I've had more bad experiences than good ones at Artichoke lately, but only at the MacDougal and 17th Street locations. Haven't been to 14th street in over a year. Tastes better after the sun goes down, that's for sure.

@dmc Update on dough info via email from John Arena....
"Regarding fermentation 24 hours is minimum and is based on space limitations and previous days use. I much prefer 36 to 48 hours if possible."

@dhorst Good call on balling vs rounding... even though I'm sure people get the idea of what I'm talking about I do agree about not abusing dough. Since words do have power I changed them all to rounding for when this posts to my blog tomorrow. No more balling anything!
blog.scottspizzatours.com

Totally agree about the St Louie... definitely my favorite pie at Speedy's. This place is a block from my apartment and I waited patiently for it to open, hoping desperately that it would be decent. It's beyond decent and I'm so nervous that I'll be spending too much time there. As far as I know they are the only Provel users in NYC and it's just for that one pie. Super super super good.

I completely understand the skepticism about trade shows but you don't have to look far below the surface to see how much information is contained in one convention center. Of course the purpose of the show is to sell products but I don't own a restaurant, don't buy 50 lb bag of flour, don't want a cheese shredder, have never made dough in a mixer, don't buy cheese in bulk and don't plan on doing so any time soon yet these folks are still more than happy to answer all my questions. And believe me, I bombard them. The folks at Escalon answered some questions about acidity levels in canned tomato products. General Mills explained why they source, mill and sell different products based on regions throughout the US (explains a lot about regional crust differences). I learn more about oven construction, tomato packing, flour milling and all the rest from the short trade show than I would by doing anything short of visiting the plants, farms and factories (and I have done that as well).

There's a lot of goofiness at the show, like pizza box folding, dough acrobatics, largest stretch competitions, inflatable pizza suits, etc but those are just for camaraderie. That's what I thought I would see when I went to my first pizza trade show but I only go back because I have yet to experience a show in which I didn't learn something new.

Just ask the guys from Pizza Brain, the pizza museum/pizzeria coming to Philly in a few months. They went to expo this year and almost exploded with joy. Next year I propose a Slice excursion, maybe we can even do a seminar from the "pizza fan/blogger" perspective.

@scotdc I do apologize for spending more than a couple words about Las Vegas itself, but I only meant to use it to demonstrate that I wouldn't go to the show just for an excuse to be in Vegas. Lots of people probably go for a tax deductible vacation but I'm there for the show. That being said, I did have some of the best Thai and Japanese food on this trip as well as some ridiculous breakfasts at Hash House A Go Go.

@gabagool That photo above is from a couple years back but I do believe they still make whole tomatoes. Most of their line is crushed (you can get it at Costco now) but Stanislaus is right across the road and their Alta Cucina whole tomatoes are great. As for their booth, it's great for two reasons.... 1. They do serve great food and 2. The sales people DO NOT try to sell you things. Their job is to hang out with you. Their customer care level is staggering.

@John Woz You're too smart to think you've learned enough. As for the Japanese pizza, it's Japan's interpretation of pizza as a genre in the same way tomato sauce and low moisture mozzarella is the American version. Use the foods you know locally and you'll eat well, right?

@Meredith Still on the Japanese pie, the ingredients are as follows....
1. rice flour in the dough
2. soy and japanese mayo in the sauce
3. slices mochi, Gouda and mozz blend, corn, teriyaki, dried seaweed, dried fermented and smoked skipjack tuna flakes

Even though it didn't win, I thought it was the strongest "non-traditional" pizza.

Dang I really wish I could go. Please eat a slice for your missing comrades.

Wow, looks like superfun! We need to do a huge Slice commenter party at Cary and Lillian's pizzerias when it opens.

Their son Sam has a Delorenzo's down the road in Robbinsville and the pizza is identical!

By the way, Rome's oldest pizzeria is Pizzeria da Ricci (aka Est! Est! Est!) and it serves what I hear to be extremely mediocre Neapolitanish pies. It opened in 1905, same year Lombardi's became a pizzeria in NYC. Still trying to track down the oldest pizza al taglio spot in Rome so shoot me a line if you find it!

@johnwoz: I'm totally with you on the "Better to under salt than over salt" opinion. But Ed's hitting at a good point that some pizzerias probably aren't tasting and questioning their products enough.

On the Difara matter, the square pie is made with mozzarella di bufala but the round is not. Round pie gets Grande fresh mozzarella aka fior di latte (Rotondino is a registered product name Grande owns) as well as Grande low moisture mozzarella and then the grana padano. He has certainly not stuck to any one particular lineup of ingredients but that's the basic current setup. I doubt he would not be able to get grana padano because the lovely folks at Coluccio & Sons always have it in stock and they take care of most of his supplies.

Great to see Cranny getting some action! I grew up there and ate at Emma's a couple nights before they officially opened. It was my birthday and I begged for them to let me and some friends/family in for a test meal. It was so cool of them! Good stuff there, in Cranford, and the rest of Union County.

@lemon: YES! You just hit the nail on the head. This post was about facts, not subjective flavor. We buy more with our eyes than our taste buds and that needs to change. Not sure if you've seen our canned tomato taste tests on Slice, but we've tried about 35 different labels!

@dmc Ha, not sure if I have a hat but definitely a shirt. I just get my Stans at Restaurant Depot but you can get them on Arthur Ave in th Bronx if you're in the area. The (almost) same exact tomatoes are available in the form of Trader Joe's canned plum tomatoes (they sell both WITH and WITHOUT salt). I've also had trouble finding more Canadian LV's but the Italian ones are around. I was shocked at last night's high regard for Simpson "San Marzanos" but they really did perform well. For pizza, I definitely prefer crushed so I'm really excited for your experiment. Those crushed tomatoes have already been cooked once, so I bet they will be way sweeter if you're cooking both sauces for the same period. Looking forward to the results!

Kenji, you'll love Hudson St location next time you pass through.

Just a quick fix, Papa's Tomato Pies is not in its original location. It has been in three different spots prior to the current location, which it moved to around 1945. Great pizza there, definitely a must-visit.