The Pizzeria Owner's Brooklyn Accent Challenge

I own a pizzeria, and I recently had a fun conversation with someone who thought they could challenge my Brooklyn accent. They asked me to show off my accent and even joked that I was from Brooklyn, which made me laugh.

As we chatted, the person mentioned that they were about to eat their way through California and thought pizza would be a great way to do so. I agreed and told them that this slice was definitely a New York-style pizza with some California twists. It was delicious, and I couldn't wait to visit some of the best pizzerias in San Francisco, Berkeley, and even Napa Valley for some pizza and wine.

First on my list was meeting up with Patty Unterman, owner of Hayes Street Grill, and a long-time San Francisco restaurant critic. She welcomed me to San Francisco, which is such a beautiful city. As we talked about the culinary scene in San Francisco, she shared that it has essentially driven culinary culture across the country.

The reason for this is the year-round growing season in California, as well as the thriving farmer's market culture and farm-to-table movement. The best restaurants in San Francisco use these beautiful ingredients to create something truly special. Patty also mentioned some of her favorite bakeries in the city, such as The Mill and Tartine, which are known for their innovative bread-making techniques.

One person who comes up often when talking about pizza is Anthony Mangieri, a New Yorker who has moved to California and opened Una Pizza Napoletana. I not only know him but also love him, and he seems like a kindred spirit when it comes to the art of pizza-making. He's referred to as a "monk" by those in the industry, and for good reason – his dedication to traditional Neapolitan pizza techniques is impressive.

As we talked about pizza, Patty shared some tips for me, including checking out The Cheese Board in Berkeley. She told me that it's an institution and a must-visit when in the Bay Area. The Cheese Board started as a cheese shop but has since expanded into a pizzeria, serving one vegetarian pizza a day. What's unique about this place is that everyone gets a slice, regardless of age or background.

When asked what the most popular pizza they've sold was, Patty shared that it was over 1,800 pizzas on a busy day. The team at The Cheese Board works hard to ensure that every pizza is made with fresh California produce, which makes all the difference in terms of flavor and quality. They're famous for their Pizza of the Day, which features a classic tomato pizza. The story behind The Cheese Board dates back 50 years, when Elizabeth and Sahag Avedian opened a little cheese shop on the corner.

As word spread about the delicious pizzas being made there, customers started making their own for lunch, and soon the workers were serving them alongside the products they sold. Today, The Cheese Board is still going strong, with a loyal customer base and a reputation for serving some of the best pizza in the country.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enI own a pizzeria.- Oh yeah?- Yeah.- Really, where? What kind?- In Brooklyn.In Williamsburg, Brooklyn.- You from Brooklyn?- I'm from Brooklyn.Can I do some Brooklyn accent?What do you got? Let's see it.Come on.Hey, how you doing?Are you talking to me?You talking to me?What's a matter with you?Oh, man.I would have thought you aBrooklynite. Man, you got me fooled.- How about that?- That's great!I'm about to eat my waythrough the Bay.It's all about produce out here.And what better way to eat it,then on pizza?This slice is definitelythe New York style,but it got that California thinghappening.It's delicious.I'm going to visit a bunch of greatpizzerias in San Francisco,Berkeley, and even make my way toNapa for some pizza and wine.First, I'm meeting upwith Patty Unterman,owner of Hayes Street Grill,and long time San Franciscorestaurant critic.Patty knows everything about thefood scene out here.Welcome to San Francisco.It's such a beautiful city.You've been in the food scene herefor many yearsas a writer and a restaurateur.What is the culinary scene likehere, in San Francisco?We essentially drove culinaryculture in the country.We have a year-round growing season.And there's a whole culture offarmer's marketsthat kind of farm to table thing.Our best restaurants use thesebeautiful ingredients.And that's what makes it so great.I've constantly been hearing aboutthese great bakeries out here.Whether it's The Mill or Tartine,and all this innovativestuff they're doing.Our sourdough culture startedat the Gold Rush.There's a real attentionto crust here.If you got that base that hascharacter, that has flavor,that's what a pizza is, right?Yeah, do you know about this guy,Anthony Mangieri?He's a New Yorker.And he's moved out here,and opened up a place calledUna Pizza Napoletana.I not only know him, I love him.He struck me as being a religiousperson, a monk.A monk of pizza.Do you have any tips for me,any places that I need to go?I certainly think that theCheese Board would be great.And that's a real community thing.Have you seen those lines?Eighteen hundred pizzasa day on some days.- Yeah.- Unreal.It's just life in Berkeley.- Californian.- Yeah.It's Californian through andthrough.Have fun eating that pizza, man!When in the Bay, you have to hitCheese Board.This Berkeley institution started asa cheese shop.And over time, has expandedinto a pizzeria.They serve one vegetarianpizza a day,and are worker owned and operated.Everyone gets a slice here.Busy day today, I see.Yeah, it's just a regular day.- Regular day here at Cheese Board?- Just a regular day. Yeah, yeah.When we do busy, it goes all theway down the corner and around.What's the most pizzasyou've ever sold here?I think it was well overeighteen hundred pizzas.Wow!And we were all so doggone tired.Nobody wanted count nothing.That's incredible.What we're famous for is doing freshCalifornia produce on our pizzas.Amazing.So we only have one choice.We have a Pizza of the Day.Today, we're doing one of ourclassic tomato pizzas.So the key thing about the CheeseBoard, it as started 50 years ago.Elizabeth and Sahag Avedisiandecided they were going to open upa little cheese store up there.People started making little pizzasfor their lunch, the workers.And the customers looked over thecounter and said,\"Share with us.\"We want some of that.That looks good.They were politically activeand socially conscious.Talked to the workers and theyturned it into a collective.I feel real special that I'm kind ofcutting this line with you.- I have to admit.- I hope they don't get mad.- Can we come through?- Oh, yeah.Alright.So is that how's the pizza start?On the flat top then get finish off.No, they started in hereand moved over there.What's up guys?How are you?So I've worked at the Cheese Boardfor a year now.Anyone can just create a pizzaand we'll try it out.And we'll sell hundredsof those pizzas.We come together and decideeverything from how to operateour business to what kind ofbenefits should workers havewhich is very empowering.And how do you like working in asystem where the employees are also,you know, owners?I feel like that's how all jobestablishments should be ran.I mean where everybody has a voice.Yeshi and Steve both been herelonger than me.How many years have youguys been here?Thirty-eight?Why is that embarrassing?That's amazing!-Thirty-eight-years.-That's incredible!He started when he was five.Steve's getting me the pizza. I gotto get the famous Papi Chulo sauce.Alright Frank. Stop with the talk.Let's see if there's anythingto all this, right here.This is the reality, right there.That's the realityand it looks amazing.Every order gets one or twoslivers on it.Originally, some people had troublecutting a pie into equal slices.So it's just a little way to make upfor a small slice.-Dip it right in. Pour it on top.-Whatever works.You can taste the flavorof all that produce.There's great onions and tomatoes.Of course, the Papi Chulosauce on top.Just a great slice of pizza.You know what we're doing tomorrow?A peach pizza.Cheese Board has influenceda lot of bakeriesand pizzerias in the Bay area,including The Mill.Here at The Mill, they're not onlybaking incredible bread,they're also millingtheir own flour.And another bonus, every nightis pizza night.Most of our bread isall whole grain.- Okay.- Yeah.So we're all a whole grainsourdough bread bakery.And all our whole grain flourwe mill here fresh in the bakeryon our stone mill.This is the brains here.- This is the pizza brains right here?- This is Jess.This week we have nori in ourmostly whole grain crust.Really grilled tomatoes, ginger,mozzarella, provolone, togarashi.- Just classic pizza stuff.- Yeah, real obviously classic.Really nice and savory.It has really good flavor to itfrom that nori, I think.And it also just taste healthy.It's like the kind of pizza you canrun a marathon on, you know?The West Coast is all aboutinventive toppings.Out here you can even find tandoorichicken on your pizza.Zante is an Indian restaurantand pizzeria in the Mission.Meet Tony.Zante's owner and theGodfather of Indian Pizza.One day I was trying to makea pizza for the staff.Yeah, yeah.So everybody liked it so I said,\"Let's put it on the menu.\"I have four differentkind of pizzas.Masala sauce, spinach curry sauce,potato masala, chicken masala.Are there any otherIndian style pizzerias?One here in San Francisco.This guy who used to work for me.He copied me.He copied you, he went out.Yeah, that happens sometimes.That's a form of flattery, you know?But I'm the Godfather.The Godfather of Indian Pizza.The pizza was born here.No kidding?This is the home ofthe Indian pizza.So this dough has a little bitof a yellow color to it.I make my own dough.This has turmeric, some spice...I don't want to tell you.That's alright. You don't have totell me all these secrets.It's okay.Now,is there any similarities betweenmaking pizza and making naan bread?This is actually naan bread.- No kidding.- YeahNaan has no spice but,the flour is naan.Got you, got you.-What's up buddy? How are you?-I'm good.Frank.-Talwinder.-Talwinder, nice to meet you.I'm going to make a half and half.Half and Half.Half of the spinach curry sauce.Okay.The other half is masala sauce.Yes.That's called mozzarella cheese.And that's regular mozzarellacheese?That's regular mozzarella.But you do the vegetables,he does the meat?Where's the eggplant, the eggplant?Fresh garlic.A lot of garlic.Beautiful, beautiful.A lot of cilantro.Nice and hot.There you go.Does he teach youhow to make pizza?So you learn from the Godfather?Yeah, the Godfather.Grandfather.The pizza crust hereis a lot like naan.Tony showed me the process of makingthe traditional Indian flat bread.You have to have hot hands.You have to have good hands.Just like making pizza?It's experience, you know?-And you get used to it.-RightAlright, should we check that pizza,make sure it's alright?- Oh yeah, yeah, let's go.- Let's go.Let's go, pizza.Burning now!Oh, it's out. It's okay.-You got it?-Yeah, he got it.Smell good?It smells great.Why don't you have it insideand eat here?-I would love to do that.-Yeah, please have a seat.-Let me know how it tastes.-I'll let you know.We have tamarind saucethat we make here.And that's just mint sauce.It's delicious.So good. It's not too spicy, butit has all those great India flavors.It has freshness from these twosauces that you just put on top.You know, I could tastethe cauliflower.I could taste the chicken. I can kindof taste everything individually.Ginger, garlic?Ginger and then those herbs too.Give another nice flavor.That was in the dough.That's in the dough.It's really delicious.I'm the Godfather.You are the Godfather, indeed.You got to have good hands.It's not all Papi Chulo sauceand tandoori chicken in SF.You could also find some of the bestNeapolitan pizzas in the country.-Hey, how you doing?-What's going on?-Nice to see you.-Thanks for having me, man.Sure, welcome.-Thank you, thank you.-How you been?-I've been great. I've been great.-Yeah! Come on in.Wow.It feels like a churchalmost in here.You know? The high ceilingsand the saints on the wall.-Or the auto garage.-Yeah, or an auto garage.Anthony Mangieri is a pizza legend.He started his careeron the east coast,before settling in San Francisco.I've been following his careerfrom the beginning.And I'm super excited to spendsome time with him.I never make the pizzathe same way.Today, I made it with some flourthat I've never used in my life.It's not whole wheat, but there'sdefinitely germ and bran in it.-It absorbs water better.-Right.There's no yeast in this pizza so.It's weird. I like a light pizza,but I want it to be naturally leaven.So it's a weird thing thatI'm looking forthat I basically get rarely.That looks beautiful.And you're after a very specificstyle, is that right?I guess so. I mean, I don't reallycare about labels, honestly.In the sense, I mean I started outwith that as my inspiration,but it was done in an innocent kindof a way, almost from a distance.No one really showed me. There wasnobody doing it in the US.It was just like myweird interpretationcoming from New Jersey being likethis is what Neapolitan pizzawas like like a hundred years ago.It is Neapolitan, but whatever.It's my own weird little place.Your place in New York that youclosed is legendary, still.You know, people talk about itall the time.I was always obsessed with that.I was like, this guy is the man.You now what I mean? He's doing shithis way and that's it.I think I opened inNew York in 2004.So, I had already been sevenor eight years actually in business.Before that, I had a bread bakeryin New Jersey for four years called,Sant Arsenio.I had already felt likeI knew what I was doing.It's not like when I opened there,I was like, \"this is my first place.\"People probably thought thatbecause we ran it so half-ass.And had such terrible service,but that was all sort of my plan.Believe it or not.-Does it go into the refrigerator?-No.No, nothing. Yeah.I just don't like what it does.I feel like it changes thetexture of the dough.It's never going to be as delicate.This pizza at its bestis extremely delicate.When do you know that that dough isgoing to be the way that you love it?That you want specifically?Is it in the mixing process?Or is it once you get out thereand you start cooking?You know, usually it's when I'mshaping. Now, I kind of know already.I'm like, \"Tonight's goingto be a stress,or it could be kind of fun.\"And then, there's still a chance that Imiscalculated, 'cause I go homeand have lunch and whateverand then I come back and I'll--As soon as a I walk in, thefellow that works with me,I'll be like,\"How's the dough look?\"Yeah, yeah, yeah.And he's like,\"Looks alright.\"And I open, I'm like,\"Oh my god, it's no good!\"Okay.Should we make a margherita?-Yeah, let's do it.-Okay.One ladle of sauce?One ladle, yup.That's my grandmother's spoon.It's amazing I haven't lost it oranything all these years, you know?It's so awesome.And then this isthe regular buffalo.And this is the smoked buffalo.So we're going to useregular on the margherita.I kind of give just whateverI'm feeling in that moment.Coarse sea salt.-And, this goes all over?-Just sprinkle around.Yeah, even a little biton the crust is nice.And then some basil.Generous. Yeah, whatever you like.I mean, I don't think youcan put too much.Do you want to slide it on? So justkind of grab it and slide it on.-Is that it?-That's it, man.You add some oil.A little bit of olive oil on top.Like in counter clockwise.-That's cool.-Beautiful.Since we're doing onejust put it all the way inthat back at 1 o'clock.-Yeah.-Beautiful.So I've never used shavings before.What's the advantage of having these?You know, it's a super oldtechnique in Naples.And even when they used to use thema lot, it was only in Naplesthat you would see it.And now there they don'tdo it as much either.It gives a big boost to temperature.That's enough of that. So keep thisup here and move the pizza now.I would take it out. That's it.It's done.Not bad. You know it doesn'tlook as good as yours.-Do you want to try it?-Of course.-Is it alright?-Dude, it's... yeah.I mean the salt mixed with like,just all these great ingredients.It's what pizza should taste like.Honestly, there might be one or twoduring the night when I'm like,\"That's good one.\"And then the rest of the night.You're a true artist man.You're super critical of yourself.No, no. I am very hard on myself.-But the food is so good.-Like, I make myself sick.-Mind-blowing.-Thanks.Yo, in Italy, this is how we do it.Fork and knife.And apparently, here in SanFrancisco as well.This has been one of my favoritepizza experiences without a doubt.Anthony is a very humble guy,but his knowledge of pizzaand the way that he goes about itis just on a level that's so high.He's very critical of himselfand the pizzas but,the pizzas just come outso pure and so good.I'm just happy tohave this experience,spend some time with him,and actually get back thereand make a pizza with him.I'm heading to Mozzeriain the Mission.A Napoli-style pizzeria opened byhusband and wife team,Melody and Russ Stein.This is one of the onlydeaf owned and operatedrestaurants in the country.Melody and Russ are not onlymaking amazing pizza,but also creating opportunitiesfor their staff, customers,and the deaf community as a whole.There's two things that I noticedwhen I walked in the door.Number one, was that beautifulStefano Ferrara oven.The second thing that I noticed wasthe Vera Pizzeria sign up there.How long have you guysbeen in the pizza business?Amazing. Looking at your pizza,it looks like Italian pizza to me.Where were you born and raisedbefore you came to the States?Wow! So your familyhas a restaurant.And you were also able to open yourdream restaurant here.That's awesome. That's amazing.So this is where the magic happens?Yeah.I bathe in it.You got to have thatcircular motion.Thank you! You know I owna pizzeria too, right?No, I want to see your style.I want to see your style.Cheers!You guys are real championsfor the Deaf community.What does it mean to have arestaurant like thisand be able to show the world whatyou guys can do here as a pizzeria?Right.Absolutely. I'm always superimpressed by people who arechampions of their community.And it seems that you guys reallytook it to the extreme.You really put your heart and soulinto making pizza.But then, included your communityinto it and empowered them.And I just want to say I thinkthat's really great.And I'm sure your communitythanks you for that.I have one last stop inSan Francisco to make.Tommaso's in North Beach,one of the oldest pizzerias in SF.Agostino, the owner,was waiting for me out front.Agostino. I\"m Frank.Nice to meet you.A-G-O-S-T-I-N-O, okay?I'm going to talk for five minutes.I'm going to tell you the story ofthe place from A to Z, okay?3, 2, 1.Welcome to Tommaso's Restaurant.This restaurant is 84 years old.One of the reasons thatthis is a famous restaurantis because of the brick oven.The brick oven was built in 1935.We use oak wood because it yieldsvery high heat and very low flames.Around the restaurant,there are paintings on the walls.Those are on canvas.They are the originals.They are the scenes of Naplescopied from postcards of the familybrought from Naples in the '30's.People Magazine in 1982, came outwith the best nine pizza placesin the United States and we came inon number three.Instead of stars, they gave ustomatoes.So we ended up with four tomatoesout of five tomatoes.And then another interestingthing, we have a little boothat the end of the restaurant.It's got a sign that says,\"FamilyTable Reserved At All Times.\"It's the best table in the housebecause it's closest to the kitchenand closest to the bathroom.That's it.Was it five minutes?!I think so.Thank you so much.I can't wait to dig in.I took it to go becausethere wasn't much room.I'm about to enjoy it on the street.Got to do the spinach side first,like Agostino said.It wouldn't be a trip to the Baywithout a stop in wine country.And what's better than pizza?Pizza and wine.We're in Napa right now.I'm about to see my boy, Ketan.He owned a beautifulwinery out here.This is a wine that I makefrom a different vineyard.It's called Monasio.He has a beautiful pizza oven builtinto the side of the mountain.We're just going to chill with somefriends, eat some pizza,drink some good wine.See what northern Californiais all about.This place is 45 acres.And then, there's abottom piece that's about 15.Right now we have thissuper fence up becausewe just have kind of finishedplanting this vineyard.We fenced the entire property in.But, we're still making sure that allthe deers are really outbefore we pull downthese temporary fences.I come from a family offarmers and herders.And there's something special aboutjust being out in naturetaking care of your shit, you know?That's what we're built upon.We cleared all this land ourselves.I have a heavy equipment company.And we develop vineyardsfor other people.So I make wine off offour other vineyards.And then this ismy kind of home property.This will start producing grapes inthe next two to three years.-It's just a process.-A process.I'm looking for the best way topossibly do something.Because I'm looking for the bestthis ground has to offer.What is it about this community,your group of friends,the people that are here in Napa?We don't have theinfrastructure to go out.-Anything like what a city does.-Yeah.Just wine and food, andall these things. If you love one,you obviously love the other.And that's how we allget together.-Nice to meet you.-Hi, I'm Sara.-Sara. Frank. Nice to meet you.-Nice to meet you.-Mel.-Nice to meet you, Mel.-How you doing? I'm Lee.-Frank. Pleasure to meet you.You're going to eatsome pizza, today?Yeah, you are.This whole oven is a wholemonstrosity in its own sense but.It's crazy, this thing.We wanted to something that wasn'ta Neapolitan dome.-But it was more a Tuscan dome.-Right.-And so we excavated the earth out.-Okay.And then we basically built it brickby brick, layer by layer up.And it took ten daysto do all the layers.So it's a little bitdifferent of a shape,but it's completely ofour own design.You can really feelthe heat though.This thing is generatinga lot of heat.Yeah, that's because it's inthe earth, so it's insulated.Right. And for pizzas, I meanI'm sure they come out great in here.All the homies are here.Everybody's chilling.We got the fire burning.I can feel it from here.It's nice and hot.Basically meal time.We have some leeks.Amazing buffalo mozzarella.We have some tomatoes thatwere simply crushed up.Also some tomatoesthat we got at the market.Some zucchini flowers,some eggs. I don't know.We're probably going to geta little creative here, today.What did you doto make the dough?Classic Neapolitan style.Flour, water, yeast, salt.We're looking at like 62to like 65% water.So it's a nice wet dough.Here we go, wish me luck.The pizza looks like it's kind ofrising and popping up in there quick,which is a good sign.It's pretty good foron the side of a mountain, I think.Hey man, you guys setme up right, you know?You can't go wrong with some reallygood tomatoes, some really good dough,and some really goodmozzarella cheese.Cheers.Thanks guys.Cheers.In San Francisco, you don'tneed to do much.The stuff that's comingout of the ground.The amount of work that thesefarmers are putting into this stuff.The agriculture scene, the wine.The pizza's the canvas.You know, you don't reallyhave to do much.You stretch it out. You put somegood stuff on it. You throw it in.And everyone's happy.Got to wash it downwith a good can of wine too.Salute to that.I never would have reallyimagined that my trip to Napaand this beautiful vineyardwould end up with me givingthe winemaker a pizza tattoo.- Diamond Mountain?- Diamond Mountain.Fucking drill it in.This is my first time ever givingsomebody a tattoo.You DM, baby!You're definitely gonna regret this.I better get a fuckingseason three, alright?Yes!I think we might be brothers now.Is that right?-Is that a fact?-I think it is.Yo! This guy is like a, fuckingmodern day Picasso.Are you kidding me?He went to art school.\n"