I visited Pizza Cono, one of the few pizza cone shops in the United States! It’s nestled in the heart of Squirrel Hill, right here in Pittsburgh. It’s quite exciting. Especially if you’re a pizza journalist like myself.

Every one I’ve talked to about the pizza cone had questions about what/how/where/why does this exists. I’ve compiled this video to show the creation of a pizza cone. From dough ball to cone of pizza. This brief video documents the entire pizza cone process.

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Diving Into Pizza Cono, A Pizza Cone Place Pittsburgh

A while ago this whole “pizza cone” madness blew up. Pittsburghers were foaming at the mouths to get their jaws around this strange contraption. Was it more than pizza? Or closer to an ice cream cone? Can you fill this with chocolate? Can you use a straw to slurp out the cheese, sauce, and meats?

I was lucky enough to get in touch with the owner of Pizza Cono, Mike. Mike has spent a large majority of his life in Pittsburgh. He worked his way through Pitt University by, you guessed it, working at pizza places. He’s no stranger to the concept of pizza, but he is responsible for bringing this strange concept to Pittsburgh.

Mike was inspired during a trip in Europe. He was always on the lookout for “zany things” when he saw some folks strolling through the streets of Italy holding a pizza cone in one hand, happier than ever. He thought he should bring that cone-shaped happiness to the United States.

Look how happy I am.

To his knowledge, you won’t find a pizza cone shop anywhere in the United States. I’ve yet to do my research, but this is the first i’ve heard of a building where you can walk in, hand someone $3.75 and leave with a pizza cone.

“Pizza cone is meant to be an on-the-go experience,” Mike told me. He wants people to stop into his shop, get a shot of espresso from his espresso machine, grab a pizza cone, and continue on their way. This isn’t a pizzeria, but a quick place to stop for lunch on the go. Or the perfect cafe to visit en route to work. Ideal for the student on the way home from class, or the young lover who wants to surprise their significant other with a bouquet of pizza.

Mike invited me into his pizza cono shop to show me how a pizza cone is made. The process is mostly the same–they make dough, they let the dough rise, and they even keep it in the same white, plastic dough trays I’ve used in my pizza making days. But then that’s where your traditional pizza making experience ends.

The pizza cone process is more mechanical. A side-effect of machinery rising up? Probably. The only part of pizza cone creation that involves a human is the stuffing of the dough into a hole (which is filled with a cone to achieve that cone shape), and filling the pizza cone with toppings. The cooking of the cone is done with a carousel that rotates in-and-out of heated sections until the cheese is melted and the cone is a tad crispy.

Seven minutes later you’re presented with a pizza cone.

He’s still working on perfecting the pizza cone. The ingredients aren’t the warmest at the bottom, so he’s warming up the sauce before layering the ingredients. 

The top of the cone is crispy, but further down, the dough has a lot more give. Which results in a mushy cone. In this way, it mimics a slice of pizza almost perfectly. The cone was much less messier than I thought it would be. 

And for those of you that dab the grease off your pizza, you’ll sleep easy knowing there’s almost no grease to be found here. It’s a tidy cone that somehow stays contained within the funnel. No flakiness and a thin layer of aluminum foil keeps your hands clean.

Pizza Cono has limited day-time hours at the time I clicked publish. You can find it on the corner of Forbes and Murray in Squirrel Hill. By all those other pizza places.

I’ll have more info about pizza cone in the coming days. Stay tuned for videos of a pizza cone being created, interviews, photos, and a more detailed review!

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Pizza Cone Update

I just received a phone call from the owner of the Pizza Cono place opening up in Squirrel Hill. 

I’ll be stopping by their place Thursday afternoon to sample some of their cones, interview the owners, and figure out what exactly is going on here. It sounds like the grand opening is coming this Saturday, but that could always change.

The owner, Mike, seemed very excited and said that “people love the cone,” but I suppose I’ll be the judge of that.

Pizza Cono Cone Shop Coming to Pittsburgh?

In Squirrel Hill there’s finally pizza innovation. This is an area so saturated with pizza places it’s impossible to walk a block without accidentally swallowing a slice. And now innovation in pizza eating. 

They said it couldn’t be done. That pizza would always be triangular. Or rectangular. That you had to go vertical if you wanted to change the pizza game. “You can always build up” they said. But don’t tell that to Pizza Cono.

The other day I got this distress call from andreadisaster. 

“Pizza not flat anymore…” is their motto. Everyone is baffled by this. 

Pizza at its core is flat. We all know that. It’s a disc that you toss in the air. It’s what pizzaiolo’s do in Naples 24/7. It’s how they power their city. 

But Pizza Cono is bringing the pizza cone craze to Pittsburgh.  But where did the pizza cono craze start? Why Pittsburgh? Why now?

I’m still trying to solve that pizza cone mystery. In the mean time, I’ve reached out to a distributor of pizza cone technology with a few questions. The company is Husmak and they want pizza to be a cone.

I sent Husmask an email hoping they could tell me they’re expanding into the United States from Europe. This is their response:

Dear Sir,

Thanking for your email about Pizza Cone concept.

To your knowledge, yes we have several equipments sold to US.

But we cannot say if opening in Pittsburgh is our equipments.

Anyway, you can write me email and will be glad to reply.

Your faithfully

Abbas Najar

customer rep.

www.husmak.com

I’ve sent them a few more questions about this concept, I hope to hear back from them soon.

In the mean time, begin the pizza cone fantasy.

Pizza Review: Lucci's Pizza in Squirrel Hill

Those lines. This pizza was sliced and diced with authority. Notice how the pizza doesn’t even try to bond back together like a symbiote or the Iron Giant. That’s a sign of a crispy, flaky crust that is waiting for you to ravage. It’s bold enough to stand on its own. “We don’t need those dirty other slices, we’re independent.” This Lucci’s pizza is thin, but capable. Like a lean cross country runner or a pole vaulter. Deceptive, yet satisfying. Wait, what do you mean you’ve never had Lucci’s Pizza? Oh, that’s right. It’s within a pizza’s throw of two very famous pizza shops that shine brighter than a hundred blessed pizzas.

Lucci’s stands very close to Mineo’s and Aiello’s which some may consider the finest in Pittsburgh. Which is fine, because Lucci’s offers a very different pie. Instead of an unhealthy  amount of cheese and grease, Lucci’s delivers a humble pie that believes in moderation. If this was an Indiana Jone’s situation, Doctor Jones would choose this pizza, the pizza of a carpenter. 

That might be the best way to describe Lucci’s Pizza. It’s comfortable. It’s nothing extravagant. It’s exactly how you would imagine a pizza would be. In a TV Script, when there’s a need for a pizza, the prop team would get a pizza from Lucci’s. It’s the pizza that would show up in clipart and that’s okay. It’s standard. 

The one thing that kind of sticks out is how crispy and crunchy the crust is. When you bite into the handle of the pizza it splinters into a thousand tiny bits of crust. It’s a surprise considering how calm and collected the rest of the pizza is. 

But the taste, flavor, and texture are exactly how you would imagine it to be. The cheese can land a bit on the heavy side, but the total package is nothing to flinch at. And when you put this pizza next to the somewhat absurd Mineo’s and Aiello’s, it works. It seems different when everything nearby is so over the top. 

Three out of five pizzas.