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So I taught a private pizzamaking-at-home class

Last Friday I taught a one-off home-pizzamaking workshop for a group of five—a dad, his two sons, their uncle/The Dad’s brother, and a friend of the family. Here are two pizzas I had a chance to snap pictures of. The plain pie is a Di Fara–inspired pizza with a blend of regular “low-moisture” mozzarella and … Read more

Sofia Pizza Shoppe’s signature spinach slice

I finally checked out Sofia Pizza Shoppe on First Avenue & 54th Street this week. They’ve been getting attention for this spinach dip slice. Totally deserved, too. It’s 👌 One of the partners who opened it, Tom Degrezia, is the grandson of Vincent Degrezia, the V in J&V Pizza, an old-school joint in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. … Read more

What is “bar pizza”? (Or “bar pies” or “tavern pizza” or “pub pies” or what have you)

A Margot's Pizza bar-style pizza
A plain bar pizza from the second round of testing for the Margot’s Pizza pop-up.

Good question, and there are as many answers to it as there are bars serving pizza. Which is to say, it’s somewhat fluid. The South Shore of Massachusetts may have the greatest density of this style than any other region, but it’s a genre that appears in other states as well, if in slightly different form.

To my mind, most bar or tavern pies I’m familiar with and love are:

  • Very thin crusted
  • Decidedly crisp
  • Well-done but not to the point of being burned
  • Large enough to share but small enough you could house one yourself

But that’s the physicality of the bar pizza. There is also a communal and spiritual aspect to this style of pizza. The best bar pizza joints are beloved gathering spots that bring together generations and social classes.

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Pizza Lunch: My Pie Pizzeria

[via Instagram] Ate here with one of my longest longtime friends, the artist Justin Baldwin. This place is a Roman-style pizza joint. They have a connection to Gabriele Bonci (of Rome’s famed Pizzarium)—either they’re friends with him or studied under him or what not. Good stuff. This place replaced a branch of No. 28’s Roman … Read more

Pizza Lunch: Pizzetteria Brunetti opens location in Greenwich Village NYC

From left: the San Gennaro (tomato sauce, onion, peppers, ricotta) and the pizzeria's signature Vongole pizza (a white clam pie).
From left: the San Gennaro (tomato sauce, onion, peppers, ricotta) and the pizzeria’s signature Vongole pizza (a white clam pie).

New Yorkers are known for leaving the city in summer to visit the Hamptons. Here is a case of a Hamptonite visiting, and settling in, New York City.

Pizzetteria Brunetti NYC is the Greenwich Village outpost of the original Westhampton Beach–based Neapolitan pizzeria that my wife and I visited in May 2011.

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Pizza Lunch: Rossopomodoro at Eataly

I ate at Rossopomodoro at Eataly on Wednesday with Sharon and Alisha Aridiana. Sharon is the chef-owner of Gialina and Ragazza in SF, and Alisha is Sharon’s wife and the one who set up the lunch meet-up while they were on a pizza recon mission in NYC. I can’t even tell you what’s on these pies, because the thing I remember most about that lunch is just how genuinely nice those two were. Meeting them was a highlight of my summer. I hope to see them in SF next time I visit my in-laws with my wife and daughter.