Tony Gemignani

"One of my head pizzaiolos, Laura Meyer, has lived and studied in Italy and speaks fluently. So when the world championships in , Italy, rolled around, she was excited to give it a shot. We flew over together and planned her entry in the pizza in teglia ("," or what we would call ) division. I advised her not to go too off the wall—Italians don't love that, especially from Americans—but to add a little twist that would be just creative enough. Laura settled on a classic pizza alla diavola, which is made with whole milk , , and slices of the spicy oblong known as soppressata picante. Her clever addition was a scattering of on top of the finished pizza. Tasting the mildness of the Italian mozzarella, she decided to blend in a bit of ' for extra flavor. And because we were in Parma, she finished her creation with shavings of , and some for good measure. ... In addition to a title she will hold all her life, she won a , a of , and a five-kilo block of Parmesan cheese, which she hand-carried all the way back home. ..."

"Born and raised in , Mr. Gemignani started making at age 15 in his brother’s pizza shop in When Mr. Gemignani encountered his first on a visit to the city 20 years ago, he was a changed man. “In California, pizza was just that, pizza. But when I started traveling and visiting places like New York, you understand pizza in a totally different and beautiful way,” he said. I felt that there would be a renaissance in the slice business coming,” Mr. Gemignani said. He opened the acclaimed in the in 2009. Shortly after, he realized that the New York slice was just as deserving of respect as the sanctified whole and s that most pizza nerds lauded. So the following year he opened the first Slice House next door — where the pizza boxes read, “Respect the Craft!” in big, bright red letters."