On this mouth-watering episode of Pie 2 Pie, Alex chats with veteran pizza maker Mark Mebus, owner of the acclaimed 20th Street Pizza in Philadelphia. Drawing on his extensive experience in the NYC and Philly pizza scenes, Mark reflects on the rise and fall of his first pizzeria, Blackbird, imparting the hard lessons he learned about expanding and taking on too many things too quickly which took him away from the food.
Now focused solely on perfecting his craft at one location, he shares his enduring love of pizza and his belief that quality stems entirely from the skill of the pizzaiolo, not where it comes from. Mark explains how a quest for better vegan options led him to launch a wholesale vegan meat and frozen pizza company—you may have seen their Blackbird brand in your grocer's freezer aisle. Tune in for some sage advice to his younger self and Mark's surprising pick for the greatest band of all time.
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