What happens to a person when they eat unlimited amounts of delicious pizza? Is it possible to experience a pizza blackout?
These thoughts swirl in my head after eating five, maybe six, pizza slices in the 15 minutes since my arrival at the San Francisco Pizza, Bagel, & Beer Festival. It’s 11:30 am, and I have been looking forward to this moment, a giant pizza party in North Beach, for weeks. With over 65 local pizzerias, balgelries, and breweries, the second annual event is a spectacular success.
The festival was hosted by restaurateur Tony Gemignani and the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club Foundation, and funds were raised to support local causes like Slice Out Hunger, the Salesian Boys & Girls Club, and Saints Peter & Paul School. Although it seems four times as big as the previous year, a beer garden allowed more people to roam Stockton and Filbert Streets in search of pizza paradise.
As a media member, I am granted entrance to the festival along with VIP, an hour earlier than general admission. I must eat as much piping hot, cheesy pizza as possible before the three-block-long line of people enters the event. In a dreamlike trance, I accept slice after slice of exceptional pizza — devouring in quick succession Delarosa’s superb spicy soppressata, Il Casaro’s classic margherita, Pizza Hacker’s tasty tomato and arugula pie. I don’t care what New Yorkers and Chicagoans say; SF has some of the best pizza in the world, and it’s here at the festival.
Gemignani has won 13 world pizza competitions, and his prowess is evident. Capo’s Chicagoland pie is an instant fan favorite with tavern-style cracker thin dough, topped elegantly with ricotta roses, pepperoni cups, Italian sausage, red onion, basil, agave, and garlic oil.
He feels like the mayor of North Beach. He’s a godfather-type figure in the pizza industry who greets guest chefs and new friends with ease and hospitality. When Marcus Medina of Hella Pie Pizza in Tracy sets up shop at the special appearance booth, Gemignani reveals he’s known Medina and many other participants for decades.
“He helped me perfect my dough,” said Medina. There’s an air of camaraderie in the pizza world. A neighboring booth would chip in to help if someone ran out of mozzarella. Luckily, no one runs out of pizza! While many of the beer garden’s kegs are tapped around the mid-mark of the festival, no one goes hungry.
The pizziolos churn out pie after pie. Some that stood out amongst the crowd? A16’s exceptional dough and amply topped pizzas. Gioia’s honeyed jalapeño and sausage pizza. Little Original Joe’s hearty combo. Doppio Zero’s sweet tomato and spicy pepperoni. Acre Kitchen + Bar’s spicy lamb sausage and Metro Pizza’s five-day fermented Sicilian-style burrata-topped pie.
Despite being exceptionally crowded at the height of the day and severely lacking trash cans, the pizza festival is a triumph. The natural elements are exciting as the weather goes from exceptionally hot to frigidly misty. The crowd is a good mixture of millennials, families, and Italophiles, with local celebrities like former Giant Hunter Pence, politico Aaron Peskin, and philanthropist Adam Swig in the mix of hungry pizza eaters.
A golden retriever dressed as a chef and a group of tiny-headed Beetlejuice characters makes for random Instagrammable moments. The atmosphere is upbeat and welcoming — it’s hard to be in a bad mood when eating pizza.
Speaking of which, I couldn’t believe the sheer amount of pizza I consumed in such a short time. And I didn’t even try it all! The lines are too long for Square Pie Guys and Pizzeria de Laura, and I totally missed the handsome chef duo from Flour + Water Pizzeria.
But for a pizza lover like myself, the festival is a revolutionary experience to taste that much sheer pizza greatness all at once. It celebrates the craft and passion that goes into every pie. As I reach for another slice, I realize pizza isn’t just food. It’s a universal language that everyone understands.
Katie Sweeney is a San Francisco-based writer.
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More photos from SF’s Pizza, Bagel, and Beer Festival
All photos by Courney Muro for The Bold Italic. Muro is a San Francisco-based content strategist, producer, designer, and creator.
