Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I gave this a shot the other night after reading this, here's my results. Turned out better (and messier) than I expected!

Calling it now: Grimaldi's will keep its infamous lines for mediocre pizza, while Patsy Grimaldi returns to make even better pies next door- and the tourists won't be any the wiser.

@PB- totally agree, his zines are beautiful and punk to the core. Maybe he IS Guy Picciotto!

What a guy, ammiright?

@DZ- my guess it to accommodate more people- that whole seating area you see when you come in through the back parking lot was just a back pool room before they remodeled in '96, and I think they added the outdoor porch as well.

@Burger365 CHEESESPLOSION, that's why. (So yes, novelty)

Been waiting for this, great interview Dan!

I'll second dmcavanagh - where is Pizzahacker? Didn't he start this game? Not a real competition without Jeff there IMHO.

I'm here Burger365! Nice write-up Donna, I love my soapstone to death! Didn't realize AllClad made a portable stone, but my 15"x15"x1" cost only $80 including S&H from soapstones.com.

No joke, since I've put mine in my oven 9 months ago it's never reached room temp- the heat retention from the pilot light alone keeps it around 90-100 degrees when not in use. Can't recommend soapstone enough!

@Burger365 Soapstone is totally the way to go IMO. I think I paid about $80 for mine (15"x15"x1") shipping included. Soapstones.com has locations around the country so hopefully there's one near you!

The last pizza party I had I made 8 pies, each one as evenly cooked as the rest. Couldn't be better!

@Burger365 Amen to that.

I hate my Fibrament stone. I would preheat my oven to the max for 2 (!!) hours and still got undercooked, white undercrusts, even when putting the stone on the floor of the oven. To top it off it has developed a crack down the center, and I'm VERY careful about moving my stone if I have to and not exposing it to radical heat changes. To Fibrament's credit, they interweave some sort of fabric into the stone to hold it together, so it's still in one piece.

I gave my Fibrament the finger and had a 1" slab of soapstone custom-cut to fit my tiny oven and I couldn't be HAPPIER. I don't have a digital therm to give temps, but not only does that thing get hotter than any other stone I've used, its heat retention is so strong that the stone is still too hot to handle a day after using.

I still use my Fibrament- as a riser in my broiler compartment to bring my pie closer to the flame. That's the only thing it's good for!

Donna, please incorporate soapstone into your investigation! I'm a die-hard pie-maker and nothing's better than soapstone in my experience!

I did, but gave them my desired specifications (15"x15"x1", that's how small my oven is...). They said they do this all the time.