Pizza For a Cause - Support Pittsburghers Affected by the Pandemic via Pizza

We are certainly living in interesting times, aren’t we? When you think you’ve finally adjusted to the “new normal” there’s another change or wrinkle that you have to deal with. Lately, this pandemic has flipped the table and truly upended the world, causing panic, stress and uncertainty to run rampant.

In an effort to help those affected by the pandemic we are donating all proceeds from the digital version of our book, Pizza Walk Pittsburgh: A Guidebook, to local Pittsburgh charities.

Pay What You Want for the Digital Book Today!

100% of the money generated from this campaign will go to charity. 50% to ROC United and 50% to Community Human Services.

In an effort to help out the industry I most rely on for the content of this book, we are donating 50% of the proceeds to the Restaurant Worker Disaster Relief Fund for Pittsburgh organized by ROC United (Restaurant Opportunities Center). 

Additionally, those without a stable housing environment are impacted by this pandemic in a way I can't even begin to imagine. So, the other half of those proceeds will go to Community Human Services, an organization dedicated to providing food, shelter and services to families and individuals in Allegheny County.

Please pay whatever you want! 

We’ve already raised over $200! Thanks to the generous contributors who have donated for this cause. And truly, feel free to pay $0. I only ask that you share and help spread the word - that’s as good as any currency.

The money you give will be split between the two organizations above and you'll get a digital version of Pizza Walk Pittsburgh: A Guidebook.

This book is a guide to help you understand the origin of some of these pizza places and what makes them so great. You'll have access to:

• Beautiful photos shot by yours truly that capture the essence of each shop.

• Details on what to order at each pizza shop, their specialities and what they're known for.

• A brief history of the pizza shop.

• An empty space for you to add your own tasting notes for each pizzeria. It's a wonderful way for you to chronicle your own experience.

• Insights on some of the newest most delicious pizza shops like Pizza Taglio, Spak Brothers, Caliente, Driftwood Oven, Slice on Broadway, Pizza Badamo's, Iron Born and more!

Other Ways to Contribute - Pizza to the People!

If you aren’t interested in the digital guidebook, or want to support the community in another way, Steve Mason and Gaven Rapp have setup a Go Fund Me, Pizza to the People, that buys pizza from local pizza shops and has them delivered to industry workers / those in need. Check it out here.

Spirit Lounge is raising money to support the staff during these difficult times. Help them reach their goal by donating here! If you’ve ever enjoyed the pizza, ate too much at their buffet or had a great time at this phenomenal venue, think about contributing a few dollars.

What Pizza Places are Still Operating to Satisfy Your Pizza Cravings?

A number of pizza shops around the area are still offering delivery and takeout options. While Spak and Driftwood Oven are closed for the time being, here are a couple of places you can still get pizzas from:

• Pizza Taglio

• Iron Born

• Spirit

• Pizzeria Davide - To Go Pizza Kits

• Slice on Broadway

• Mercurio’s

• Badamo’s

• Kevin Konn is delivering pies, but he may have already reached capacity.

• Mineo’s and Aiello’s

• Caliente

Those links will take you to their Instagram page where you should be able to find the most up-to-date information. I’m sure there are more out there, but these are the ones I could remember off the top of my head!

Stay safe out there and don’t forget to grab your Digital version of my book, Pizza Walk Pittsburgh: A Guidebook. If anything, it’ll provide a much needed distraction in these perplexing times.

Pizza Expo 2018: Touring the Exhibit Hall, Meeting Pizza Legends, Pizza Robots and Free Pizza

Hi there! This is Dan Tallarico, your favorite pizza journalist, with a recap from day 2 of our visit to the 2018 International Pizza Expo. You can read our day 1 recap here if you want to get up to speed on our pizza adventure thus far.

This expo is huge. From end-to-end I swear it's a mile long. Each row is home to pizza ovens, baking sheets, cheese suppliers, tomato vendors and all sorts of fringe pizza technology and services. It's overwhelming, but we've done our best to bring you a cross-section of the expo. It's impossible to see it all. Or eat it all, but we are doing it for you.

Watch our Day 2 Recap Video here or keep reading for a rundown of highlights.

Pizza Legends Cooking on the Show Floor

The Pizza Expo exists to elevate pizza craftsmanship and help pizza makers make the best pizza and share ideas. So, you have pizza legends like Tony Gemignani and Graziano Bertuzzo cooking on the floor like it was another day in the kitchen. These two are trailblazers in the world of pizza and have helped spread new techniques and information about how to make better pizza.

Graziano Bertucco showing off a pizza he made that's engineered to reduce starch.

Detroit Style Pizza

In 2009 no one outside of Detroit knew what Detroit Style Pizza was. Now, Pittsburgh  has two Detroit Style Pizza shops and many more are peppered across the nation. This movement was started by Shawn Randazzo, president of the Detroit Style Pizza Company.

Shawn loves Detroit Style Pizza and when he first entered the World Pizza Competition he was surprised to see no one else knew about his region's pizza. So, he spent years being the Detroit Style Pizza ambassador. The tipping point for his movement was when he won the World Pizza Championships in 2012 with his Detroit Style Pizza. Now the World Pizza Championships are filled with variations of the pie.

Through his efforts and passion, Shawn has helped Detroit Style Pizza get on the map. He frequently travels the globe to help aspiring Detroit Pizza folks dial in their technique. I shot some video with his crew so look forward to that!

Gluten Free Pizza

Gluten Free Pizza is growing in popularity as more people pay attention to what they're putting into their bodies. As Graziano Bertuzzo said, "You aren't what you eat, but what you digest." Among the traditional pizza companies, the show floor is home to new gluten free pizza ventures. And great news - the pizza taste pretty good.

A gluten free pizza category was added to the World Pizza Championships and I heard that spots filled up pretty quickly. If you're into the gluten free lifestyle you'll be happy to know that there's some quality pizza coming your way.

Pittsburgh Pizzaiolo, Kevin Konn, cutting into a mozzarella, broccoli rabe pie. 

Day 3 Ahead!

That's all for now - I have a ton of photos and videos to get together, so stay tuned for those updates in the coming days. 

 

Happy Pizza Birthday to Mercurio's!

After a year of making pizzas for the hungry citizens of Pittsburgh, how is a  pizza/gelato parlor supposed to celebrate? Humbly keep their head down and their eye on the pizza prize? Or give away a ton of free pizza? Luckily for us, Mercurio’s chose the latter.

I’ll go to great lengths for pizza. In this case I went 3 miles. We took a seat, waited an extra-long time (because their oven is so small and they had to make a pizza for everyone in Pittsburgh), and got to eating.

Here I am with my Pizza Roberto. Instead of marinara sauce they lined the crust with basil. Leaves upon leaves of basil! Smothering the basil pouces of burrata. It was all too creamy - I may have just been eating ricotta by the spoonful.

Here’s Christa enjoying the free margherita pizza. She really wanted to get her money’s worth so she thought she’d eat the plate too. Poor girl. You think she’d know how to eat pizza by now?

I wish more pizza places celebrated their pizza birthday. It’s more important than ever to understand your pizza roots and measure success! Looking back and seeing pizza progress is the only way to redefine pizza and innovate. 

Went to Mercurio’s the other day with some pals. Aside from a seating debacle, it seems they’re actually getting better at serving pizzas that are fully-cooked and piping hot. 

Enjoy the photos - I’ll get back to more pizza reviews and less glamour shots of me posing with pizza soon!

I recently had the “pleasure” of visiting Roland’s in the Strip. This is face, the face I’m making at that pizza, is usually the last thing any pizza sees before meeting its maker. It’s the “I’m going to eat this whole pizza in one sitting” face.

The pizza of Roland’s must have sensed that doom was following it out of the oven and deployed a self-defense mechanism: awfulness. Thanks to some miserable sauce, soggy cheese, and a floppy crust this pizza fought me away. Like a wolf biting a porcupine, I had to turn tail and flee from my prey.

The only edible portion of this pizza were certain spots of the crust. I carefully tore off the crust like I was opening up a valuable envelope. A pull in the wrong direction and I’d have spoiled my dinner with some of that candy sweet sauce and flat as paper cheese.

This pizza made me crave texture. It flopped down my throat like I was swallowing a dead fish whole. Which is too bad because it looks nice. The roasted red peppers are spread throughout and the cheese covers the dough like a blanket on a freshly made bed. But looks can be deceiving. 

I’d stick to the fish at Roland’s.