People Like the Pizza They Grew Up With

Have you ever noticed that people from New York like New York pizza and people from Chicago like Chicago pizza? What is true with pizza is probably true with most foods. It is just natural for people to have an affinity for the foods they grew up with.

I grew up in New York and I like New York pizza. For me it is all about the crust. The crust needs to have texture and a little char. There is a pizzeria about 100 yards from my mother in-law’s in Yonkers NY that makes a great pie. Tony’s gets a consistently perfect level of char on the crust. They have one little problem. There is an issue with the ovens and the place burns down every ten years or so. The story goes that the mob controls the Mozzarella business in the New York area. Maybe Tony has more than an oven issue but he make a great pie.

Back in the 1990’s we moved to Memphis and my wife asked me to pick up a pizza for the kids on the way home from work. I ordered a pie from a national chain and was waiting on line to pick it up. The guy in front of me in line who I didn’t know from Adam turns around and asks me: Can you believe that we are waiting on line for this crap? I said to him, you are from the east coast? And he says yeah: Boston. People like the pizza they grew up with.

Around that same time my buddy John Nangle from New York came out to visit us in Memphis. John grew up working in a pizza joint in our old neighborhood. He got the brilliant idea that he needed to open a pizzeria in Memphis. My wife and daughter were out of town so we did a survey of pizzerias. My son Brian (age 9 at the time) was in heaven. He got to eat pizza for 9 straight meals until his mom came home. Uncle John after seeing what people in Memphis like quickly came to the conclusion that his standard of pizza wouldn’t sell here. People like the pizza they grew up with.

Uncle John with our daughter Jennifer (age 11 months)

In our neighborhood I have become famous for my grilled pizzas. I make a wide variety of gourmet pies that I grill on my gas grill at high heat getting a nice char and then finish on a pizza stone in the oven. The beauty of these pies is that they are great for entertaining. I make them in advance and then just reheat and serve. I knew I was in trouble when my buddy Scott Flora moved to New Haven CT and was bragging to people he worked with there about my pizza. Pizza was almost invented in New Haven and besides, people like the pizza they grew up with.

Check out the recipes

Pizza Dough

Margherita

Wild Mushroom, Caramelized Onion and Gorgonzola Pizza

Shrimp and Bacon Pizza

Meat Lovers

A pizza menu is great for a supper club kickoff party. We have used it several times. The variety lets you keep everyone happy from meat-lovers to vegetarians. There is a chapter about pizza in Impromptu Friday Nights – A guide to Supper Clubs that is coming out next week from Morgan James Publishing.

If you are in Memphis February 1^st stop by for the book signing event:

Where: Novel Bookstore (The Old Davis Kidd)

When: Thursday February 1, 2018

Time: 6 pm

Address: 387 Perkins Extd Memphis TN 38117

Hoping to see you there

Super Bowl Party Recipes

Super Bowl has become the unofficial close to the holiday season. Its February and we all need to start eating heavier, but super bowl party menus are usually filled with less than healthy options. Following are some low carb options that let you focus on the protein and provide a tasty option for that super bowl party.

Check out the recipes

Teriyaki Glaze

Asian Chicken Skewers

Asian Steak Skewers

Asian Shrimp Skewers

Asian Sausage, Onions & Peppers Skewers

While there are four different types of skewers you can pick as many or as few as you like. All the recipes are easily scalable so you can adjust quantities to match the size of your guest list.

The recipes are designed that everything can be made one to two hours in advance and then transferred to a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. It is recommended that the baking sheet with the skewers be placed in a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes just before serving to warm them up. These apps are nice hot, but are also greats served at room temperature.

Apples Don’t Fall Far From Trees

Not many people cry when they watch the U.S. Open golf tournament, but I do. My dad lived 15 miles from Shinnecock Hills on Long Island where the Open was played last week. It was also being played there in 1995 when my dad died. I was in New York in 1995 to see the golf tournament. As luck would have it, I just happened to be there with my dad when he passed away suddenly, on Father’s Day.

Much of the inspiration for my book Impromptu Friday Nights comes from my father who was a College dean and communications professor. In an early life dad had been an actor and directed plays. He used to say that actors had it made: They were never out of work or unemployed, “They were between engagements”. Translated, it sounded good. When I retired I decided that it sounded better to say I was writing a book versus the truth that I was retired and played a lot of golf.

The irony is that my dad who could really write never really got published. (Watch out Sigmund Freud.) His major efforts were as a speechwriter for friends who were politicians. He did a lot of writing for his childhood friend John Marchi who was state senator in New York for 50 years and had ran unsuccessfully for mayor of New York City twice. Most notably losing to John V. Lindsay a debonair politician with a patrician manner in 1969. Another irony was that Marchi was a conservative Republican and my dad was a liberal Democrat, but I digress. A few years ago in Marchi’s obituary the New York Times slammed and complemented my dad in one sentence by saying: “The senator, who often came across as thoughtful but not an artful phrasemaker, (A slam to his speechwriter) surprised supporters, remarking that Mr. Lindsay harbored “delusions of adequacy.” (Definitely dad’s line)

I can remember my dad and Marchi laughing over the phone discussing Lindsay who was a liberal, handsome, bon vivant “Yaley” versus Marchi’s image as the practical, hardworking, New York City conservative. The truth is that whenever dad and John got together, there was laughter involved.

Getting back to Impromptu Friday Nights – A Guide to Supper Clubs. My real goal for this book is to provide young professionals and any other demographic with a roadmap to have fun with supper clubs. Hopefully, it will also generate a chuckle of two. If you don’t find my writing funny, you can blame my father because: Apples Don’t Fall Far From Trees.

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons follow me on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.