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Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza has a new location in my 'hood:
http://www.anthonyscoalfiredpizza.com/pinellas.html

Also some new locations in the Miami area: http://www.anthonyscoalfiredpizza.com/miami_dade.html

Max's Coal Oven Pizzeria in Atlanta (owned by Concentrics Restaurants--a small but growing empire of concept restaurants) is fairly recently opened. http://www.maxsatl.com/

I have never being in Italy too start,
I know a thing or two about cooking,
I love pizza,
I am trying to achieve that crispy chewiness,
I will make it.
Sorry I had to let it out.
During my researches, I came across this video, and humbly would like to share it with you, ehrr, People?
Again I ask thy forgiveness for my manners, and hope that the gate keeper won’t mind
Enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snxHM5KFBsA

@ LA: I scanned in the menu from Trianon. The pie Nick ordered, Margherita DOC, comes with little tomatoes, whereas the Margherita con bufala comes with the sauce. In hindsight, I wish I had gotten both so I could have compared the two types of mozz di bufala to see if there was a discernible difference between the regular and the doc.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/steelecity/3903305235/

@foolishpoolish:I mostly agree with you actually,but disagree when it comes to taking a specific regional style ,altering it to suit your tastes/customers and still referencing it as what you started out with.I guess i'm just against certain things morphing into something else.Neapolitan pizza has certain characteristics that just even in the recent wave of popularity seem to be getting ignored or overlooked,possibly for the sake of mass acceptace,profit or just plain ignorance.How many times have members of this forum been outside of New York to other states and been astounded at what is being sold as a "New York style" slice?There are loads of regional and international styles of Pizza to suit all tastes,so i'm all for protecting the integrity of the one I happen to love.I don't champion any organisation or need any rules stuffed down my throat,but I do respect and support culture and tradition.It can be lost far quicker than the generations it takes to regain.

@Paulie: Good thing I remembered there was an actual picture of the salt being added from last year's Pieman's Craft post.

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2008/10/the-piemans-craft-at-una-pizza-napoletana-east-village-nyc.html

@seriouspizza Honestly I couldn't care less if what I eat is neapolitan pizza (by VPN standards) or not. It's just got to taste good!
Neapolitan pizza is a starting point imho. It's like pizza history, or pizza culture. It's important to learn about where pizza comes from but where you take it from there is what distinguishes great pizza.
I'd agree though that 'real' neapolitan pizza is and always will be best made in Naples with LOCAL ingredients. I am both amused and saddened when I read about 'artisan' pizzaiolos who cite mozzarella di bufala, san marzano toms and caputo flour as the perfect ingredients before reciting VPN guidelines, chapter and verse as 'the BEST pizza anyone could make'. They seem to miss the point that VPN exists primarily to preserve a geographically-specific pizza heritage. It's not a coincidence that the aforementioned ingredients are LOCAL to Naples...duh!

From what I can see, there are plenty of places around the world to get a technically perfect but soulless neapolitan pie. It really isn't rocket science (although it might cost you a pretty penny depending on where you live in the world) to obtain'authentic' (ie facsimile) Neapolitan pizza.
That's where I think Anthony Mangieri got it wrong in publicity/inteviews etc. - he made a big deal about authenticity rather than representing what he was REALLY making which was the best pizza he could with the best ingredients HE knew. I'd pay good money to eat THAT.

FP

Not to bog this down anymore than I already have, but the type of salt, and as importantly how big the crystals are, have a big impact on salt perception.

@seriouspizza: Yes, the pizzas at UPN were salted well. I'm not sure exactly what amount was added directly into the dough bill when making the dough, but Mangieri added a somewhat generous pinch of salt onto his pizzas while topping the skins just prior to firing the pizzas in the oven....at least on the two times I was there.

One must also remember that not all salts are the same. I love salt and have several types in my home at any given moment. I could put the exact same amount (weighed on a digital scale) of salt onto a pizza when topping and while the amount of salt is exactly the same, the perception of saltiness on the palate can be different, sometimes quite different, depending on the salt used. I've toyed around with this for esses and giggles when making pizzas.

Not saying that one salt is necessarily better than another, but some definitely do "pop" more in the mouth and high quality Sicilian sea salt from Trapani is one of these.

@FoolishPoolish: yes, the dough was done at ambient/room temperature. I would imagine someone who went often to UPN, like Ed Levine, would have a better idea of the types of consistency swings possible at UPN. Even Mangieri lamented that on some nights the pizza coming out of his oven "is s#*t"

I only went to UPN twice, but on each occassion the crust, both from a textural and flavor standpoint, was nothing short of stupendous...the most flavorful crust I have ever eaten. It was after eating at UPN that I basically crap-canned about 6 months worth of tinkering with pizza recipes and making pizzas and got some sourdough cultures of my own to start from scratch again.

I think you are in a better position now actually?Eat a pizza in Naples first and then judge.Too many people are judging what they think is Neapolitan Pizza before they have a decent reference point in my opinion.

UPN had a reputation for being very salty.In fact when Ed Levine spoke about the rise of Artisan pizza makers at the NY Pizza Expo in 2005 the only memorable thing he said about UPN was along the lines of:
"What does AM bring to the table? SALT - you can really taste the salt in his Pizza !".Sorry Ed. if I didn't get it word for word,but that was the gist of it from memory.
Since he only made pizzas using cheese and / or sauce,it was either in his dough in large amounts or he had a liberal hand,and did not have to compensate as he offered none of the usual salt laden meats etc.?
With temps being higher in some countries and fermentation methods / times being played with,toppings offered ,individual nuances,personal perceptions etc.etc.the salt issue will always be a variable.

@Nick Solares
Cool article and great pics.

Interesting about Keste's pizza as "lacking in salt". From everything I've heard, the pizza there is pretty salty (>3% wrt flour apparently). Perhaps it was an off day? or perhaps the formula has changed? If not, then I can only imagine the pizza in Naples must have been very 'well seasoned' indeed.

FP

@nick
i have never been to trianon but i have been to naples, my family is from the area. and roberto of keste is widely respected there, and neapolitans themselves praise his pizzas. i think he came in second in a pizza contest with other pizzaioli from naples.....not bad...
so i would argue neapolitans would infact put keste in the same league
evry one i sent to keste said it's the real deal
gianluca rottura
pizzaandcoffee.com