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Hey pizzafreak, id like to know about the enviro laws too....i agree thats why there wont be coal burning ovens but there are wood burning restaurants and pizzerias...a small number of which make great pies....

His crappy attitude will do great in SF. right along with his overpriced pies. NY gets Nate Appleman (yay!) and SF gets Mr. Sleeves and his "golden ticket pizza"- perfect.

@nycParkie
pizzacommander is right, the water thing is not that big of a factor
i do think it has something to do with it, but def not as importnat as humidity

@pizzacommander
i was there sunday
palombino actually made all the pies
mangieri just worked the oven
i knew right away when i saw the first pizza that it was not mangieri's
then i asked and found out that so it was
Gianluca

I've never been to the NYC place, so I could not perform a test, butI wonder if the crust will be different. You know the whole NYC water thing??

They needed him badly in LA, but none of the real Pizziolos will ever open shop in LA because of the environmental laws. Too bad. LA is the 2nd most populous city in the US. You would think they would have at least ONE really great pizzeria on the Westside. but all we have is Vito's ( real tongue in cheek) I do not consider Mozza a pizzeria like UPN was in NYC

So, last night must have been Amateur Night at Artichoke; a total clown show. I walked in and the place was packed with drunken college kids making a ruckus. Unfortunately they remained there for a good 15 minutes b/c apparently it takes a half-hour for these guys to actually pump out a pie. During my ridiculously long wait (note - I'm not opposed to long waits for good pizza s/a Di Fara, but...) the place started filling up with smoke. It was no doubt due to the fact that they were liberally throwing flour into the oven to ensure the pizzas didn’t stick to the stone. These guys don't know how to maintain an oven at all. Eventually everyone had to leave the shop b/c nobody could breathe (including two of the workers). Once I finally got my Sicilian slice I was quite disappointed. Like other commentators have noted, it was definitely burnt on the bottom. Although, I must say, the Sicilian slice is much better than the original whose massive amounts of cheese overpower the pizza. It’s all about balance. These guys don't have any of it.

@DJ_Bubbles: Maybe i'll make an appearance. > :)

I am so there.

@KMC212: I don't necessarily want to bill the event as all-you-can eat/drink, but when we had this party in 2006, that's essentially what it was. The pizzas came out of the oven fast and furious, and I think it's safe to say that *nobody* left hungry. The beer and wine flowed pretty freely, too. I don't think anyone who attended 2006's event felt like they got ripped off on the deal. You might also consider that in 2006, Fornino made 16 of the 30 pizzas on its menu (including the Tartufo, the truffle pizza) — a variety of flavors you'd be unlikely to taste in one evening. If you're serious about pizza, it's really a fair price (and that's before taking into account the rising cost of flour and cheese).

It's a "chain" in the sense that it has more than one location (though I have to point out that the NYC-area locations are separate from the western locations). And I can't speak for the western locations, but you really can't place this small chain in the same "chain" league as the Hut or Domino's. These places are still churning out better pizza than the majors.

I lived in Taos for a bit, but never heard of the ranch dressing procedure. Unholy, is what that is.

Taos is home to one of the best pizza places I've ever encountered -- maybe the best: Taos Pizza Out Back. Huge slices, excellent ingredients. I never was a big fan of thick crusts and heavily-laden pizzas until I ate there. Amazing crust flavor. Local terroir much in evidence.

Kidding about the terroir. Totally serious about the pizza, though.

Hmm..I'm not sure unusual toppings counts as a regional style, although California pizza is clearly all about the topping (with little cheese, small, and thin, so maybe that makes it more like a style).

Then again, I was wondering if Hawaiian pizza (ham and pineapple) ALMOST counted as a style, given its ubiquity years ago when I was babysitting for kids and they all wanted to eat pizza with those toppings to be like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Marathoner Bill Rogers used to slather mayo on pizza crusts, when he was carbo-loading, I heard--I guess that was before Power Bars :p