Pizza City with Steve Dolinsky

Jeff Scheer ended up on Maui like a lot of people - by accident. But his commitment to the culinary scene there, as nascent as it is, has been admirable. We discovered his sourdough pizza at Marlow, in an upcountry mall, where the menu has lots of highlights.

Their motto is "One Part Milan, One Part Brooklyn, All Maui," so you know a pizza from Sal e Pepe is going to be special. This is a love story for sure, but it's also a story of resilience and courage, in the wake of the deadly Lahaina wildfires from 2023.

Bronwen Kinzler-Britton & Jose Ibarra both came from more fine-dining backgrounds, but realized they just wanted to work for themselves and make great pizza. Naughty Pie Nature operates out of a tiny corner kitchen space (no dine-in) in Echo Park, but they've had a nice, steady growth pattern since they were just a pop-up a year or so ago.

Alex White's Great Great Grandfather used a sourdough starter when he ran a shop in the Yukon Territory more than 120 years ago. That same starter lives on in a Las Vegas pizzeria: Yukon Pizza, where they make sourdough crusts as well as some NYC slices.

As a born-and-bred New Yorker (from Long Beach), Vito DeCandia was literally brought up in a pizzeria. He was stretching dough by the age of 12. His lifetime of baking eventually led him to the West Coast, where his wife was from. Two years ago he opened Angel City Pizza in Venice, where he continues to make what he knows: NYC style slices, squares, and even Grandmas! Vito will be one of 40 pizzerias participating at Pizza City Fest L.A. April 26-27. Get your tickets at pizzacityfest.com

John Notaro may have spent his early years in Brooklyn, but there's no denying pizza and baking are in his DNA. He spent years at Sbarro, then ran a bakery until he became partners at Famous Ben's, a SoHo landmark since 1979 (they celebrate 46 years in business this month). We talked about his "Palermo" which aficionados will recognize as a sfincione (sans anchovies).

Wylie Dufresne has spent his life and career in New York City. He worked for Jean Georges Vongerichten, ran notable restaurants like 71 Clinton Fresh Food and WD50, and was starting a doughnut business until the pandemic changed everything. Pizza saved him, and his creation - Stretch - has brought a new evolution to what "NYC Pizza" means.

The Federighis had successful careers in commercial production and modeling, but all of that changed during the pandemic, when they shifted more into their love of pizza making. Hopscotching around Chicago and the suburbs, making artisan, then Sicilian and finally Chicago thin (tavern style), they've opened one of the most in-demand pizzerias in the city - Pizz'Amici - which makes a textbook Old School Chicago thin pizza.

Darby Aldaco got into some big trouble as a kid, stealing pizzas from stopped delivery cars. At 18, he was arrested for stealing a Domino’s pizza, subsequently losing his prom date. He wound his way through the L.A. bread scene, worked for Nancy Silverton at Triple Beam, then began commuting to Portland for a pizza project. The result is Pizza Thief (and the Bandit Bar next door). They make 18 inch pies and focus on sour dough and whole grains with high hydration. Like so many of their peers in Portland, they get all of their ingredients from local farms, markets and mills in the Northwest.

The Mexico City pizza scene is still in its infancy. Most of the styles tend to follow the Neapolitan model - wood fired, high heat, etc. Ardente has two locations in CDMX and we visited their newest location in the Condessa neighborhood, where Alfonso Jarero has brought his expertise in gelato making and is now also making excellent pizzas.

Chicago has a wealth of pizza styles - deep-pan, deep-dish, tavern and stuffed are the homegrown styles, but there's also Sicilian, Detroit and Neapolitan. When it comes to Roman pinsa, however, choices are more limited. Adam Weisell was born in Rome, so he brings a lot of experience and his own taste memories to the menu at Munno, an Italian restaurant with a dedicated pinsa program.

Matthew Grogan loved the pizza from Grimaldi's (and later, Juliana's) so much, he quit his job in finance to help Patsy Grimaldi continue his vision. The New York native has seen Grimaldi through good and bad times, and feels the weight of carrying on that vision well into the 21st century. We discuss the complicated history of Grimaldi's and Juliana's, including the special challenges involved in running a coal-fired oven beneath the Brooklyn Bridge.

Vincenzo Onnembo was a film student in Rotterdam, but in 2018 wound up in Amsterdam with a business partner, making Neapolitan-inspired pizzas at nNea. He has since opened a carryout operation next door, since getting a reservation at the restaurant could take months.

David Peña fell hard for New Haven style apizza, so after a deep research trip - where he spent time in some famous kitchens like Frank Pepe's - he returned to Texas with new vigor and the idea to replicate the traditional apizza (ah-BEETS) in the Lone Star state, about 30 minutes outside Dallas at Fortunate Son (yes, named for the Creedence Clearwater Revival song).

Rony Stark grew up in Italy, with an appreciation for homemade pasta and pizza. But when he moved to Nashville several years ago, he saw an opportunity to create something no one had done before: Roman pinsas. At PennePazze he offers both handmade pasta and these light and airy pizzas, and is expanding the business.