Peter's Blog

Note from Peter: This week we feature a guest column from Joseph Calcagno, whose life in pizza has come full circle, as he shares in this moving memoir, which is a beautiful example of our motto: A journey of self-discovery through pizza.  See Joseph’s bio, below, at the end of his story.   It took nearly a year to plan a pizza party. In the last 14 months I’ve moved…Read More…

Hi Everyone, Here’s an update on some classes and events coming up over the next couple of months: One of the most exciting (or those who love near Chapel Hill, NC, that is) is the Festa Italiana, Friends of James Beard Benefit that will be held on Thursday, September 14th at Il Palio Ristorante, located inside my favorite Chapel Hill hotel, The Sienna. Il Palio’s talented chef, Teddy Diggs, has…Read More…

Note from Peter:  I first met Ajith Dharma at the 2015 Forno Bravo Wood-Fired Oven Expo in Salinas, California and, surrounded by hundreds of fellow fire freaks, we became instant friends. As the new owner of FireWithin Mobile Ovens he has built very sensitively and strategically upon the foundation established by the original founder Joseph Pergolizzi, who we’ve featured here on PizzaQuest in the past, and Ajith has now grown…Read More…

Hi Everyone, At last, we have now launched a YouTube Channel for the Johnson & Wales International Symposium on Bread, and you can watch all the talks by clicking here. If you want to watch just the 2 1/2 minute highlight reel, you can go here. If you aren’t familiar with the Symposium, scroll down the Homepage to my earlier posts and recap of the event, which was held 2 months…Read More…

 Note from Peter: I finally got to meet Paulie Gee, the legendary pizzeria operator, at the recent International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas. It was an instant “bromance!”  So, I was thrilled when Paulie agreed to do an interview with me for Pizza Quest. His responses, as you will see below, are extremely humble and inspirational as he shares his journey from the world of intellectual technology (IT) to the…Read More…

Hi Everyone and Happy 4th of July (aka Independence Day)!! A few days after the Johnson & Wales International Symposium on Bread, about which I posted a few weeks ago, I wrote an Op-Ed piece, comparing the Symposium’s catch phrase, “On the Rise” to the aspirational ambitions of our city of Charlotte. I thought it was pretty good, and even got some editorial help from the Johnson & Wales Communications…Read More…

Hi Everyone, I’m beginning to line up a number of classes for September and October. In a few weeks I’ll post more about these upcoming fall classes at King Arthur, Southern Season (Chapel Hill), Central Milling’s new Baking Center in Petaluma, CA, and also in Reno at the Nothing To It Culinary Center, as well as a book signing at Omnivore Books in San Francisco. But, I first wanted to…Read More…

Note from Peter: I finally met Leo Spizzirri for the first time at the recent International Pizza Expo, after years of hearing about this pizza genius who always, I was told, works “behind the scenes.” At the Expo, Leo presented a number of demo’s for Forno Bravo, showing how to create more than just pizza in a wood-fired oven. Each demo started with about 5 people in the audience (after…Read More…

Hi Everyone, I’m still riding the high of last week’s International Symposium on Bread, but it’s time to get back to pizza, which I will do in next week’s posting, featuring a wonderful interview with world pizza champion Leo Spizzirri.  Look for it to post on Tuesday, June 6th. But, for now, a few final words about the bread symposium, whose theme was “The future of bread.” In my last…Read More…

Hi All, So, I’m still coming up for air from the International Symposium on Bread (which we called “On The Rise” for short), but wanted to share this first article, that just came out today, by writer Michael Solender. He did a great job of capturing the spirit and some of the highlights, for which I’m very grateful. I will add a new post over the weekend to give you…Read More…