Kansas City has some Hot Neapolitan Pizza Competition

Seems that the entire country is involved in the current gourmet fast casual pizza war taking place at a location near you. Fantastic how concepts such those mentioned in this Kansas  City Star article: http://www.kansascity.com/living/food-drink/article40322862.html are using revolving brick ovens for fast and consistent pizza.

Spin Neapolitan Pizza featuring a NY Brick Oven Co. revolving Brick Oven

The taste and flavor these hot spots are providing seem to be what the pizza eating public are demanding and this has gotten the interest of some of the big boys in the pizza world who are feverishly retooling and rethinking their concepts to provide a truly "better" pizza than the typical fast-food fare. Thus the rise in fast casual pizza concepts across the land bringing fresh ingredients made in front of the customer and baked in only a couple minutes.

Neapolitan Pizza From NY Brick Oven Co. 

Who would want a premade cardboard pizza when they have the choice to get a wood fired brick oven pie fresh from the oven? The Pizza War is the only war where we all win.

New York Pizza School, Revolving Brick Ovens and Gourmet Pizza

         

       

The country is undergoing a pizza revolution which was created in New York by the original pizza kings such as Tortono’s Pizza in Coney Island Brooklyn where when the owner Jerry died in 1994 the New York papers proclaimed “The King of Pizza is dead”.  A huge acknowledgment for the man whose family helped put another New York mainstay-Lombardi’s Pizza on the map. Lombardi’s was the first licensed pizza place in America dating back to the 1905 on Mulberry street New York.  Patsy’s up in Harlem which came on the scene early in the 1930’s and is another famous New York brick oven pizzeria and like Lombardi’s and Tortono’s also featured handmade, hand tossed, fresh mozzarella and fresh homemade sauce cooked in a coal burning brick oven like the ones many bakeries have been using for thousands of years to bake bread. 

Then in the early 90’s a couple of young upstarts from Brooklyn who had been fans of New York’s finest pizza places decided to open the first wood burning brick oven pizza place on the forgotten borough of Staten Island then Brooklyn New York but along with the standard Margarita pizza that the other famous pizza places were doing, they took it up a notch and created a line of unique and truly “gourmet” pizzas such as the original Vodka Pie and the Mushroom Madness made with the relatively, unknown at the time, porcini mushroom. They called their place Goodfella’s Brick Oven Pizza and soon became pizza celebrities featured in all the local media and then international media after winning the World’s Best Pizza contest at Pizza Expo. Now not to be New York biased it would be rude to leave out the left hand coast and the incredible success of California Pizza Kitchen who took the brick oven idea and put the California twist on it with such great pizzas like the BBQ Chicken, Tai and Jamaican Jerk Chicken then built the concept to international status. With the advent of cooking shows and the fantastic popularity of gourmet foods, social media, 24 hour a day television and the increase of public awareness regarding fresh food, the organic craze, celebrity chefs and a demand for new and exciting dining experiences, the stage was set for the current Fast Casual Pizza Trend. The Fast Casual Pizza trend is the right thing at the right time and fills a need for a premium gourmet food item that is both fast and easy to transport without diminishing the flavor and eating experience. Today's consumers, mostly millennials, are looking for a better product in a trendy environment that fits their budget. So the pizza race begins.

Chipotle, the fast casual giant, is currently developing its pizza chain model called Pizza Local and has many industry experts eagerly standing by to see how it evolves with its revolving brick oven for speed and consistency for its fresh made dough. Some other up and coming names to watch out for that are also using the revolvingbrick ovens are Revolve, Spin Neapolitan, Pie Craft and The Pies the Limit. The other big player behind the scene in this game is the Pizza School of New York which has been setting industry standards by training students in an actual restaurant on the latest revolving brick ovens for a real time hands on experience thereby creating many successful operators and local pizza sensations when the students enter the fray with new found skills. This is an exciting time for the pizza world and the consumers are the biggest winners with ever increasing choices and locations to get great pizza.

50 oz. Tomahawk Steak cooked in Revolving Brick Oven

Beer and Pizza, the new Brew Pub and Brick Oven Trend

An example of the new trend is the Radius Brew Pub currently under construction in Emporia Kansas of all places. From the look of the place it is going to be hip and neighborhood friendly with its exposed brick, high ceilings, distressed steel, elevated stainless steel vats and a wood burning revolving deck brick oven to boot.

Rumor has it that the boys are heading to New York City to attend pizza school with the World Famous Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza Crew to make sure the pizza can stand up to their magnificent Stout.

Check them out on facebook as they update the progress and be sure to stop by and try a beer with Gus and the fellas if your in Emporia!

Pizza School for the New Year!

If you have been considering making a move to the exciting world of pizza making then you should consider training for your new career with the best. The Pizza School of New York has intensive classes designed to make you a confident pizza maker regardless if you have been making pizza for years and want a fresh approach or if your band new to the game and want to see first hand what is all about. Andrew Scudera and Scot Cosentino are International Pizza Champions  with several world titles between them and have been making pizza at the original world famous Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza of New York for over 20 years.

They will take you though all the steps from making the dough to cooking in their state of the art industry leading wood fired Revolving Deck Brick Oven. Not only that but you will get invaluable experience in an actual restaurant environment as opposed to the sterile and unreal environment of a classroom. You will be making great pizza within a couple days and be confident doing so. 

People from all over the USA and the world have taken advantage of this rare opportunity to train under true world renown pizza men right in their own place, an experience most pizza men would tell you is invaluable when your staring out and usually have to go through the school of hard knocks with less than agreeable teachers with less than agreeable knowledge, experience or products. 

Aside from the pizza aspect you'll have a chance to the brain of men who have opened successful restaurants across the country and around the world, years of hard won knowledge is at your fingertips so call and book now for the new year and may you too be rolling in the dough.

The Original Vodka Pizza that Became a National Trend

Back in 1993 at the Original Goodfella"s Brick Oven Pizza on Hylan Boulevard in Staten Island New York we created the "VODKA PIE" by a stroke of luck one night. My little brother Scot was enjoying some Penne Pasta with Vodka sauce and dipping some Italian bread in it when he asked " I wonder how a pizza would be with this sauce?" So off to the pizza station we went and began the test. Fantastic we thought but our customers-predominantly Italian did not agree at first. '' What is this orange stuff on the pizza?" "That doesn't look good". "What the hell is that?" and other choice phrases were used to question not only the pizza but our mental soundness. As usual we persisted with sampling and taste tests and it started catching on but once Rudy Giuliani, who was the Mayoral candidate at the time, tried it and started talking about the Vodka Pie at Goodfella's on the TV and radio it went wild! Not only that but it won the best pizza in the East and ultimately the coveted "Best Pizza in America" Wow! Then more TV from around the country and as the saying goes- the rest was history. Back in the early 90's before the internet if you can imagine, gourmet pizza cooked in a wood burning brick oven was a completly unknown animal and the term fast casual was not even coined but pizza is life and word got around so that everyone can enjoy it.

The First Heated Revolving Deck Brick Oven

It's rare to find genuine innovation that actually improves on an old standard but the folks over at New York Brick Ovens have really done it this time. With over 20 years working with wood fired brick ovens they know a thing or 2 about baking pizza. The innovation was a natural which required adding a rotating or revolving deck with a patented separate heating element under the oven floor to maintain a continuous surface temperature to cook on no matter how many pizzas are cooked or how fast they are cooked. The heated revolving surface plus the use of either wood, gas or a combination of both ensure proper heat from above and bellow making for perfect pizza every time. If you want to experience true innovation, fantastic engineering, high production and of course great pizza call New York Brick Oven Co. and happy pizza to you.

Brick Oven Pizza

Brick oven pizza has become a national trend in the last couple of years. When I started in this business 20 years ago with  Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza,  it was very rare indeed with only a couple of old joints even in a big place like New York City. Tortonn'os Pizza in Coney Island on Neptune avenue not far from Nathan's  was just such a place.  Jerry had a hand built oven and used fresh mozzarella which was an alien cheese unless you were Italian and bought it made by hand in your local Italian specialty store. His pizza was made his way and only a certain amount of pies each day then "get out I'm done". When he died the NY post proclaimed " The King of Pizza is Dead". A sad day indeed but he inspired me and my family to build the first brick oven in Staten Island NY. So www.goodfellas.com was born. At first many people wondered what the white stuff (fresh mozzarella) was on the pizza. This required many a conversation and reassurances that if they try it they will like it. With stiff competition all around us we had to make a good pie or fade away like the others that came and went. Staten Island was a small place and word spreads quick so fortunately the word was we had a good pizza so it was off to the races. We still use the fresh mozzarella cooked in a wood burning oven but even that has evolved over the years. Adding gas burners to augment the wood fire to maintain steady temperature was the first innovation. This made the pizza man's job a lot easier controlling the heat on the pies. The next big  change which ended up being the best decision ever was to put in a revolving deck or cooking surface. Now this was something. We no longer had to "spin" the pizza as it cooked which made the pizza consistent every time. Not only that,you didn't need a long training period for the pizza man and the product was always perfect. An added bonus was saving a lot of money by not needing to have a full time pizza spinner who worked the oven while another person made the pies. The $$$ savings were incredible. Now - New York Brick Oven Pizza Co. at www.brickovensforsale.com  provides these amazing cost effective ovens at a reasonable price for anyone. This oven design would have saved so much $$$ and aggregation over the years but as they say " live and learn". Happy pizza to you!