Margherita & Tenda Notte pizzas, blackboard in the back warns customers, artwork on the walls at Iggies. Click picture to view article.

I have finished my write-up of Iggies and was fortunate to have owners Lisa Heckman & Peter Wood, “The Heckwoods” as they are known in some circles, allow me in to talk with them before opening on a Saturday afternoon. Parts of that conversation are included in my take on Iggies pizza, the thin crust style pizzeria in Mount Vernon.

Probably the biggest news is that Iggies is looking to install a new oven, which may necessitate a re-working of how the space at Iggies is laid out. We’ll have to wait and see on that one, but for now you can catch my write-up of Iggies on America’s leading pizza website, Slice. Read all about it here:

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/05/iggies-baltimore-maryland-md-best-thin-crust-pizza-review.html

Slice let the cat out of the bag today; Coccia is not the oven builder. Highly regarded Naples oven builder Stefano Ferrara is now in New York City to put together the brick behemoth which will be cooking and charring the pies at Arpaia’s upcoming pizzeria. The Slice article also has a really cool pictorial slideshow where Adam Kuban was able to capture some of the steps of the oven building as construction progressed.

Stefano Ferrara tiling Paulie's oven at his shop in Naples, Italy (Paulie Gee)

Stefano Ferrara ovens are already being used at New Jersey’s Nomad Pizza and in Greenpoint, Brooklyn at Paulie Gee’s, among other places. The Ferrara name is set to appear an another oven or two as well…….

Head on over to Slice to check out my ramblings about these two well regarded pizzerias and follow me for a quick stroll down memory lane as well:

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/04/washington-dccolumbia-heights-redrocks-firebrick-pizzera-petes-new-haven-style-apizza.html

Oven Progression. Clockwise from top left: Just shipped from Napoli (Paulie Gee), The first curing fire (Paulie Gee), First pie ready to go! (Jennifer Galatioto of Morta di Fame)

Yesterday’s Slice announcement contains the first widely distributed full picture of the fire breathing, high temperature, beautiful Stefano Ferrara built wood fired oven which will be on full display to diners at Paulie Gee’s. As you can see, the oven is a direct “descendant” of the home made brick pizza oven Paulie built in his backyard.  The two lemon bunches, sun and Napoli live on for what I’m sure will be many, many days to come.

An early sneek peek at the menu shows that 12″ pizzas will run from roughly $10 to $16 in price and will feature about nine regular offerings, of which approximately five are vegetarian friendly and the other four feature salumi such as sopressata picante, proscuitto di parma and guanciale.  Vegan options may be available and Paulie will also rotate seasonal pizzas into the mix. Aside from the pizzas, a couple of salads will be offered as well as a couple of deserts (a bosc pear and Nutella pizza is included as a desert).

Stefano Ferrara tiling Paulie's oven at his shop in Naples, Italy (Paulie Gee)

• Ellicott City’s Coal Fire Pizza lost in the first round to San Antonio based Dough Pizzeria Napoletana

• DC’s 2Amys won its first round game by beating Dallas based Campania Pizza & More only to lose in the round of 32 to Dough Pizza Napoletana.

• Bethesda’s Mia’s Pizzas made the deepest run of the area pizzerias by making it to the Sweet 16 after dunking on Houston’s Dolce Vita and then Miami’s Casale before losing to famous home pizza maker turned pizza shop owner Jeff Varasano’s Atlanta based Verasano’s in the round of 16.

The final four have been revealed and what a doozy it’s gonna be! The all wood-fired oven line-up of the Final Four are sure to heat up the road to the championship:

• NYC based Motorino will represent the East Coast and face off against Nick Lessin’s Chicago based Great Lake out of the Midwest bracket.

• The West Coast will be represented by Pizzeria Mozza, who will face-off against iconic Phoenix based Pizzeria Bianco out of the South-Southwest bracket.

It’s gonna be a clash of the titans type shoot-out for the championship. Lot’s of PTPers on the floor, babyeee! Who is the winner? Find out in the March edition of Rachael Ray’s Everyday Living, which is set to hit newstands on February 14th. Check out the full brackets here.

Pictures like this drive me up a wall. I’ve been in this space….but the picture haunts me none-the-less. The smell of charred crust, the texture of melted mozzarella and the gentle, delicate “snap” as blistered outer crust gives way to a creamy, airy inner crust. The melding of olive oil, mozzarella, salt, basil and crust to form something completely simple, yet complex and satisfying in an elemental way…this is what pizza tremens are made of. This is the sublime symphony.

Margherita Pizza at Motorino East Village. Picture by Nick Solares as posted on Slice

We have some good pizza here in the DC-Baltimore area, but when I see pics like this, I just know my demons won’t be satisfied until my tires roll off a couple of hundred miles.

Read Nick’s recap of his trip to Motorino East Village on America’s leading pizza weblog, Slice:

http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/01/motorino-manhattan-neapolitan-pizza-east-village-nyc-how-to-order.html