Anthony Falco is an international pizza consultant, which to me sounds more like teen boy’s fantasy than an actual gig...
“I mean, I made the job up, but it is very real,” says Falco. “I've worked in 22 different countries around the world. And staying very busy.”
In addition to fast-tracking the skills of people on a quest to make great pizza, Falco last year wrote (and illustrated!) Pizza Czar - which may convince you, as it did me, to start making a starter. Since nearly all of us eat pizza, most of it mediocre, I consider what Falco does to be a true public service. Plus he’s just an awesome guy to talk to.
In this second episode of CHEFS TALK, Falco describes how the “soul-crushing” tasks of working in a drugstore at age 14 led to restaurant work by 15 (“I thought the cooks were the coolest dudes. They just came in and just kicked ass and then drank beer”); how a family tragedy when he was 19 put him back in touch with a father who’d been on the run for 15 years for smuggling hash, and how together they went to Sicily and discovered… pizza, an odyssey that for Falco has never stopped.
“This summer I was in Mongolia doing pizza consulting,” he says. “I think I can really say I'm an international pizza consultant at that point, you know?”
Also discussed:
Four basic
startersdoughsWhy there could be no pizza before 1492
“The trick to baking is the baking.”
Falco makes a case for front of the house; Nancy is duly chastened
There is zero reason to be using bleached flour
Coffee coffee coffee
Fight us: Portland, Oregon is the country’s best pizza city
There are other great pizza cities, and Chicago ain’t one of them
What supermarket frozen pizza Falco would go for
That place you think is raking it in? It ain’t
Also, Falco’s favorite kitchen tool (and if you find one let him know!), what he makes himself on his day off, an absolutely banging Burmese restaurant in San Francisco (can confirm), and more.
Behind the paywall: more Falco faves, including three New York City pizza restaurants and five (!) in Portland, three flours for pizza (and beyond!); two food podcasts (we like to share!) and much more
