Supper with Sylvia #9 Let's Go to Pizza School

Want to learn how to make the perfect pizza pie? Look no further than the North American Pizza and Culinary Academy of Lisle, Illinois.  Every year, Chef Anthony Iannone shares the secrets from the Scuola Italiana Pizzaioli in Italy with fellow chefs and novices alike.  Roman, deep dish, thin crust, Detroit, sliced or squared, Chef Anthony and his team are the dough virtuosos for anyone wanting to dig deep into the history of the greatest loved and one of the oldest culinary creations on earth.  Hope you enjoy this episode of Supper with Sylvia!

SHOW NOTES:
North American Pizza and Culinary Academy of Lisle, Illinois
630-395-9958
Class offerings and schedules check out pizzaculinaryacademy.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pizzaculinaryacademy

This episode of Supper with Sylvia was produced by Jane Stephens
Audio engineering and music by Donnie Cutting

Check out SupperwithSylvia on Instagram.
Email us at SupperwithSylvia@gmail.com

Transcript

Supper with Sylvia (00:08.173)

Ever wanted to learn how to make the perfect pizza?

Well, the last place you might think to go is Lyle, Illinois, but that's exactly what's happening. There's a place there that's drawing chefs from all over the world. Anthony Ianonne is the founder and operator of the North American Pizza and Culinary Academy, and he's teaching the world how to make a better pizza, from the flour grain to the tomatoes. Come with me for this episode of Supper with Sylvia to get tips from one of the top pizza makers in the country.

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I'm so excited to meet you. I have to admit, I did not know about the fun things that you were doing out in the suburbs until my producer connected us. So Anthony Ianonne, what a pleasure to meet you. Thank you. Good morning, Sylvia. It's a pleasure to meet you. OK, this is so cool. So the North American Pizza and Culinary Academy. Tell us about this. OK, so it's a very unique facility. So it was really based

off of the Italian pizza school called Scola Tiana Pizza Oli. So it's the oldest and only accredited pizza school in the world. based out of Italy. About seven years ago, had the opportunity to well, I was changing businesses and opened up this school that we were going to teach professionally people to make pizza in the true Italian way. The North American Pizza and Culinary Academy.

is the main operation that the school fits into. then we'll also do the business is really made up of five businesses. We have equipment sales, we do residential training and classes from cooking to pizza. We do corporate team building, we do private events, and I do a lot of R &D work for major companies nationally. so.

Anthony Iannone, that's a pretty Italian name. You've got to tell me what got you interested in doing this. How far back was this something you always wanted to do since you were little? So born and raised in New York. My father had a restaurant when when I was young and so it was it was part of my DNA, I guess you can say. Cooking was always in my life and.

Really as a kid, if you want to spend time with dad, you spent it at the restaurant. So that was it. And then when high school was coming to the end, I didn't know really what I wanted to do. So I went to culinary school, went to Johnson and Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island, and then down in Charleston, South Carolina, graduated, then started working for a restaurant group called B.J. So actually, my first stint in Chicago was almost 29 years ago.

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at the restaurant in Chicago, then traveled around. And that was fine dining. So I became more of a fine dining minded chef. Traveled throughout the country, lived in Australia, Mexico, Italy, and then landed back in New York. Then I was working, I was helping my father and his new venture one day, which was a distribution company. I don't know if I should say the name with these days going on.

It was a Boar's Head distribution. OK. So I was helping him on his truck one day and we were in Brooklyn and I told him, says, you know, I lived in Chicago. I'd love to bring Boar's Head to Chicago. Nine months later, they called me and said, hey, we're ready to go to Chicago. So I went up getting out of the restaurant business and got into distribution. So I brought Boar's Head to Chicago 25 years ago. Wow. And built that business, ran that business and then sold it.

seven years ago. And then that was when back into the rest up. didn't want to open a restaurant. I was at the point where I didn't want that to be my life. I guess you could say again. But education, I looked at, you know, education of when, you know, as a businessman, when economy's up, people spend money to learn something new. When economy's down, people spend money to learn something new. The shutdown threw a little wrench into everything. I wasn't expecting that like nobody else in the world. But

Then we came into this, had the opportunity to open this and, you know, pizza school was. And I'm curious. So you obviously have a love for pizza, but there's something ironic that's going on here. Here's this Italian guy from New York that brings a pizza school to, of all places, Chicago. Right? Yeah, true, true, true. you tell me about that.

So it's, you know, it's it's the center of our world anyway, right. Center of the US for the most part. When I did some my distribution debated on moving back to New York and doing something there, my wife, who's from Chicago, was willing. She, you know, she also loves New York, even though she's Chicago girl. We were going to go back. And then I had my building basically in in Lyle. And when I moved out to Lyle to Illinois anyway, 25 years ago,

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What happened was I was looking for an apartment and I went in to get a cell phone to have a local number and that I was a couple of young guys working in the cell phone store. And and I says, you know, I I'm moving out from New York. I'm, know, pretty fairly young guy. Where should I move? And everybody said four lakes in Lyle, all three of them at the same time. So I went out, I looked at the the area and I said, well, I guess this is where I'm going to live. And and Lyle's been, you know,

in my life since I moved out here 25 years ago. It's a great place because I was out living out that way before I moved back out to the city. So you're you're teaching true Italian pizza. What exactly is that? So it's when we teach, we say true pizzas, really understanding the difference between Italian milled flowers on how they produce their flowers in Italy and the different

So we do a lot of work with what we call a double zero flower and double zero flowers, really just the way a flower is milled. It's the finest milling that a flour mill can do to the flower. So for absorption, lightness, airiness. And it's really just clean profile. So we teach about ingredients, we should say, and then how they're handled in the Italian fashion and in Italy. So.

whether we're doing Neapolitan or we're doing pizza classica or we're doing Roman, it's more about the handling structure. So this week we had a five day certification class and they learned about which we call pre-ferments, which is basically starting the part of the process and then finishing it the next day. And then just understanding the lightness and how to handle a time ingredients to.

to true the way it's been made in Italy for 100, 150, 200 years. What made you decide to teach that specific type of class? So being from Italy, you said you lived there for a while. Did you feel like there was a need for something like that back here in the United States? Yeah, I I feel there was a need and there was an opportunity. It was a two way.

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you know, bringing and teaching people, you know, because the Internet, as great as it is, skews a lot and it gives information. But when you don't know what to do with that information, it doesn't. So here we're all about hands on. It's not about a master instructor sitting there or a chef sitting there and telling people what to do. We can merge people into and that's really what makes our school different than any other school in the country is that a lot of schools, a lot of people we've gotten through our school.

We'll talk about they've gone to other schools and yeah, it's great. But we get to see guys who have been you know, pizza and doughs for 30 years. Watch it just like we're on the Internet. Here we have merged you into your hands in. So the opportunity to really bring people in and not not erase what they know, but correct what they're doing or maybe they don't understand and just give them to bring them to another level.

So it truly is an art form, isn't it? It is bread making. So as a chef, I cook. And I always liked high heat, fast, rapid movement. I used to tell people, I'm the definition of saute, rapid movement, high heat, rapid movement. As a baker, as a pizza maker, as a dough maker, you learn to slow everything up. Time, nothing can replace time. Things can replace time, but it'll never be the true, the same difference.

You know, with a pizza innovation center for Lesoth, North America, which Lesoth is the parent company of Red Star Yeast. So they're the largest yeast and ingredient company in the world when it comes to baking. And we get to see a lot of ingredients that, you know, bakeries use today. It's all clean label. So it's nice. But you still come to learn that in baking, time will never be replaced. Time is what gives you flavor profiles.

It would separate a great dough from a good dough. Don't rush it, huh? Don't rush it. Baking is, yeah. So it was a big adjustment for me. so who comes to your school and where are these people coming from? So we've been blessed. We have people from all over the country coming here. We've had US, Canada, Mexico, Colombia.

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from professionals to some retirees that want to just learn, that have a passion for it. Some people opening stores. have we get some corporate chefs from companies, whether it's distribution companies, so that they understand the process. And when they're going to work with a new client or a new customer that they can explain properly on what's going out there. So we have everybody from soup to nuts. Well, come here.

So you guys have really made a name for yourself. I don't want you to be too humble here. Let's be honest, you have created a name for yourself. The people are coming from all of these places you just mentioned. Yeah, we're blessed. mean, it's always work and it's hard work, but we've definitely gotten out there to be the top pizza school in the country. Why do you think that is?

I think I'm, you know, we're blessed. I got a great team here. We're passionate. We really want anyone who comes through here to be successful, whether you're making a pizza in your backyard or you're opening up an operation. It's truly about our customers and it's not about look at me. It's about look what you can do now. And that's really where we base ourself on. Okay. So before we get into specifics, what is the secret to great pizza?

Oh, I mean, I don't know if I'd say it's a secret. Like I said, time is a big thing. If you mix dough, you know, in the morning and you use it at night. It's not breaking down. It's not going to be as flavorful. It's not going to be. It's definitely ingredients. I mean, is this quality ingredients out there is price structured ingredients out there. I believe in using quality, start with quality, finish with quality. But I think just understanding the the process of what you're doing

Having the right tools and having the right ingredients is what's going to put you to another level to a lot of operators. you mentioned flour. Does water make a difference? Does the kneading make a difference? All of that combined? It does. here, even Chicago has good water for dough making. We don't take anything away from it. We do have a system here.

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called the New York Watermaker, which is a water filtration system. I'm to break it down. it basically possesses. So New York is known for and I know some people get a little temperamental with it, but New York just has a very mineral rich water that comes down from the Catskill Mountains. it's just very and mineral is what will, you know, give your dough a better structure and whatnot. Chicago has good most northern states have good water.

When you start going south is when they have to do a lot more work. So a water filtration system could become important in your dough process. So water, if you're doing we teach everything bakers percentages. So if you do a dough that's 65 % hydration, which is 65 % of your total flour become is is watering to the to the dough. OK. That's a huge part of your.

your ingredient, right? It's a huge ingredient to you. If you're putting in a bad product, especially at 65 % of your total dough, it's going to change. It's not going to work. So without a doubt, water is a huge, huge process. Using the right mixer for what you're doing is a huge part of it to getting. So we'll teach people on we have a temperature and humidity control dough room because a lot of people come here, like from the southern states, Miami.

Louisiana, Florida, Louisiana and whatnot, where their kitchens might be 95, 100 degrees in the summertime. And they're having situations and don't understand how to control their dough temperature coming out of their mixer. So we're able to mimic that process here as if what they're dealing with in their kitchen and show them what they need to do to keep the temperature down or whatever they're doing. And we'll be right back.

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Wow. So can the basic home cook create a good pizza with the ovens that we have, you know, in the environment that we have? What tip do you have for a basic home cook who wants to make a good pizza besides coming to teach from you, to learn from you, should say? So, you know, when we teach classes for home, everybody hand mixes their own dough.

So we understand, you know, we teach them the importance of developing their gluten. Independent. I mean, if you're going to do Chicago style, you're not so much looking to develop your gluten net. If you're doing more of a flaky, you know, Chicago style, it then becomes oven temperature. I think a lot of people at home feel the need that they have to cook a pizza in a 900 degree oven. And it's one of the things that I don't want to say drives me crazy, but it's probably the biggest conversation I have with people, even if they they have an outdoor oven.

And they feel like, what? The first question we get when someone comes in here to buy an oven from us, a residential is, well, how hot will it go? And I said, well, how hot do you want it? know, well, you know, I know this oven goes to nine. And I'm like, but it's not what you want to cook, Peter, depending on the style of pizza you cook and is the temperature. But at home in your home oven, I've become a big fan of pizza steels for the oven. I know stone's always a big thing. I like baking on steels. I like the way they hold their temperature.

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But whether you have a baking steel or a baking stone in your home oven, that's going to be a big difference. I don't think I know what So it's basically like just a big flat piece, almost like, like think of like a cast iron pan, you know, that's unfinished. This is just a piece of steel that's unfinished that goes into your oven, right onto your grate. And then we've had a lot of people like, yeah, the bottom of my pizza never gets cooked. They well, what are you doing? They're like, well, I take my stone or my steel and

I make a pizza, I put it on there, then I put it into the oven. I said, well, the bottom of your pizza never gets heat. So you have to preheat your oven and have your stone inside and then use either a peel or a pan to slide your pizza onto a hot stone so it's baking. So temperature becomes a big thing and just the whole handling. home, mean, we love when people either either make pizzas at home and then.

hosted on their social media and tag us, know, that they learned it. We love that. And we do a lot of home classes, whether it's Chicago Tavern, Chicago Deep Dish, New York style. We'll do all different or wood fire pizza at home. So we do all different classes here for home. I had, I love that. I thought you were only doing Italian style pizzas, but you're also doing the deep dish and the tavern, huh?

We do every style of pizza when it comes to pizza here. We certify pizza aioli in Italian pizzas, but we consult and we teach every American style and Italian style of pizza. If it exists out there, and we've had people call up and say, I want to do this style of pizza. And sometimes my master instructor, Danny, and I will look at each other and be like,

I guess we're going on the internet today because I never heard of that style of pizza before. There's so many. But everywhere has a style. Yeah. It's amazing. It's amazing. Okay. Let me ask you this. Do you have a favorite style? know, I know a lot of people think of Chicago, they think of deep dish. A lot of people aren't familiar with the fact that Tavern Style started here. You know, we have Detroit right across the way there. What's your favorite pizza? I'm still a New York slice guy. I still love making our

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a New York dough and making a New York slice. That's still my favorite. Then I'd probably go to Roman style, which is a very special and delicate dough. And then I like my I like I love Chicago thin crust. I enjoy it and I've come to enjoy it more over the last couple of years. I like it crispy, though. That's my big thing is it has to it has to be cooked properly. Right. OK.

And so you just named three different styles. What's the difference? Is there a difference in how you knead the dough or the temperature that you put it at? Because you've just mentioned so many different styles that I wonder, are they all cooked in a different way? So yeah, they are. Well, this first starts that they are all made with different flowers. So which gives a different

Chicago is a lower protein flour. New York is a medium protein. Roman is a high. So those are just for those three. Then temperature is another whole thing. Chicago is cooked at its lowest temperature and becomes a bake. So the longer you bake, the more moisture you pull out of your dough and the crispy you get. OK, then New York goes to a little bit hotter temperature. So I like to tell people a proper New York style pizza should.

almost like a good slice of it, like a good loaf of Italian bread. We have crunch on the outside, but soft on the inside. And then Roman is cooked even at a higher temperature. And there's more water in it. It's a really strong protein flour and it's very airy inside. Here's a question for you. Do you ever order pizza for delivery for yourself?

So, you know, we will, especially if my daughter's having friends over or we're having people, you know, I'll order pizza. You know, and like I said, if it's going to be, you know, Chicago Tavern style, it's just, you know, order it well done. Yeah. But, know, I definitely don't do it like we used to since opening up a pizza school. If in the morning or one night I'm talking with my wife and my daughter at home.

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And I said, tomorrow we're going to do this right away. The first thing my daughter says, that can you bring pizza home tomorrow? So usually then it's like, OK, tomorrow I'm going to have pizza and I'll box up a pizza when we're whether we're training or something like now. Next week we have a group coming in from Trinidad and Tobago to do some consulting. So we started a frozen consulting pizza business here. So they want to start doing frozen pizzas at their supermarkets in Trinidad.

So we got flour from them because in the Caribbean, South America, their flour makeup is different than what we use in the US. It's enriched. It has enzymes because of temperature and humidity there. So I was saying at home that, you know, we got the flour in from Trinidad and we have to start, you know, making some doughs to understand what we're dealing with. And right away, you know, my daughter is like, I want to try pizza from Trinidad. So.

When we make the dough, that'll come home with us. So it's limited, but yeah, we'll order pizza. I got no problem ordering Okay, you got it. And then is there a particular place you like to order from?

you know, in, I'm in the West suburbs. I live in a Northwest suburbs, I guess you can say. so there's a one place Italian pizza kitchen. he does a nice job. usually it's ordered by the time I get home. So I tell my wife order, you know, wherever you want to order it from them. I'm fine with it. I love it though. I'm sure he's very honored to know that, that you actually love to order his pizza because wow. You, I don't think I'd ever want to make pizza for you just so you know, Anthony.

You know, it's the downfall of my life. You know, I got to the point when I was younger and and, know, before I before I got married and I would date girls, I would I try to hold out as long as possible because I still enjoy, you know, having a meal cooked for me. Sure. It got to the point where it's like I wouldn't tell people I was a chef. You know, after a couple of, you know, a few days when they realized that I was working all weekend and Tuesday was my day off, that, you know, either I was up to something or, you know, I was in a restaurant business. So, you know,

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Monday night was my Saturday night. secret would come out. Okay, so just from your own perspective, where do you think you can get the best pizza in the world? What do you love?

Like what area? Yes. What influenced you?

influenced me to to be in the pizza world. To to to to make a particular type of pizza because you tasted it and you went, my gosh, this is the best pizza I've ever had. You know, I still love, you know, and I don't spend time, I don't go to East Coast, well, to Connecticut much, but I do love the coal fire. There's something about it. I like that charred, hot, you know, dense temperature of a coal fired oven.

It's definitely unique. Like I said, I'm still you know, when I go back to New York, there's still the old place that I grew up going and getting a slice to that I still enjoy getting a slice. And that was a big thing for me was moving out here was I couldn't just you know, and I was in distribution, so was driving all day and I couldn't just pull over and get a slice of pizza anywhere. When I first moved out, it was like mind boggling. But I still enjoy just going to a pizzeria and getting a slice, a good slice.

You know, everywhere has its its unique. And I'm not going to pinpoint because I just love pizza and everybody will always ask me, don't don't you ever get sick of pizza? And I'm like, no, no. And there are times I say, I got to stop eating all this pizza. And then, know, we we test another dough and I'm like eating pizza and I'm like, it is what it is. You know, it's part of my doctor told me I got to cut out. Yeah. You know, and I'm like, Doc, I don't know. The only way I cut it out is if I get out of the business, you know, so.

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But, you know, there's, you know, there's always places like if you're in Rome, it's always going to taste better because you're just you're there. Right. If you're in, you know, Chicago and you're downtown around the suburbs and you have someone who's been in the business for 30 years, it's just the passion. And I love I love the people in the business because there's just there's so much passion in the food business or we're trying really we're trying to keep it because, you know, I've been in the business a long time.

when, and I grew up when it was, it wasn't cool and it became cool to be a chef. and, just the people that I got to work with over the years and talking from either young people or older who've been in the business when they still got that passion in them, it's like, this is, this is who I want to be around, you know, and, that's, what, what I enjoy is like when I see someone who loves doing what they do, it makes you enjoy their process even more. Absolutely.

I'm curious, tell me, describe some of the reactions you get from people who come to learn from you, not just maybe the professionals or the chefs, but even the novice. Once they have learned how to make pizza in a proper way, what kind of reactions do you get from people? There's always the aha moment, whether they hear something or...

when we tell them how they should put a pizza into the oven or mix their dough. And a lot of times people have been doing a few years are like this. That's what I've been doing wrong. The whole. It's not so much wrong like you're making it, but now you're going to elevate it. And and I love when someone lifts their head or looks at you as we're doing a demo and says, that's what it is. You know, and that's really that.

that enjoyment, it gets us to keep coming out and teaching people is when, you know, and you can have one out of 30 who just says, that's you just you gave me two pointers tonight that is going to change my whole pizza game. Wow. Whether whether it's home, a professional or, know, even we've done we do a lot of consulting for some of the big pizza manufacturers, frozen pizza. And we've had people that have been in that business mixing dough for years.

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They were taught one way how to make a dough and they've made it the same way, but you know, they want a different outcome. Well, if you want a different outcome, you have to change your process. you have, you tell us about the classes you teach. were just telling me before we went on here about your five day certification. is this who's this available to who can do this? So it's really available to anybody. It's even a basic class is a little more intense.

than your average class. So when we do have our pre-class consultation with someone someone calls that they want to come in, we hope that they have a little bit of baking experience. If you're to do the five day, it's going to help just understanding. But it's really open to anybody who has that passion that wants to come and learn. We don't say no, yes or no. There is a test at the end. But the basic class is really made to

teach people, encourage people, and pass to make them certified pizza aioli. Then we'll do advanced classes that will be offered really to only people who have come through the basic class. So then we'll start getting into Roman-style pizzas. We'll do gluten-free. We'll do a lot of different classes advanced. OK. And then we do a one-day class, which we get mostly to novices. We might do a one-in-a-seven-hour.

wood-fired pizza class that people that have their ovens in their back want to get more experience on mixing, on stretching, on baking. And that's the professional end of the classes. If somebody comes in and wants to do something specialized, then we'll do consulting. And it'll be a one-on-one consulting with that person and us here. Do you ever just do like a bunch, girls night, we want to come over and learn how to make pizza.

Yeah, so we have a whole list on our website that you can go on and like I said before was whether you want to do a New York at home, a tavern at home, a deep dish at home or a wood fire pizza at home class. Usually at nighttime we'll have our home classes that go for about three hours. And then if you don't want to make pizza, but you want to have a girls night out or a friends night out, whoever we do.

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the first Friday of each month, a thing called Pizza Prosecco. So we do a mix of a lot of different styles of pizza. We might do Detroit, Roman, Chicago, and Woodfired. And we do a little demo just to talk to you. You come into a school, we got to feel like we have to teach you a little something. And then it becomes a pizza party. We make more pizza than the group can handle. You get a couple of drinks with the package and then

because we have beer and wine here. And then you get two glasses of Prosecco with it. We put the music on and it really just becomes a big pizza party out in Lyle's. Oh, sounds like a good time. I'm in. I'm heading out there soon with some friends. You said something though that was interesting when we were talking earlier and that's about taking your time and you mentioned the dough. So if I make pizza dough in the morning, when is that?

pizza dough ready to go? Do I have to wait for so many hours? Do I need to let it sit overnight? Okay, so once you mix it, you develop gluten, right? Gluten's like the muscle. So you have to give it a little time for it to relax. Can you mix it in the morning and use it at night? You can. Is it going to have a better flavor profile if you mix it today and use it tomorrow night? Without a doubt. And leave it in your refrigerator for 24 to 48 hours?

without a doubt, because then the sugars start breaking down and then you just start getting better flavor profile out of your dough. So can it be done yet? If it can be stretched, if you try to stretch a pizza dough and it stretches out and it comes back and it stretches out, it's usually because your gluten is too tight and it won't allow it to stretch. OK, so they're handling, you know, and I guess even for home cooks is what we try to teach them and let them understand.

your best way of handling a certain dough. So what's your favorite thing about teaching these classes to people? You must get a lot of reward from the people who have learned in the long run. Sure, it's like anybody. Whether they're opening up a new place or they're going home and doing it, when we get text messages or emails or tagged on their social media that either they're opening up their store and they're so excited,

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And, we really try to have people walk out of this door excited to to do what they're going to do if they're home and they make a pizza and it's changed, you know, and if family now loves, you know, their homemade pizza or it's made them start a family pizza night. We have a new customer that we did some consulting for in central Illinois. She's opening up with her family at Pizzeria and she's the excitement every time we talk to her about getting ready to open.

is really what I love. I love when people have a passion for what they're doing and feel comfortable with what they're doing after they walk out of here. is really for any teacher, trainer or whatever is what makes my enjoyment of this business. So what's the future of the Pizza Academy? What have you guys got going on? So we continue doing classes and building

We've more over maybe opening up another operation, maybe a little bit smaller than this one in another part of the country. There's opportunity for growth. I think now that we're stabilizing after the reopen and really having a great crew, I'm blessed to have the people that I have working for me.

We go back and forth on what the next venture is. mean, have, everybody who obviously comes in here asks me when I'm going to open up a pizzeria and I'm trying to stay away from that end of the business. know, but you never know. You never know. I throw things past my wife to see what her face looks like. And that gives me a lot of my. Sometimes not so good.

Yeah, you know, if I get a cock-eyed look like, you missed your daughter's last two volleyball games. I'm like, maybe I'm working, you know. But there's a lot of options out there and I don't take away from any of them. So there's going to be more movement going. It's just going to be about timing. love it. OK, I always like to have a little pro tip, a Supper with Sylvia pro tip. You told me something before we started recording here that I want you to share with our listeners. And that is...

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that there is a certain time during the month where if people are out in your area, they can try out some free pizza. Tell them how that happens. Yeah. So, I mean, follow us on social media. We're on every avenue of social Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, whatever it be. And whenever we have something special going here, we're doing some we posted on there. People are always welcome to come, whether it's free pizza Friday or some special event. Free pizza Friday happens.

once a month and it's at the end of your five day certification and you just have so much pizza you just got to get rid of it. Is that what this is? Yeah. So every other month we do a five, we do the five day certification every other month. And yeah, so the students are, making dough, learning about dough, mixing and all that stretching throughout the week. And instead of really just wasting the dough and throw the pizzas and throwing them away, we on the last day, the five day class, roam into the fire.

Let them make pizzas. Whoever comes walking in through the door, we usually start at 12 o'clock until we're out of dough. There's a lot of dough. So we haven't ran out of pizza yet. But we invite people to come in and really taste what the students are doing. It's out of respect. It's not just about giving out free pizza. It's about letting the students that come see what it is to be in the fire if they haven't been in the business or whatnot.

And we do it as a, you know, as a thank you to the neighborhood. People have supported us and continue to support us. And, you know, but it's not like a sit down order of pizza. We just do a buffet of pizzas. We want them to be fast, but we want them to be consistent. We don't want them just throwing pizzas out that they wouldn't serve in a restaurant or wouldn't want served to them. So that that's what it is. So.

We tell people if you're in a rush and you only got 20 minutes to eat and go, it might not be the right place because we still want the things done the right. So the people are welcome to come and taste and see what our students have done for the week. love that. And there's so many different varieties. Wow, this was so interesting. I had no idea what was involved in making a great pizza. And I honestly thought you were going to tell me that

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You know, Rome, Italy is the is the best place to get pizza. I love that you're flexible and it just depends on where you are. And everybody's taste buds are different, right? Undoubtedly, and traveling around the country for years, I always had that little chip on my shoulder. And then after a while, it was take where you are for what it is and enjoy it and enjoy that place in that moment. And you don't have to.

shoot down everything that's not what you grew up with. OK, I love that because there's that rivalry between New York pizza versus Chicago. So. What do you say to that? That's you know, that's always troublesome, but it's it's it's usually people who have never had a slice in New York will talk about it and and. know.

Like I said, everybody has their flavor profile. think once, you call, listen, my niece comes, you know, came out here from New York and we took her because she loves pizza. And after the second time we took her, she looked at me and said, are we going to ever go out for real pizza? This is delicious pretend stuff. It's good. It's just different. OK, yeah. Anthony, such a fun.

time getting to talk to you and getting to know you. I love what you guys are doing out there. Who knew people were coming from around the world to learn how to make the proper pizza from somebody who has such great passion. I love the way you talk about it and I just love that you shared this with us. So thank you so much. No, I appreciate you Sylvia and you know it's it really has been great because he is watching you on TV and getting to you know do this and

And you know, the appreciation for you, you know, bringing, you know, just what's going on out in the world in the food world anyway, because it's changed so much. I greatly appreciate this time with you. Well, I'm going to come out and learn to make pizza from you one day and bring a camera crew and we're going to have a good time. Undoubtedly. Whenever you want. Thanks for joining us for this episode of Supper with Sylvia. I'm Sylvia Perez. This podcast was produced by Jane Stephens.

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with technical support and music by Donnie Cutting.