Best Pizza IN

Preston Hollow

And the best-pizza winner is …

Al’s Pizzeria

Runner up: Mimi’s Pizzeria

Third place: My Family’s Pizza

Cheesy, thin and pliable, yet sturdy enough to be folded in half and gripped by its crust: These are just a few prerequisites for a good slice of New York-style pizza. Al’s Pizzeria (3701 W. Northwest Highway, Suite 309) executes all of these and has done so since opening its doors near Bachman Lake in 1974. Not much has changed since then, with the exception of a few new salads and pasta dishes, says Fran Pjetrovic, who owns the restaurant with her husband, Medo. The couple took over the restaurant in 1979 and have been working there with their family ever since. When landlords required Al’s to relocate in 2011, neighbors eagerly awaited the restaurant’s return. “People kept peeking into the windows during construction, asking when we would reopen,” Fran recalls. Upon reopening in October, Al’s popularity has proven that amid dozens of thin-crusted competitors, a solid recipe for a New York-style pie stands the test of time.

—Whitney Thompson

Find out more about our yearlong reader’s choice contest and cast your vote for next month’s category: best breakfast/brunch. Visit prestonhollow.advocatemag.com/bestof.

Although everyone loves good oldfashioned strawberry shortcake this time of year, the idea of grilling dessert screams summer in my mind. Stone fruits — those with large, hard seeds at the center such as peaches, plums and nectarines — are perfect for grilling because they are firm enough to maintain their structure while being extra sweet and juicy. Take full advantage of the season. Grill up these peaches and layer them in flaky shortcake paired with a brown sugar whipped cream to finish out this summer with joy.

Grilled peach shortcakes with brown sugar whipped cream

Shortcakes

2 cups all purpose flour

4 tablespoons sugar, granulated

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cubed

1 cup + 1 tablespoon heavy cream

1 egg

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl. With paddle attachment, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it becomes a course crumb. Add 1 cup of cream and mix until dough starts to come together.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to approximately 1 inch thick. Cut into eight 2 ½ inch rounds and place evenly onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Whisk together the egg and the 1 tablespoon of heavy cream and brush over the tops of each dough round. Sprinkle each round with cinnamon sugar. Bake until golden brown, approximately 25 minutes.

Cool completely before cutting each shortcake in half and layer each one with brown sugar whipped cream and grilled peaches (see grilled peach and whipped cream recipes opposite). Serve immediately.

GRILLED PEACHES

4 ripe peaches, halved and pitted

½ cup butter, unsalted (1 stick)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

DIRECTIONS

Heat grill to high (or for indoor grilling, a grill pan works great). Melt butter and mix in cinnamon and sugar. Brush peaches with butter mixture and place cut-side down on the grill and grill until cooked through

Once peaches are removed from the grill, brush one more coat of butter mixture while hot.

BROWN SUGAR WHIPPED CREAM

2 cups heavy whipping cream

4 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

In a medium bowl, beat heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add brown sugar and vanilla extract. Continue beating until stiff peaks form.

Our neighborhood has become a sanctuary for world-class musicians

STORY BY EMILY TOMAN | PHOTOS BY KIM LEESON

Preston Hollow doesn’t have a music scene. Or maybe, you just have to know where to look.

Our neighborhood churches and synagogues are home to some of the best performers around.

Pipedreams

EVERY ORGAN HAS ITS OWN PERSONALITY. The one inside the main sanctuary at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, with 68 stops and 5,100 pipes that stretch toward the ceiling and frame the stained glass Creation Window, is suited for playing French romantic music.

“It has a particularly French accent to it,” says James Diaz, St. Michael’s organist and music director. “Organs tend to have a very distinct sound.”

That sound hasn’t lost its effect, especially in the church. At St. Michael, the choir and organ occupy the loft at the back of the sanctuary, almost completely out of the congregation’s sight, which “adds an element of mysticism,” Diaz says, as the music envelopes the room.

At the end of a patriotic service in June, before filing out of the sanctuary, guests stood up and turned around to watch Diaz and his wife, Hyeon Jeong, perform “Stars and Stripes Forever.” It’s a typical scene even during routine services, says Wendy Finley, who has been a St. Michael choir member for about 19 years.

“This is some of the best music in town,” she says. “It’s like coming to a concert every week.”

And Diaz has the credentials to back it up. He grew up listening to clas- sical music, namely Johann Sebastian Bach, whose favorite instrument was the organ. Diaz took organ lessons as a teenager and continued his studies at the University of Michigan and then the Cleveland Institute of Music.

“It was definitely a niche pursuit for a high schooler,” he says.

At just 27 years old, he became the music director at St. Michael. In 2000, he won first prize in the Dallas International Organ Competition at the Meyerson Symphony Center. Under his direction, the St. Michael choir learns to sing Anglican church hymns but also receives a music education each week and an understanding about the message behind each piece.

“It gives you a rich sense of the church history and musical history,” Finley says.

While they deliver excellent performances, the main role of Diaz and the choir is to encourage the congregation to sing.

“Why do people organize to sing? Baseball games and church. There’s been a cultural trend where people are moving more toward being consumers of music instead of creators of music,” Diaz says. “It does underline the need to inspire people to sing.”