Hey all, by chance only, in January, My wife and I were roaming around Florida, ending up in St pete Beach for a couple nights. Had heard about the world of beer and while taking a ride into St Pete proper, decided to stop in for a beer. Thats when I remembered hearing early talk of this beer only bar, no food, and wfp. We parked and saw wood fired in progress. There was Pete. A Man nice enough to have spent over an hour of his time talking me out of opening a pizza place in NH a couple years ago. I mean that in the best possible way. A seroiusly smart guy, and one of those guys that gets IT. When reading the review there and thinking about the prices, put it into perspective, think of a primo part of St Pete, cities like that are not cheap for anything. I will keep this simple. As I told Peter, after a long conversation in person, which was delightful, was that part of our trip involved going to the original wood fired in Tampa before flying out the next day. He was honest enough to ask me not to go at night on a friday as it were, as it would be too busy, so we went at lunch instead. It was quiet, as he predicted, and the oven was rolling along gently. For any of us that have this much interest in pizzamaking, and have climbed anywhere near the level that he has, have to understand, that on our best nights, maybe we could make a better pizza, or let me rephrase, on more suited to our tastes. That being said, My wife and I agreed that this was the the single best pizza we have ever bought. It was a pizza raquel, and the balance and quality of ingredients was top notch. His starter tasted excellent. Peter, if you read this, this is the honest truth. The only problem with the whole experience, was the lack of enthusiasm on part of the staff. I know they were all in a state of transition to the new venture, but I urge you to never take your eye off the prize, thats the customer, not the pizza. I felt like a secret shopper, and not all tests were passed that day, luckily the pizza did shine through. To answer the question about the oven, Peter told me that the town would not allow the Raquel oven without a UL certification, hence the move to the SF. As Peter says, its all in the eye. The pizza is done when its done. Lookning forward to the next time I get to run into pft. -Marc
