Sushi Pizza, Slice Expands and your Personal Pizza Experts
I guess you can put anything on a pizza when you think about it. It's a blank canvas for your dreams.
Hi pizza fans!
Hard to believe I missed last week’s newsletter. My weeks have been more chaotic than an extra cheese pizza at Mineo’s and I completely forgot about the newsletter. I owe ya one down the road.
A couple of pizza items that you, a local Pittsburgh pizza enthusiasts, should know about. What do you do with these morsels of information - do you tweet them out to your friends? Bring it up at a dinner parter? “Well I read in PGH Pizza News, presented by Pizza Walk With Me, that plain pizza is the best kind of pizza.”
Josh Dreams of Sushi
When I visited Rockaway Pizza two weeks ago I found the one other topic Josh is über passionate about: sushi. Outside of pizza, it’s his one indulgence and we spent a lot of time talking about the magic sushi at Mola.
In our discussion, Josh brought up the idea of putting sushi on a pizza a number of times. Is it dangerous to blend together two disparate loves into one entity? Playing god like that could backfire…but Josh…if anyone could execute this concept it’s him.
This was posted in response to a story about Chef Michael Taylor of Gi-Jin opening up a new sushi concept in Bakery square. It’s “coming soon” so our dreams of a sushi pizza may be reality soon.
Slice On Broadway Can’t Stop Expanding!
Slice On Broadway, helmed by Rico Lunardi, has expertly navigated growth in Pittsburgh. Very steady, thoughtful, purposeful in every move he makes. His pizza is expertly honed to this region - it has notes of nostalgia but is bursting with intrigue and flavor. Their plain pies are some of the best around and I know many east coast transplants to Pittsburgh swear Slice On Broadway is the best around.
And there’s some good news for those on the South Side.
When the South Side Works first opened I thought it was an oasis in the city. I spent countless nights there hanging at the Cheesecake Factory, browsing Urban Outfitters and going to $5 movie nights. I was a mere high schooler who thought life couldn’t get better.
It has since decayed rapidly. The landscape is dotted with vacant stores, like an empty, barren beehive. But there are signs of life sprouting from the cement. Slice On Broadway is part of a new concept taking root in an updated South Side Works. Should be opening up this summer so you’ll soon have one other Slice On Broadway spot to dine at.
Learn from Pizza Pros
Is it a podcast if it’s a YouTube? Jury is out on that one. But two of the finest pizza makers in Western Pennsylvania have teamed up to share their wisdom, skills, thoughts and expertise with you, the pizza amateur.
The unnamed pizza podcast features Josh Sickels of Rockaway Pizzeria and Sean Jefairjian of A Slice of New York Pizzeria, both guys that are mostly self-taught in the pizza realm. The first episode of the podcast, embedded above, has the two guys talking about how they got started in the pizza game, where they learned their craft (YouTube) and more great pizza talk.
Lots of great pizza news! Pittsburgh is the future of pizza.
I’m heading to NYC next week so if you have any pizza recommendations let me know. Huge thanks to Steve Mason for offering up some solid spots to check out - I’m really hyped to visit Scarr’s Pizza. They grind their own flour!
Please consider sharing, telling a friend or, uh, eating some pizza. Treat yourself.
Pizza ya later!
-Dan Tallarico, Pizza Journalist