Daily Loaf

Peter Taylor (of Wood Fired Pizza Wine Bar) and Dan Bavaro (of Pizzaiolo Bavaro) come in to talk about the Tampa Bay pizza scene, which was shocked back into life this year thanks to their two restaurants.

Taylor is a fanatic who wants to make the best pizza in the world, day in and day out, based a conglomeration of different styles and cultures. Bavaro makes his own version of classic Neapolitan pizza. They’re both serious artists who’ve set a new bar for pies in the area. Hear their take on proper pizza, and how they make the best pies in the Bay.

And, if you’re an amateur pizza maker, check out this auction in the CL Holiday Auction Experience, which provides the highest bidder a chance to work dough and tend oven with these two pizza masters, then feed your friends with the pies you create, all to benefit Tampa’s The Children’s Home

Download the podcast here.

Attention bachelors and bachelorettes! I have discovered a fast, tasty alternative to Ramen and microwaved frozen food. And all you need is a toaster oven.

The toaster oven is the intersection between the tastiness of oven-cooked food and the speed of a microwave. It cooks like an oven, with temperatures and broiling settings, but there’s none of that annoying pre-heating business. I don’t know about you, beautiful reader, but I hate having to wait. The toaster oven fulfills my laziness since the only steps are: 1: put food in oven, 2: set the temperature, 3: come back. And like a microwave, you can just set the timer and come back when it dings. Unlike a microwave, it doesn’t zap the flavor. Toaster oven food just tastes right.

My specialty is pizza bagels. And they are amazingly easy to make–all you need are bagels, pizza sauce, and cheese (recipe after the jump.) Read the rest of this entry »

Wood Fired Pizza Wine Bar
4 stars
2822 E. Bearss Ave., Tampa, 813-341-2900

It’s tough to maintain a passion for food when confronted with the daily grind of running a restaurant. But some people manage to maintain the joy that comes with working in something as artistic, useful and necessary as food, even amidst the nagging details of the business. Usually, that passion is reflected in what comes out of the kitchen.

You can taste it in every pie served at the new Wood Fired Pizza Wine Bar in northeast Tampa. Owner and pizza-maker Peter Taylor has a stock phrase to sum up his goal in starting the small shop: “I’m monetizing my passion.” Read the rest of this entry »

Tucked into a strip mall near USF’s main campus, along with a sports bar and tanning salon, you’ll find Peter Taylor’s passion project: Wood Fired Pizza Wine Bar. From the rich orange and gold colors of the floor to the wood burning oven visible from every seat in the house, the entire place was assembled by Taylor’s own hands.

Sinatra music plays in the background and there is not a flatscreen TV to be found. Leather seats convince you to stay a while to enjoy your meal and conversation. Pizzas named Sophia and Raquel are an homage to silver screen icons.

Taylor mans the oven and, if you ask, he’ll tell you how the 16th century cannonball at the front of the store represents the birth of pizza, when Italians first thought to put the once-considered-poisonous tomato on yeast bread. He will convey the story of true Neapolitan pizza and how it became bastardized after arriving in America. That said, he does not claim to make true Neapolitan pies. Read the rest of this entry »

We (CL) opened up our doors Wednesday night for about 50 potential new contributors. There was wine, beer, pizza and a micro-symposium on 21st-century community journalism. We got a chance to recruit some new voices and our guests got to feel out our site editors. Look for their contributions in the coming days.

One of our newbies, Robin Miller, captured the whole thing on video, which you can see below the jump:

Read the rest of this entry »

Bay area Domino’s pizza outlets will be throwing in a free 10-inch “American Legends” pizza with every purchase on Independence Day this weekend. If you’ve seen the commercials, you might know that these newish pies are geographically themed, resulting in unlikely pizza combinations like Buffalo Chicken or Philly Cheesesteak. That said, if you’re taking the easy way out and ordering in to conserve your playing with fire fun for M-80’s and Intergalactic Sky-Screamers, then by all means, take the freebie.

Looking for something green-related to do this weekend? Look no further than our own Green Community Calendar.

“Break Out of Your Mold” Cheese Tasting at Greenwise Market- Fri., June 26. Different molds can create distinct flavors in cheeses. Don’t be afraid to try one- it may surprise you! Free. June 26, 4-7 pm; 2403 W. Azeele St., Tampa.

The World Cafe: Connecting People Through Conversations That Matter- Every Fri. 7:30 pm promptly; Starbucks at 4th St. N. & 89th Ave N., St. Pete (just south of Gandy Blvd.); RSVP to Pat at 727.421.2746 or goodpat@tampabay.rr.com
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Money seems to get tighter and tighter these days, so why spend 15 bucks on delivery pizza? One of my favorite pre-made products in the grocery store is Pillsbury’s refrigerated pizza dough. For around $2.50, you can pick up a tube of it and get creative by adding your favorite toppings. You can even find one-serving size cans of pizza sauce in the pasta aisle, so it saves you from having to buy a huge jar of sauce. Why not skip the marinara sauce altogether and do a white pizza or use up that barbecue sauce in your fridge place of it? The Mexican pizza I made (recipe below) cost about $9 to make (not including things I already had on hand, i.e.: olive oil, herbs, etc.) and could serve four people, so this is definitely a recession-friendly meal. Read the rest of this entry »

Found on the web. Without context, I repost this photo to give you something to dream about this weekend - the bacon cheese pizza burger.

Have you tried my Roast Pork with Black Beans and Yellow rice yet? No? Shame on you, I don’t want to be your friend anymore. (I am at home with sick kids and a sick self, so I am feeling a bit childish!)

Well if you did make it you probably had some left-over pork. And here is an interesting way to use it up.

So you know my husband, the one who can’t boil water, the one who doesn’t even grill? He said many moons ago he ate “Cuban Pizza” at a baseball game. Well it sounded totally disgusting me me. But I will give anything a try once. Cubans, no not the people, the sandwich, are another Tampa food. The Wikipedia definition is a sandwich created by Cuban workers, either in Cuba or in the immigrant community of Ybor City in Tampa Florida. Later, Cubans brought it to other communities in southern Florida, particularly Key West and Miami, where it is very popular. The sandwich is made with ham, roasted pork, Swiss cheese, pickles, mustard, and sometimes salami on Cuban bread.

So Cuban Pizza it was. I just so happened to pick up some pizza dough from the bakery, so I was ready to go.
Let me tell you how wrong it felt spreading mustard over a pizza dough! I was actually grossed out. But with an open mind, I continued……
Read the rest of this entry »

I have always thought the people who eat inside Sam’s Club, Target or Wal-Mart are a little….odd. (Like the people in this picture to the right. I don’t know who they are, but they appear to be enjoying themselves.)

It’s strange that these large stores have restaurants inside them in the first place. They aren’t a mall, we don’t spend all day there – why the heck do we need weird food there? My local Target has a Starbucks, Pizza Hut and their own branded food items in the store. Our local Sam’s Club uses their own brand for everything.

Probably the most unusual thing of all is that some people go to these stores just to eat at the “restaurant” inside. There is no atmosphere, no service, and the food is mediocre at best.

We are members at Sam’s Club and every time we pay and we’re waiting for our receipt to be checked my wife turns to me and says, “We should get Sam’s Club Pizza, it’s really good.”

In my brain I have always thought, “That sounds disgusting, there is no way in hell I’m eating pizza from Sam’s Club.” However, I usually say something along the lines of, “Oh, ya we should sometime” (very noncommittal).

Be warned, what I am about to tell you next may horrify and alarm you… Read the rest of this entry »

What’s your idea of a fantastic pizza? I’m on a mission to find one. Hopefully, close to home.

In my humble opinion, this was a perfect pizza. It comes from Prato’s in Montreal (that’s right, Canada). I can tell you with confidence that I have not had great pizza in north Pinellas County and I am just beside myself over it. I’m trying not to be overly critical about this, either.

We do have GOOD pizza here and I frequent several establishments. It’s just that I’ve had fantastic pizza in other places and I’m sure that SOMEWHERE in Tampa Bay it exists but I am struggling in my little neighborhood.

It all started when I tasted over-the-top, wow-this-is-good, I-could-eat-this-every-day pizza in a couple of other cities. Of course New York has great pizza everywhere, but when I tasted pies from Montreal and Westerly, Rhode Island that were just exquisite, I knew we were missing something here.

Let me explain MY idea of perfect and see if it matches yours: Read the rest of this entry »

“Mom, did you order cigarette butts on the pizza again?”

I delivered food for a few years and all I can say about this video is — I feel for the driver. Yep, the driver. And damn, he had an epically speedy recovery. Watch it after the break: Read the rest of this entry »