Hi Everyone,
The Texas tour was a big success, due mainly to the incredible support provided by all of the Central Market Cooking Schools around the state (7 stores in 8 days!). I expected to be fried by the end but the culinary teams did such a great job of preparing all the demo mise en place, as well as making the doughs--I just had to walk in and everything went smoothly and I felt totally energized at the end (well, we did nearly set off the smoke detectors in Plano when the sticky bun glaze ran out of the pan and hit the heating coil--lots of smoke but no fire. Just added a little flair to the event).
Found a fabulous pizza restaurant in San Antonio--it's called Dough (6989 Blanco Rd.-- www.doughpizzeria.com ). It's the real deal, and be sure to try the housemade burratta cheese flavored with porcini powder--that's an idea I plan to borrow as soon as possible!!
Also, latest update on Pizza Quest: we are shooting for a mid-March launch date of the website. The first video clips are nearly through the post-production process and the site is being constructed as I write. I will post here with the URL as soon as it's finalized--this is going to be better than I ever imagined, due to the great work of our production team.
Tonight, in just a few minutes, is the big launch at Pie Town of our four new pizzas. I'm headed there now and will journal about it soon. We have about 50 people signed up to be the first to try them. I'm trying to predict which will be the biggest hit: the shrimp scampi pizza with lemon garlic aioli (ala Caffe Sport in SF, one of my favorite all time food memories); BBQ chicken with our "Holy Smoke" BBQ Sauce; the Pepperoni Supreme featuring Giacamo's pepperoni and pappadou pickled peppers; or the short rib, arugula, and garlic mashed potato pizza with Pie Town's "secret sauce." I'm getting hungry--we're out of here and will be at Pie Town in 30 minutes. More later....
Peter
