Pizza Talk With Me Episode 15: Pizza Expo Recap, Spak Buffalo Chicken, Pizza Talia, F&F Pizza

Long time no pizza! Hard to believe we took a bit of a pizza hiatus. Funnily enough I was at the doctor today and they told me I need to “take a break from tomato sauce”! This means nothing but white pizzas for next week’s episode.

In the month or so we’ve been gone, too much has happened. We recap the wonderful winners of Pizza Expo. Winners include Eric Von Hansen who can’t seem to stop making award winning pizzas. Additionally, Pete Tolman from Iron Born placed second to Eric with his forager pie.

Pizzas We Ate

We go through our inventory of pizza and we ate a variety of slices between recordings. The biggest surprise for me was a box of frozen pizzas that arrived on our doorstep. Made in Italy, then put to sleep until they’re ready to be eaten, Pizza Talia is a clever and novel pizza invention. It’s a remarkable product that replicates authentic Neapolitan pizza. Check out Pizza Talia.

We eat Spak fairly often, but hardly dip into their specialty pizzas. We are big Buffalo Chicken Pizza fans so we gobbled up Spak’s take on the legendary style of pizza. It’s quite good!

During a recent trip to NYC, we got pizza from the “under rated” pizzeria F&F pizza. This is a newish shop in Brooklyn and is some of the juiciest pizza I’ve ever had! I’d compare it to a Pizzeria Davide. Very delicious, worth the trip.

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Pizza Talk With Me Episode 06: DiGiorno Croissant Pizza

Growing up DiGiorno was the premier frozen pizza. It broke new ground in the freezer aisle and transformed the frozen pizza landscape. While it couldn’t compete with the local shop, it was a solid substitute in a pinch. Years later the pizza industry has never been more competitive and DiGiorno has evolved to meet the needs of their constituency by creating a product that goes beyond the traditional pizza: Croissant Crust Pizza.

In this episode of the podcast Christa and Dan devour a three meat croissant crust pizza from DiGorno, a standard supreme hand-tossed pie from DiGiorno and crunch on a pre-packaged salad.

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Pizza Review: Roberta's Airt-Tight Wood Fired Margherita Pizza

Roberta's pizza has thrived in Bushwick on a foundation of quality and freshness. Their business infrastructure was built organically over the course of a year where the Roberta's crew had nothing but close friends and family to rely on. In the Roberta's Cookbook there's a rambling introduction that tries to tell the Roberta's story (they note that it's a story still being written). While trying to capture the spirit they write, "To experience Roberta's, you have to visit it." And now you can purchase a vacuum sealed pizza of theirs in the freezer section of a local Whole Foods.

It's curious that a pizza place that relies so much on experiencing the environment of Roberta's would be one of the first to have their Margherita pizza sealed and sent across state lines. If so much of what makes Roberta's great is the atmosphere and making memories with friends, what good is a pizza divorced of that? 

While it may seem like a cash-in you'll be happy to know that this pizza actually holds up. Most frozen or reheated pizzas have a lingering taste about them. It's the taste of age, or a lack of freshness, that is entirely edible but in a different pizza class of its own. This Roberta's pizza came bubbling back to life after a mere three minutes in the oven. I let it loiter in the oven for a minute longer for extra crispiness. While the pizza was missing that pop of freshness, it is a solid Neapolitan pizza. 

Here's the pizza after spending a few minutes in the oven.

The puddles of cheese held dribbles of olive oil, the sauce was simple and tangy. The pizza was a near perfect facsimile of the one that comes out of a Roberta's oven. Which makes sense as these pizzas are cooked and immediately packaged, freezing a pizza in time until you're ready to open the delicious time capsule. The Margherita is a perfect canvas if you want to add your toppings and doctor up the pizza. The pizza is perfectly balanced as is, and the sauce shines through, but feel free to add a sprinkle of meat.

They did their best to put a quality Margherita pizza into the wild. But the question remains: if you need to visit Roberta's to experience Roberta's, why package the pizza? The Roberta's cookbook was written a while ago and maybe they wised up. Maybe they want to spread their passion for pizza and open up the opportunity to gather with friends and make their memories in their homes. Or parks. Or wherever. The pizza is what draws friends and family together. It doesn't matter where it's eaten, as long as it's eaten with your pizza pals.

Roberta's air-tight Margherita is the king of the freezer section pizza. If you need a Neapolitan pizza in a pinch you can't go wrong with this package. It retails for ~$10 at Whole Foods or you can spend $70 to have it shipped from your door from Gold Bely's. 

Friday night pizzas have arrived

My Friday night pizzas have arrived.