Peter's Blog

Note from Peter: Over a year ago, when I was in Chicago for a conference, I had a chance to taste a sneak peek of Craig Priebe’s new book, The United States of Pizza (Rizzoli Publishing), a few months before it came out. Craig is the personal corporate chef for executives of a major Chicago company, and he invited me and a few guests to this private tasting in the…Read More…

Just heard from Norma Knepp, who was interviewed earlier this week in my post on Tuesday. She has now returned from Las Vegas where she competed for the US Championship at the Pizza Expo. She reports that she had a wonderful time, met dozens of pizza luminaries, got interviewed for PMQ TV by our friend, Albert Grande, of PizzaTherapy.com, didn’t place in the competition but had fun regardless (BTW, Nino…Read More…

 Note from Peter:  In January, I had the honor of being one of the judges for the 2016 Caputo Cup Pizza Championship. I served with Metro Pizza founder John Arena and Pete LaChappelle, publisher of Pizza Today Magazine (and also the organizer of the annual Pizza Expo in Las Vegas), as judges in the New York-Style category. Our category actually included any form of pizza baked in a pizzeria-style deck…Read More…

Happy New Year Everyone! I want to start off 2016 by telling you all about my meeting yesterday with author Simran Sethi, who’s recently published book, “Bread, Wine, Chocolate: The Slow Loss of Foods We Love,” is destined to join the books of Michael Pollan and Dan Barber as must-reads for anyone interested in biodiversity and sustainability. Her book, loaded with important information about the fragility of our ecosystem and…Read More…

Just a quick posting here to let everyone know about the Global Pizza Summit, to be held in NYC on Jan. 11th and 12th. As part of the Summit there will also be the 2nd Annual Caputo Cup Competition for both Neapolitan (wood-fired) and American-style pizzas. I’ll be heading to NYC for the Summit, as will regular guest columnist John Arena and a whole pantheon of pizza superstars, many of…Read More…

Note from Peter: Over the next few weeks I will continue to share my thoughts and memories about the Forno Bravo Expo held in September in Salinas, CA. We left off on  Friday,the day before the Expo was opened to the public, as we gathered with the Forno Bravo folks, our Pizza Quest team, our hosts at Talbott Vineyards, and a growing cast of heroes. We pick up the story…Read More…

On Friday September 18th, 2015, still buzzing from an extraordinary day of filming with Anthony Magieri at Una Pizza Napoletana, our Pizza Quest crew reassembled at Talbott Vineyards in the hill country just outside of Salinas (“Tortilla Flats” country for you Steinbeck fans), the host site for the Forno Bravo Expo. In the past, Forno Bravo has held similar gatherings but this was my first time and also the most…Read More…

Okay, this is going to take a few posts to do it right, so let me start here and carry on over the next few weeks: On the morning of September 17th, 2015 the Pizza Quest film team, who all converged from a number of different locations, met up at 9 AM in San Francisco for the first of four days of filming. We met at the front door of…Read More…

Hi Everyone, I just got back from an amazing weekend at the Forno Bravo Expo, in Salinas, California (near Monterey) where we did demo’s, filmed hours of new material for Pizza Quest, and met a lot of great people, many who already own WFO’s (Wood-Fired Ovens), and even Fire Within ovens on wheels.  I’m still unpacking, so will write a longer post, with photos, in a few days after I…Read More…

Hi Everyone, I received an e-mail from Maxwell Kessler, a film and television producer, letting me know about a new TV series that he and a friend have written. They are currently raising money through an IndieGoGo campaign to fund the pilot episode and are also making a different kind of request.  Here’s an excerpt from his email: Later this month, I am producing a sitcom pilot about the friends…Read More…