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.

It takes an obsessive to impress and obsessive. Peter Taylor’s pies may be the culmination of two decades of research and development, but it’s the love he puts into crafting each one that shines through. He cultivates his own yeast, makes his own mozzarella, grows his own herbs and won’t trust anyone else to man the wood-fired oven that gives the joint its name. The result are thin pies that are near perfect, from the simple margerita to interesting combinations like pistachio and rosemary. Count us impressed.

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

This week, Brian and Taylor invite CL editor David Warner in to talk about his bandwagon-jumping Beef Bourgignon experiment — and why the Bourgignon part should be ignored. Brian raves over Wood Fired Pizza Wine Bar — despite the lack of wine — and Taylor goes stream of consciousness about a chardonnay and steak matchup.

Download the episode here.

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 »