Pizza Blog from pizzatherapy.com

Believe me, when the topic is pizza, I get excited. I was very excited when Oprah decided to feature her best friend, Gayle King discussing, my favorite topic. Gayle began her quest for pizza perfection in Maryland. She went to Ledo's Restaurant in, Adelphi. Now it seems that Gayle had fond memories of Ledo's from her college days. The pizza certainly looked good. Next Gayle journeyed to Phoenix , Arizona, to visit Chris Bianco of Pizzeria Bianco. Chris's pizzas are legendary. There was some wonderdful footage of customer interviews explaining the magic that is contained in each of Chris Bianco's pizzas. She could not believe the long lines. But when Gayle sampled the pizza she was amazed. She did a brief interview with Chris Bianco. He remains his humble self. He is an incredible pizzaiolo. He is a true Legend of Pizza . For an exclusive interview with Chris Bianco , please check out: Legends of Pizza, Volume 1 . Here is the link: Legends of Pizz...

It was a simple email with a simple request but it unleashed a firestorm of controversy. Believe me all I wanted to do was to promote a pizza show on my website and in my newsletter. After all, I have a highly targeted list of rabid pizza fans. Let me explain... I had heard that Chef Bobby Flay of The Food Channel, would be going head to head with a famous pizzaiolo. He called it a "Throwdown with Bobby Flay". He featured Giorgio Giove the reputed pizza king at Brother's Pizzeria in Staten Island. Both chefs would make pizzas. Both would be judged by a non-biased judge. What a great idea, I thought. I would write a feature article about the " Throw-down " and feature it in an edition of "Pizza News", my on-line ezine. (Subscribe by going to http://pizzatherapy.com ). Here is my email to The Food Channel: My name is Albert Grande of pizzatherapy.com I understand Bobby Flay will be doing an upcoming show about pizza, where does a Throwdown with a p...

We ceratinly had a lot of pizza during our recent vacation to Connecticut . I like to call our vacation: The East Coast Pizza Tour . But we also had our fair share of seafood. As a matter of fact, Kamalei, our three year old , had her first taste of lobster. She loved it! Now we have two lobster girls in the family. Southeastern Connecticut is known for the abundance of fresh seafood. The seafood can be fairly inexpensive, if you know where to look. You can visit lobster wholesalers and get fresh lobster's "right off the boat" at below market price. One of my favorite places to visit is Ford's Lobster's located in Noank. Actually a wonderful shot of Ford's is featured in the movie Mystic Pizza, with Julia Roberts. Mystic is just a few minutes away. If you don't want to cook the lobster's yourself, you can visit Abbot's, just a few blocks down the road. Abbot's offers incredible seafood. Make sure you order a "lobster roll", ...

Ruth, Rick, Bobby and Flo Consiglio: The Sally's Apizza Family! I knew it was going to be a good night of pizza when Jon F . and Sandi showed up with smiles of their faces. They were anxiously anticipating going to Sally’s Apizza for the first time. We arrived at Wooster Street, 30 minutes before Sally’s opened. We were first in line. Jon and Sandi guarded our spot, while Charlene and I took Kamalei to ride the swings in a nearby park. We came back just in time to see the lights of Sally’s twinkle on. Show-time! Stepping into Sally’s Apizza is like going back in time. From the moment you walk in the door you are transported to a different era. The décor is simple and functional. The booths are cozy and comfortable. Rick Consiglio , son of Sally (Salvatore), showed us our table and then handed us our menus. He explained there were several pizzas that were not on the menu. I looked around. Pictures and mementoes lined the walls. Frank Sinatra’s portrait, personally auto...

We just got back from Frank Pepe's Pizzeria Napolentana in New Haven, Connecticut. Charlene, Kamalei and I had made an appointment to meet college friends David and Judy who had driven down from Shaftsbury, Vermont. As an added bonus Pencil and his wife headed down from Granby, Massachussetts . What a grand reunion! Since my friends had not experienced Pepe's before, I prepared them for a 1-2 hour wait. Charlene remarked as we parked the car, that she noticed the line. However, as we got closer to Pepe's, the line had evaporated. We were able to walk right in, with no waiting. Our friends had reserved a table for us in the back. I was in shock. This was the first time in all of my visits to Pepe's that there was no line. No waiting. No kidding! (Here is the pizzatherapy.com: Pepe's page: http://pizzatherapy.com/pepe's.htm ) I found my friend Gary Bimonte, grandson of founder Frank Pepe as soon as we walked in. Gary was as gracious as ever, and gave...

We were invited by noted pizzaiolo, Jon F. and Sandi to experience some home-made pizza at their home in Westerly, Rhode Island, last night. Jon had prepared the dough the day before. He stated the method of creating the dough the day before imparts a unique flavor into his dough. He credited Peter Reinhart with giving him inside tips for the special flavor. He cranked up his oven to a sizzling 550F an hour before he placed his pizzas in the oven. He explained the importance of the high oven temeprature. His pizza stone was very hot and this allowed him to cook the pizza dough to perfection. I lamented my own situation, as I explained my home oven only goes up to 500F. He created three masterpieces. The first was a simple Tomato and Romano cheese pizza. This was lightly spiced with no salt added. The taste of the crust was able to shine through. I would have to agree. The crust was airy, yet full bodied. Jon confessed that he added no olive oil to the dough. He was attempting to cre...

We just got back from Modern Apizza in New Haven. Modern is the third member of the Holy Trinity of Pizza. The first two are Pepe's and Sally's. The most amazing thing is that we were able to get right in. No wating. No line. No nothing. The pizza's were delivered to our table with-in ten minutes after we sat down. Talk about service! We ordered three pizzas: a Clam Pizza , an Italian Bomb (pictured above), and a Cheese, Peppers and Onions. Incredible! We were all surprised at how quickly our pizzas were delivered. The pizza was different from Pepe's and Sally's Apizza but certainly right up there in quality. The pizza was probably the thinest crust I have ever tasted. The clam pizza was served with lemons and had a creamy cheesy taste. All of the pizzas had a generous amount of toppings. There was no skimping in that department. It almost seems to me that Modern Apizza may be the absolute best kept secret in New Haven. There was ample parking as well. No...