« Previous · Next »

ALT-PIZZA GENIUS IS DEAD

Shed a tear for Ed LaDou, the unsung hero of the rise of nontraditional pizza, who died of cancer at the all-too-young age of 52 right after Christmas. LaDou, a San Franciscan who loosed pizza from the Northeastern strictures of pepperoni, onions, and anchovies by experimenting with toppings like raw tuna, pâté, and duck sausage, was the guy who Wolfgang Puck tapped in 1982, when he opened Spago in L.A. The obit for LaDou in the Los Angeles Times tells the full story.

LaDou’s death also brings up another regrettable omission from The Food Snob’s Dictionary: Chris Bianco, the Phoenix-based pizza master whose steadfast refusal to franchise or go national has only enhanced his Snob status.