Scotts Pizza-Tour
I had a fantastic experience in NYC back in the Fall on a pizza R&D quest with Scott’s Pizza Tours! Scott offers multiple pizza tours all over the city and outer boroughs. My tour included four restaurant stops on a big yellow school bus, because, who doesn’t want to go on a field trip? (Especially if it is about pizza)
Scott is the most knowledgeable pizza guy I have ever met. He lives for all things pizza! He explained the nuisances of pizza ovens, coal vs wood, dough making, hydration, types of flour, and a detailed history of New York City’s pizza heritage. He is also world-renowned for his Guinness Book of World Record-holding pizza box collection.
I will cover some highlights here, but do plan on a tour if you visit NYC. You can also follow and watch his occasional series called “Is it dough?” with Mark Iacono on his Scott's Pizza tours site (Mark’s restaurant, Lucali is another story. see the first episode of “Ugly Delicious” for an introduction)
During the introduction, Scott explained some of the legend around Lombardi’s which lays claim to the first pizzeria in the United States.
Lombardi’s uses a traditional coal-fired oven that has seen a few pizzas in its day. Scott starts the Saturday tour appropriately at this location in little Italy.
Right from the start, I knew this would be my kind of tour. This is the guide book we received to keep track of our adventures for the day. We started at Lombardi’s and made our way by bus to Keste Manhattan, Massa’s and Beebe’s. At each stop we sampled the Margherita pizza, because that is the pizza that is the benchmark for dough, sauce and technique.
Pizza Geeking
This is the oven that cooked one of the most authentic, delicious, neapolitan pizzas that I have ever tasted. The chef running the oven that day had recently won an international competition and was the first woman to do it.
Wood and gas fired oven at Keste
As you can tell we had a fantastic time and learned a great deal about pizza. I have incorporated much of what we learned into my dough recipes and handling techniques. As I always say, learn from people who make pizza for a living.
Thank you for reading!