I Dream Of Pizza A Pizza Blog, Established In 2008
It’s time to look back on the year in pizza!
On a personal note, it’s been a very rewarding year. In March, I was featured in The New York Times and in September I appeared in The Wall Street Journal — two publications that I’ve always considered to be the most important news sources in our country. Other press that’s trickled in throughout the year included New Jersey Star-Ledger, AOL News, and Time Out New York.
I never started this blog to see my name in print elsewhere… and I certainly don’t measure my success by the number of press clippings I accumulate. But it means a lot to me that site is taken seriously enough to be mentioned in so many wonderful articles. Plus, I feel like I’m doing my small part to promote pizza and the strong community that surrounds my favorite food.
I had the pleasure of reviewing 33 pizza places on the site this year — 15 of which were located in New York City (there were a total of 201 postings on the site). Perhaps my highlight of the year, however, wasn’t the pizza itself… but the people with whom I got to enjoy it. Among the moments that stand out were taking my girlfriend to Paulie Gee’s and Di Fara for the first time, attempting to eat pizza cones with my friend Charles, hitting up seven pizza places on a road trip across the Midwest with my friends Vanessa and Melissa, dinning at spots like Roberta’s and Arturo’s with Pizza Club, spending a day eating at four classic New Jersey spots with my friends Jason, Raf, Vanessa, and Ben, learning how to make pizza at Pizza A Casa, celebrating pizza month with Sean, and participating in tomato tastings with Adam, Scott, Brooks, and Nick. That’s just scratching the surface…
I try to focus most I Dream Of Pizza content on the food itself, rather than who I ate it with. But I wouldn’t have had such a wonderful time eating pizza over the past year if it wasn’t for the people with whom I was able to enjoy it. So to anyone who downed a few slices (or pies) with me in 2010… thanks!
I couldn’t conclude any wrap up of the year without mentioning The NYC Pizza Run. Although I conceived the idea a couple of years ago, it wasn’t until 2010 that I was able to make it happen. With some help from my friends Terry and Chris on the back end… and some delicious pies from Pizza By Cer Té… the event (which sold out in one week!) took place in Tompkins Square Park on September 19th. It went better than I could have ever imagined and I look forward to making it an annual happening.
And finally… if you’d told me last year at this time that I’d be churning out homemade pizzas by the end of 2010, I would have told you that you were crazy. I’d never attempted to make a pie and knew nothing about home pizza-making. But somehow making pies at home became significant trend in 2010 — a definitive movement that will continue to transform the way that pizza is consumed in the coming years. My first step towards pizza self sufficiency began at a Pizza A Casa class in February. Since purchasing my first pizza stone over the summer, I’ve frequently made pizza in my apartment. Occasionally, it’s been documented on this site (see here, here, and here).
Thanks to everyone who visited I Dream Of Pizza in 2010. Whether you came to the site via The New York Times, Google, my Facebook News Feed, Slice, or the dozens of other sites that have been so kind to link up to IDOP over the past year. Have a great holiday weekend… and I’ll be back next week with more pizza content to kick off 2011!
