckon with. In out conversation, Scott tells us all about what a "Brand Ambassador" means, and gives us an insight into Ooni managed to break from the pack and become a global marketing phenomenon.

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On this week's episode of Pizza Quest, Peter talks with Peyton Smith of Mission Pizza in Winston-Salem, NC. Peyton found his calling, his life's mission if you will, when he fell in love with real Neapolitan pizza in Italy and decided to bring the experience home to the city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. After nearly ten years, Mission Pizza Napoletana has become a pilgrimage point for pizza freaks near and far, and has been recognized as having one of the best pizzas in the country.

Note: On Sept. 10th, 2023, Peyton will be hosting Peter for a Sunday Pizza Brunch at Mission Pizza, where Peter will be signing copies of "Pizza Quest: My Never-Ending Search for the Perfect Pizza."  If you're in the area, here is the link to the ticket information: https://www.exploretock.com/missionpizzanapoletana/event/431227/pizza-quest-brunch-with-peter-reinhart

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This episode features a conversation with Chef John Ash, who for the past 40 years has been known in Sonoma and Napa as the Godfather of Wine Country Cuisine. His restaurant, John Ash & Company, helped to define what became known as California Cuisine back in the 1980's and 1990's. John, along with chefs like Alice Waters, Jeremiah Tower, Joyce Goldstein, and Michael McCarty, changed the way people cooked and ate across the entire country. Chef Ash has also written a number of award winning books, including the 1996 IACP Cookbook of the Year, From the Earth to the Table, and has just published a beautiful new book called The Hog Island Book of Fish & Seafood.

On a personal note, John was the first important chef to serve Peter's bread in his famous restaurant, way back in 1988, which helped launch Brother Juniper's Bakery's successful run and paved the way for Peter's own writing career. He owes a deep debt of gratitude to John, not only for his early support and friendship, but for some of the most memorable meals Peter and his wife ever ate at John Ash & Company. You'll learn even more about this remarkable culinary influencer as he and I reconnect and reminisce in this  very enjoyable conversation, here on Pizza Quest.

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Chefs Thomas McNaughton and Ryan Pollnow,  the creative minds behind San Francisco's award-winning Flour + Water, join Peter to discuss their newest restaurant, Flour + Water Pizzeria. Located in the heart of the city's North Beach neighborhood (aka Little Italy), Flour + Water Pizzeria will switch the focus from the Neapolitan style that earned them their legendary status in SF's Mission District, towards a Neo-Neapolitan New York Style. Why the change? Tune in to find out all about it.

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On this episode of Pizza Quest, we catch up with the biggest rock star in the pizza universe, multi-world pizza champion Tony Gemignani. Tony is the owner of Tony's Pizza Napoletana and Pizza Rock, along with many other restaurants, bakeries, pizza schools, and even a new bagel shop in San Francisco called Dago Bagel. He tells us about his biggest project ever, the launch of dozens of Slice Shops by Tony Gemignani franchises across the country.

Despite all that, the main focus of today's conversation is to tell everyone about the upcoming San Francisco Pizza, Beer, and Bagel Festival on August 19th in North Beach, the "Little Italy" of San Francisco. There are only a few tickets left for this day long blow-out, so if you are planning to attend or want more details, the event page can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sf-pizza-bagel-and-beer-festival-tickets-643914444437

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Lars and Cristina Smith must be doing something right. Their restaurant, State of Mind Public House and Pizzeria, is killing it in Los Altos, California, just south of San Francisco. Lars is also competing on the USA Pizza Champions Team and is a fast-rising star in the American pizza community. They are joined in this episode by Lars' former mentor and previous Pizza Quest guest, Leah Scurto, who is having similar success on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge at her popular restaurant, Pizza Leah, in Windsor (Sonoma County). Join us as they swap stories of how they elevated each other's game over the years and all became major players in the pizza world.

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On this episode of Pizza Quest we take a tangential detour away from pizza (as we often do in our ever-expanding celebration of artisanship wherever we find it) with one of our longtime, favorite guests, Meathead Goldwyn.  Meathead (yes, that's his name, the origins of which he explains in this conversation), is the creator and host of the hugely popular website, AmazingRibs.com, where for many years he has provided an encyclopedia's worth of free knowledge on everything related to cooking over wood, charcoal, gas, and even electric. His best-selling book, Meathead: The Science of Great BBQ and Grilling, provides both techniques and recipes, but also clearly explains the science behind why and how you should do it.

In this entertaining conversation, he demystifies some of the most common false myths about BBQ and grilling, and you will leave this episode with some brilliant, perhaps even life changing takeaways, and might even be compelled to join Meathead's Pitmaster Club for additional perks. Hold on for a great ride as Peter talks with the legendary Meathead Goldwyn.

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