Buck Says

For what it’s worth.

Pizza in America

Near the end of a tough working weekend with lawyers and accountants preparing for a critical Monday presentation that I was to make, somebody ordered pizza. The largest shareholder in the company who had flown in from California for the prep session was a lifelong friend. When the pizza arrived from a national chain that prided itself on delivery speed my friend, with irritation, said, “the delivery might be good, but they don’t deliver pizza that anyone should eat.” He then turned to me and said,” Buck we missed this pizza thing as a business. As kids we knew what good pizza was and didn’t know that the rest of the country didn’t have a clue. If we had opened a pizza chain we wouldn’t be sitting here with the kind of trauma we are dealing with today— We’d probably be buying a big league ball team.”

I didn’t know that we would be buying a team but we always knew what pizza should look like and how it should taste. We were fortunate to grow up where there were a lot of Italians. Our parents had summer homes a few blocks apart in a then sleepy beach community in New Jersey. We could take a bus ride of 20 minutes to get to one of the most raucous boardwalks on the Atlantic Coast. We were on that boardwalk 3 or 4 nights a week from the time we were 12 or 13 years old. On the boardwalk there was pizza, real pizza. Just off the boardwalk there were numerous small restaurants with, pizza, real pizza and real meatballs and spaghetti that was el dente. We learned about Italian food talent but it was the pizza was part of every week of our life. We argued several times each week where we should go to split a pizza.

By the time we were entering our mid-teens we understood that great pizza started with the crust. Frozen dough was not part of any equation for excellence. By the time we could drive a car we understood that dried basil could be more heavily used than oregano which needed a more measured touch. With our own transportation we started to search farther a field for great pizza. By our mid teens we knew that whole milk mozzarella was required. The tomato sauce needed to start with quality ground tomatoes. Use of a commercially prepared sauce would guarantee a less than outstanding pie. The seasoning had to be done in the pizzeria not in some factory in North Jersey.

Pizza has been referred to as a “meal with a plate of bread.” I wish I had said that but someone came up with it a long time ago, probably in Naples ( Italy not Florida)
The importance of the toppings is indicated in this description.
The meal on the plate of bread is critical. Canned mushrooms should not be considered, pepperoni should never totally cover the crust edge to edge(too greasy) and the sausage should be Italian without nitrates. Garlic needs to be freshly ground. The sauce should always be lightly spread with the cheese allowing the sauce to peek through as a visible part of the preparation. Extra cheese is ordered mostly by Midwest people to disguise the poorly structured pizza that lies under. The extra cheese is also needed to compensate for the skim milk cheese that is being used to cut food cost.

Like an Italian symphony, in making a pizza, there needs to be a proper blending of the various instruments that make up the piece. If everything else is in balance the extra cheese is like a bassoon being featured when the flutes should be playing.

Pizza in America appeared in New York City about 1905. Pizza was in Philly shortly after that, with the growing Philadelphia Italian population soon taking their culinary excellence to the New Jersey shore. Until the 50’s pizza was pretty much concentrated between NY City and Philadelphia. The GI’s returning home from the war who had learned about pizza in Europe were a ready market. In the American business tradition there were companies formed to meet that market. Pizza Hut started spreading across the country with their version of pizza. Little Caesar’s, Domino’s and others followed. Papa John’s is the latest in the various Midwest attempts to meet the always growing national desire/need for pizza. They all have had a degree of financial success but now seem to be starting to realize that real pizza is not what they have been serving to America. Look at the ads that are now touting their NY style pizza which is a close rival to the Philadelphia style. I’m doubtful if the giant chains can get it right

There is now excellent pizza spreading across the nation by the many individual operators that were schooled in the thin crust traditions of NY and Philadelphia. A deep dish pie from Chicago might have some merit but it is not considered pizza in Philly, NY or Naples Italy. Unlike Californians you won’t see a Philly or NY pizza eater dipping their slice into Ranch Dressing. (What’s that about?)

There are all kinds of attempts to create new pizza versions such as BBQ chicken pizza, dessert pizzas and some western versions with dough so thick that a shovel could be used to eat it. Pizza should be able to have a slice picked up and eaten out of hand. That’s one reason that the sauce should be of quality and not heavily slathered on the crust to land in your lap as a later reminder of what you ate earlier in the evening.

There is a new pizza revolution taking place in America. The tradition of a quality meal placed on that “thin” bread plate is spreading across the nation from East to West. I’m not sure if Californians will participate. They might not be able to give up the Ranch Dressing to find out what real pizza tastes like.

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