Recently we began to partner with our favorite pizza oven company and all-around pizza wizards Forza Forni to produce a series of short films (“mini-documentaries”, if you will) showcasing people who have been in the pizza business for many years, even their whole lives. Forza Forni’s CEO and creative powerhouse Peter de Jong hosts each episode shot at different legendary pizza establishments around the country. We’ve been so inspired as we see the passion these people have for their work, their craft, their art.
una pizza napoletana — east village, manhattan
Anthony Mangieri has been perfecting the perfect pizza for decades. His passion and dedication to his craft has no equal in the pizza world. He has developed highly successful concepts in New Jersey, New York and San Fransisco. He always makes every piece of dough himself, every day. The flavor of the wild-fermented dough in the pies we tasted cannot be described in words—only noises, facial expressions, and dramatic gestures can suffice until you try it for yourself. That might take some work right now since Anthony’s latest concept, Una Pizza Napoletana, has a line around the block every night and reservations booked 6 months in advance! If you notice at the end of the film, Peter mentions that Una Pizza has the potential to be the first Michelin-starred pizza restaurant in history. Not surprisingly, a few weeks after this film was released, Anthony was recognized on Michelin’s 2019 “Recommended” list—a huge step on the way to Michelin stardom. We loved shooting and crafting this story—but we won’t lie—the pizza we had that day was the best we ever had, by far. We love our job!
Watch the film below and let us know what you think about it!
roberta’s pizza — bushwick, brooklyn
Roberta’s pizza is a legend in the NYC pizza scene. It was hipster before hipster was hipster…which means it was… OG hipster?? OK, we’re done trying to say how awesome this place is. While we were there filming this episode of ALIP, we saw basically a cross-section of the entire Brooklyn population come by—people of all ages, colors, and types. When co-founder Brendan Hoy says in the video that Roberta’s is watering hole, it really is that. Brendan took us all around the spaces in Roberta’s, including the rooftop gardens where they grow greens they use on their pizzas in different seasons. Peter de Jong brought up an interesting concept with Brendan: craft pizza. Peter credits Roberta’s with starting a revolution over a decade ago that has led us to the exploding wood-fired craft pizza scene all around the world today. We got to film then eat some pies out of Roberta’s original oven, a Ferrari-red Pavesi that has been churning out hundreds (and on some days thousands!) of pizzas a day for eighteen years! It was a true testament to the quality and durability of the Pavesi ovens from Modena.
Check out the film below and be sure to visit Roberta’s next time you’re in Brooklyn.