Pizza whiz Lou Tomczak (formerly of Emmy Squared and before that a prep- and pizza-cook at Paulie Gee’s) is the mastermind behind these bubbly pies. He seems to have harnessed the gasses in the dough, distributing them evenly across the area of the pie to create a memorable crust.
It’s like pizza wearing a bubble-wrap disguise.
He sauces and tops his 12″ pies almost to the edge then cooks them in a gas-fired Pavesi turntable oven until they’re well-done but not crazy charred. He uses Bianco Di Napoli tomatoes and stretches the mozzarella himself. I tried these pies a couple weeks ago and have been thinking about heading back for more.
I first met Lou in the comments section of Slice, as “Lou_T” and later worked with him at Paulie Gee’s, when I was first exploring the idea of opening a pizzeria.
My first day on prep duty there I showed up nervous as hell and stood outside waiting to be let in with this guy who Paulie had described as “a young kid from Jersey who wants to work with me this summer.”
The head prep cook at the time, John Wozniak (also a Slice’r from back in the day, aka @j.du6), showed us the ropes, and Lou and I balled dough for a couple hours before splitting up the rest of the “Prep 2” duties. Lou finished his share and left. As I finished my tasks, I mentioned to John that I thought Lou was super knowledgeable about pizza.
“You do know he’s ‘Lou_T’ from Slice, right?” John said.
I was floored. I’d thought ‘Lou_T’ was a middle age Jersey dude, since his online persona was that of a curmudgeonly guy with decades’ worth of pizza knowledge. But that’s Lou. Very low-key, kinda stealth—in a word, laconic.
Lou was one of my favorite co-workers to pull a shift with. It became clear that he was a pizza geek of the highest order, and I enjoyed spending the time talking pizza theory.
Flash forward and he’s at the @BoroHotel putting that knowledge to use on some must-try pies. Get on it! … Until next post, folks, hastalapizza 😊🍕✌
Beebe’s at the Boro Hotel: 38-28 27th Street, Long Island City, Queens NY 11101; 718-778-0074