The Pizza Show

Mmm. Just like I remembered it.

My neighborhood doesn't disappoint me.

I love it. "Pizza Show" is back.

And this season, there's gonna be even more pizza.

This is the epitome of the "Pizza Show"!

We're going out to the West Coast.

-And the wine. -Cheers to you, Chef.

We're gonna go to Philadelphia.

The Philly taco.

Wow, not bad!

I'm gonna bring you back to Brooklyn,

show you a little day in my life.

From there, we're gonna go to Detroit.

We're gonna go to Napoli, Sicily, Rome.

It doesn't end.

Yeah. This is so good, man.

First, we're gonna go out to Las Vegas

to the biggest pizza convention in the world.

If you thought you loved pizza, just wait.

I'm in Las Vegas at the International Pizza Expo,

the largest pizza trade show in the world.

With over 7,000 attendees and over 500 exhibitors,

this is the single most important destination

for any major player in the pizza industry.

Pizza everywhere.

Whether you run a small, independent pizzeria,

a big chain, or you're just a pizza enthusiast,

you need to be in Las Vegas

for what many people refer to as the Super Bowl of pizza.

Can we call it the Pizza Bowl?

I'm just kidding. I don't know.

I refer to the Pizza Expo, for me,

it's just like the second Christmas

because I really get to see all of these people that I love.

And we come here, we get revived,

and we go out and conquer the world together.

Here we are at the pizza convention!

Pizza, pizza, pizza!

Enjoy your pizza.

All right. We're at the expo.

The doors open at 10:00 sharp.

People started flooding in.

Pizza Expo has officially begun.

Bill. Hello, Frank. How are you doing?

I'm doing well. Great to see you.

How are you? Welcome to Pizza Expo.

Are you excited? Yeah, I sure am.

I'm sure you're a busy man these days.

It's been pretty hectic here, I'll say that.

Dynamic, I call it.

And I expect this year that we'll have records

for exhibitors.

We'll have a record number of attendees.

This is an unbelievable, huge show.

When you come into the show floor, start on one side,

go by every single booth.

If there's something you haven't seen,

something you're interested in, go talk to them.

Oh, they have pizza bags over here.

My guys would be going crazy right now.

So, right now, we're gonna head down to what we call

our gold coast.

And we've got three of them. The gold coast?

It's from here, you can pretty much see from one side

of the show all the way down to the other.

Wow. And at the far end down there,

we've got our International Pizza Challenge area

where we have the competitions going

for traditional and non-traditional.

Okay, okay.

Down here, we've got our World Pizza Games.

Okay.

Up in the front-right corner,

we've got our demonstration area.

Okay.

And in the front left corner,

we've got another International Pizza Challenge.

That'll be the Neapolitan Contest

will be taking place up there,

and I suggest you take that in.

Are the Italians in town?

You better believe it.

100%. Oh, yeah.

I would say right now there's more Italians in Las Vegas

right now than at any other time during the year.

No kidding? They come in to attend and buy.

They're also here to exhibit.

If you're making traditional Napoli-style pizza,

there's one oven maker that reigns supreme --

Stefano Ferrara,

truly the Ferrari of Napoli-style pizza ovens.

The Ferrara family are third-generation oven builders,

and today the company is run by Stefano Ferrara

and his son, Simone Ferrara.

So, how many years have you guys been coming here

to the Pizza Expo?

It's six years.

Six years? Six.

Since the first edition of the show.

The Stefano Ferrara ovens in Brooklyn are legendary.

If you open up a Napoli-style pizzeria,

this is the oven that you have to have.

Yeah.

How did you guys rise to this level?

Yeah.

Wait, what was the style?

This is how the classical oven looks like.

Right.

You'll never move it.

Exactly. Never move it.

Napoli is a story of pizza.

And a story of pizza is a story of Napoli.

What does the company mean to you, you know, being the son?

It's a hard job to, you know --

to follow in the steps of my father, you know?

I have a lot of things to learn, and every day,

I knew this much more and more.

Well, I can tell you're doing a great job.

You're representing your family in an amazing way.

Man: My favorite box out here that is displayed --

I'd say probably this box right here.

I'm not sure that anybody could actually have an oven big enough

to put the pizza or make a pizza for this size box,

but this is kind of a showpiece just to have a little fun.

What is this for? Is this like, perforating?

Crazy.

The nice thing about Pizza Expo is that

you always run into a few friends in the showroom floor.

Hey, guys.

Fresh off -- Fresh off the plane!

Yep. From Italy to Vegas!

Right from Italy.

What do you call this?

It's like a zeppoli.

Yeah, it looks like a zeppoli.

Bellissimo.

Carmelina San Marzano tomato.

You can actually see we've got a beautiful

Forno Bravo oven custom done in their...

What is this?

This is a marinara pizza.

This doesn't cheese on it, okay?

He said marinara pizza?

What do you say?

Marinara. Marinara.

Marinara.

These guys have pretty good ovens, from what I hear.

Forza Forni?

I love the way that sounds.

Forza Forni!

Yeah, yeah.

Mr. Kesté!

Hey! How's everything?

Good to see you.

Is it all wood that you're cooking with in there?

Electric? That's electric?

Yeah. Yeah.

What do you think about all this?

It's crazy, man.

It's craziness.

After walking the show floor,

it was nice to take a break at my tomato supplier,

Stanislaus.

Stanislaus is a family-owned cannery in Northern California

that specializes in fresh- packing real Italian tomatoes.

Hands down, they have the best booth at the Expo.

Oh, yeah.

This feels good!

I'm ready.

What does it mean for you guys to be here like this

at the pizza convention and be such a big stand?

We have a philosophy.

And we're not -- We don't come here to sell.

Right. We come here to,

you know, meet old friends, meet new friends,

you know, build new relationships.

It's kind of cool that, you know,

you have all these independent pizzerias

all across the country.

You know, they're like us.

If the little guy succeeds, then we succeed

'cause we're in it together.

-Damn. -What?

It's a choreographed routine, three minutes.

You gotta hit tricks.

You gotta do two at a time, three at a time.

You're kind of doing multiple, like, aerials and stuff.

Oh, shit!

It's like the gladiators. I mean, it's crazy.

Just watching you here, man, I think you got a shot.

Yeah, we'll see.

Man: Stretch, turn, stretch, turn.

So, a lot of people, when they stretch,

they're doing a perfect job here,

but they're actually destroying their crust here.

Pinello: The minute you step in the Expo,

there's one face you see everywhere.

The softer you are on your pizza,

the more light and airy your pizza will be.

Tony Gemignani -- twelve-time World Pizza Champion,