We’re going to be visiting with Tony Gemignani at Tony’s Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco over the coming weeks. As I was building this Photo Gallery I thought back to when we first arrived and met Tony. We were walking around with him as our crew was setting up while he showed us around his new pizzeria. He took us in to see the wood fired oven that he brought in from Italy; he explained to us about temperature, wood, time, and the importance of using the right ingredients. We then went into the back kitchen, where he showed us three more ovens that he had — each one for a different and specific style of pizza.
I thought to myself, “Who would go through the effort to have four different styles of pizza ovens?” Well, as you will see, Tony would. You will also see that he is that way about everything he does, giving equal attention to the big details as well as the small ones. There are certain ways he recommends that you stack your flour; he takes care to pick the right products, know the growers, and keep focused on the traditions of his craft. I realized that Pizza Quest had just entered into the world of Tony’s Quest, our journeys had converged, and we had a great time as Tony generously let us peer into his world.
Tony grew up in the Bay area — it’s his home turf and, so, he took us outside of the pizzeria a couple of times. One of those trips was to cross over the Golden Gate Bridge, just to talk about life, pizza, and to look back with fondness over his city. He also arranged to take us out to the farmlands of his main California tomato producer, Stanislaus Tomatoes, where we met with Steve Rouse, the Stanislaus marketing director. We got some great footage there.
I’m sure you will enjoy our visit into Tony’s world as much as we did and we thank him for letting us in. Please enjoy the gallery and the coming webisodes.
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