Pizza Mail Bag: Sesame Seeds, Apizza, and a Striped Pizza
This week I'm answering a few pizza questions from the community!
Hi there!
It’s your local pizza journalist here to answer a couple of burning questions from the community. As someone who eats pizza for 40% of my meals, maybe I have an interesting perspective you’d want to see. What do I think about certain varieties? Why do seek out the pizza I seek out? These are all good questions that someone might ask in a future installment. But I am beholden to the premise of answering questions that were asked. So here we go.
What is a Tiger’s Favorite Pizza?
A few weeks ago I visited the Pittsburgh Zoo with my dear friend Charlie and the tiger was prowling around like never before. They must’ve been feeling anxious or nervous about an upcoming appointment. Maybe there was a conflict in their life they had to sort out. Moving always helps me. Maybe that’s why I run so much. I’m merely running from my problems. Unfortunately this tiger could never escape and must marinate in their woes. A woe stew is not the kind of stew I’d appreciate.
This question came from Andrea and I have to admit it’s a good question. I think about tigers a lot because Charlie has a lot of tiger related questions. But has a tiger and pizza ever been in the same room?
A brief search found a video of when Daniel the Tiger visited Mineo’s in Squirrel Hill to make pizza. But this is not a tiger eating and enjoying pizza.
Tigers eat boar and wild deer. I think they would enjoy a sausage heavy pizza, maybe some pepperoni too. I would serve a tiger some Detroit style pizza as it has that cool stripe of sauce. The tiger would probably get a kick out of seeing a food with a stripe on it similar to the strip it has itself. I’d take the tiger down to Iron Born and get a pie with all the fixins leaving the tiger so satisfied they fall asleep on their side of the booth.
Does a sesame seed covered crust (on the bottom) improve the taste of the slice or just make for a mess while eating?
This question came from Jenda and it’s a good one. Sesame seed on the crust is gaining traction around the United States. Here in Pittsburgh you can find sesame seeds on the bottom of Rockaway’s grandma pie. I enjoy the seeds as they add a depth of flavor and a nice crunch. Here’s what I wrote about this slice back in 2022:
The base of the pizza is mozzarella cheese with stripes of sauce cutting across the pie. You don’t always get sauce in a bite, but when you do it ignites the flavor in your mouth. You’ll be strategizing how to get equal proportion of cheese, sauce and sesame seeds in each bite.
You actually don’t have to worry about the sesame seeds because the bottom is coated in them like scales on a lizard. This mighty sesame seed armor explodes with every bite, and the tangy flavor is something you’ll be craving after the last slice is gone. Josh says he was inspired to coat the bottom of the pizza with sesame seeds after seeing Best Pizza add sesame seeds to the crust.
As I write this I am reheating some slices in my oven. The smell of sesame seeds burning are triggering memories of making batches of bagels in my tiny kitchen for the Lawrenceville Farmer’s Market at 5am.
I’d highly recommend seeking this type of pizza out though I’m not aware of other spots in Pittsburgh that have embraced this technique. Wonder how else you might augment the crust in the future?
Thoughts on Apizza?
This is a question from Dan and guess what: I do have thoughts on Apizza!
New Haven Style Pizza is called “Apizza” by locals. New Haven pizza is sort of a hybrid of Neapolitan and New York Style pizza. The crust is charred, decorated with a nice leopard printing in some cases. It’s cooked at an extremely high temperature and is fairly crispy, crunchy and thin.
I’ve only had apizza a few times, most recently at Pete’s Apizza in DC years ago. Apizza is simple, relying on crust, sauce and a dusting of cheese to tell the story. You can add toppings, but I’m a big fan of a simple pizza that perfects the fundamental. Even forgoing globs of mozzarella is winning my respect more and more these days. I’d rather focus on the crunch of a nicely fermented dough and a bright tomato sauce than choke down mounds of cheese.
As pizza turns into stunt food where chefs try to make the most decadent pizza piled high with toppings, I do yearn for the simply made New Haven style pizza. The foundation is fragile so you have to show restraint with the toppings. I would love to see a shop in Pittsburgh embrace this style of pizza and help to bring it to the masses. The closest I can get is a Spak Bros. pizza with a light cheese option.
Good questions and great (?) answers! If you want to connect with me or have a pizza question you can leave a comment below, or reach out to me on Instagram of Bluesky.
Next weekend I’ll be visiting NYC so if you have any HOT and NEW pizza tips or places to check out please send them my way!
Thanks and pizza ya later!
-Dan Tallarico, Pizza Journalist