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More than 10,000 pizza lovers packed Randall’s Island in New York City for Dave Portnoy’s third annual One Bite Pizza Festival, an invite-only celebration of 40 of the best pizzerias from across the country. The part food festival, part family reunion has quickly become one of the premier gatherings in the pizza world for independent operators. Among the pizzerias invited was Rockaway Pizzeria of Pittsburgh, where owner Josh Sickels brought his craft (and LloydPans) to his table. We caught up with Josh to hear about his experience at the festival, his approach to high-volume, quick-paced pizza and how LloydPans played a role.
So, you were just one of 40 chosen! That’s kind of a big deal.
I heard about One Bite just by being alive! Dave Portnoy is the biggest name in pizza. He’s opened up a massive market for regular people to understand craft pizza more. I think with the rise of his YouTube series for eight or nine years now, it’s tuned an entire new generation of people to the underground pizza world. Dave showed up last fall to my pizza shop right before I moved, and he gave me a really good score. Fast forward to April of this year, and I get an email inviting me to the festival. There are legendary people at One Bite, and even though he’s just one man’s opinion about pizza, the influence and ability for me to have my name in the ranks of my peers and people who I look up to and respect was the important part for me to do this festival. It’s a big deal for sure.
You served a pan pizza, a departure from the New York-style, to the masses. Why did you choose this approach for such a large scale?
To my knowledge I was one of just a few doing a pan pizza. It seemed to be that the pizza was a big hit; I think doing my pan pizza stood out, a welcome change. With One Bite, it used to be just cheese, and now they’ve opened it up to whatever you want to make, but just one. I picked my grandma pizza for a few reasons: because I knew it would stand out, and I coat the bottom with sesame seeds, so there’s a really nice and interesting flavor texturally.
But also, I was nervous about keeping up with demand. I thought the idea of individually stretching and launching regular round pizzas over and over again for the equivalent of almost 5,000 slices of pizza or whatever we ended up giving away that day—I just imagined things going very wrong. I thought the idea of being able to set up a bunch of pans and continue to fire them in the oven was a good idea. There were a couple times that they were like, ‘Hey guys, we want pizza in three or four minutes.’ We constantly had slices because of the pans. We could cheese them, sauce them, pop them, and have 10 of them just waiting ready to go in at all times. It was amazing.
Can you talk about LloydPans’ durability during the event and in your kitchen?
I used the 16X16 Grandma Pan, and I borrowed 16X16 Sicilian Pans from Slice On Broadway. They were fantastic. I’ve always used LloydPans for my Detroit—well, a Detroit-ish. It’s not really Detroit but has the frico edges and the crusty cheese. The difference is significant. With your pans I can pull them straight from the tray and cut. The heat conduction of LloydPans is pretty astonishing. Your pans cut like a minute or two off every pizza, and I feel like the more you use them the better they get. Using the pans [at One Bite] saved a lot of time, not having to pull the pizza out of the pan and then put it on the peel and shove it back in the oven for a minute. At a festival where you must prioritize speed over quality, everyone is doing somewhat of an abridged version of their pizza. You can’t replicate a 100-year coal fired oven outside.But that’s kind of a part of the deal of trying to get all the best pizza in America in one spot.
Any final thoughts now that the crust has settled?
LloydPans is by far the best pan that I’ve used. You get what you pay for, right? You can’t skirt around quality, and you can’t get great things for cheap. I think that people are looking at pizza in a different way nowadays. I think that goes in line with the ethos of LloydPans and who you guys work with. You’re leading the way with the American artisanal pizza scene, and maybe beyond. Now I’m seeing the UK and beyond wanting to emulate American styles, whether it’s New Haven or Brooklyn or Detroit-style. There’s some big names that are popping up that don’t want to just do the Naples-style wood fire–they’re interested in the variety. I feel like if Italy defined it, then Americans refined it when it comes to pizza.
