Paul pierantozzi by Freestyle Academy

View High School and is enrolled in Freestyle Academy. Paul enjoys odd hobbies like LEGO

The real Italian pizza

Paul Pierantozzi is currently a junior at Mountain

animation, Drone flying and computer building. Freestyle Academy. He has attended several Digital Media courses at the Digital Media Academy where he learned coding, advanced filmmaking, and computer animation. In the future, Paul would like to have a job doing what he loves in entertainment and digital media. His future goal is to continue to expand his knowledge in these fields and someday move on to do something awesome.

Paul PIerantozzi

He is also an aspiring filmmaker, studying film at

the real italian pizza Written and designed by Paul Pierantozzi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to acknowledge all the staff at the Terun Restaurant in Palo Alto. Special thanks to Maico, Franco, and Kristyan for letting me document their restaurant and for the support they have given me for this project.

TABLE of CONTENTS introduction...........................................................................................8-9 Chapter 1...............................................................................................10-13 ChApter 2.............................................................................................14-17 Chapter 3.............................................................................................18-21 Conclusion....................................................................................24-25 Works cited..................................................................................28-29

Foreword

The idea to create a book about pizza came from my recent trip to Italy where I experienced a very dif-

ferent culture behind food. There is something to be said about a place having hundreds of years behind it’s culture. However, the surprise for me was not so much the quality of the food I found there as you could probably find something comparable in America. The difference was the connections between the people and the customer. This quality is what drew me to Terún - a new pizza restaurant in Palo Alto, CA - and is what makes it such a good representation of the Italian dining experience. This is what I set out to uncover in writing this book.

One of my greatest challenges during the creation of this book was finding the purpose behind it. I knew

that I wanted to document their great pizza and friendly staff, but it was really hard for me to bring it together into one centralized message. Some other challenges I faced during the project was finding times for interviews as the restaurant was often busy. However, I can’t thank Maico and the rest of the team at Terún enough for the great support they have given me over the course of this project. Whenever I was able to get there for a shoot, they were very accommodating and were very supportive of what we were doing. One thing that I learned from this whole project, along with many little things, is how to coordinate with other people.This is the first time I had worked so closely with someone that I hadn’t really known and I learned a lot about how to work with new people.

Introduction

Recently I traveled to Italy to see many historical sites and of course, eat some incredible food. In Rome,

I found a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant, owned by a family. The inside looked completely packed, and from the outside we thought there was no way we would be able to get a seat. As soon as we entered the place the owner immediately greeted us and pulled up seats and a table. However, he never handed us any menus, instead he told us whatever dish he thought we would like and gave it to us. Now I never was sure if they actually had a menu or if he was just being hospitable, but the hospitality on this level was something that I have never heard of in America, not to mention the food was amazing. When I first entered TerĂşn Pizza, I was transported back to that small shop in Italy with the warm hospitality and excellent italian food. TerĂşn is not just a place to get good pizza, it is a cultural enclave.

Chapter one

Pizza napoletana

Pizza is a several hundred

Co Owner of Terún. What is the

can replicate exactly what happens

year old food whose origins date

EU’s definition of pizza napole-

in Italy - the mozzarella, burrata

back to Roman times, and with

tana? The specifications state “The

cheese, everything.” This devotion

time comes tradition. Pizza Na-

STG Neapolitan pizza is character-

to italian ingredients allows even

poletana is the term that refers to

ised by its raised, golden crust, soft

the core of each meal to be pre-

the traditional Neapolitan style

to the touch and to the lips with the pared just as if you were in Italy.

pizza that was created in Naples,

red of the tomato visible through

Although many other restaurants

Italy, more than 300 years ago.

the white spots of the mozzarella.”

have some Italian sourced ingredi-

The Italian Government has even

The specifications also state that

ents few can say they sourced

made specifications based on the

everything must be made by hand

nearly all of the ingredients in-

300 year old original pizza. Terún

without use of machinery and with

volved. Why do they bother to get

Pizza is one of the few pizza places

the proper oven.

their ingredients from Italy op-

in California to have this certifica-

posed to locally? Maico says “if

tion. “we are certified ‘pizza verace

Terún is where everything is

One special thing about

you make at home a nice plate of

napoletana’ which means that there sourced. As Maico says “the olive

pasta if you use the right olive oil, it

is an association in Italy and they

oil is from Puglia, or Sicily. The to-

makes the difference. Little things,

are working on having the same

mato is a san marzano tomato from all together, is a beautiful mosaic,

pizza we used to have 300 years in

Naples.” He goes on to say “It’s

and then you can make the best

Naples.” Says Maico Campilongo,

important because in this way we

product.”

Chapter two the front door

I was introduced to Terún by my

restaurant.

a restaurant. It’s got good food, at a

dad who has a passion for

This quality of connection trans-

great price, on a good

finding great new restaurants. The

lates from Italian culture and it

location, and the staff as you

first time I went to Terún there was

proves to be a key to success in the

probably know is very warm and

immediately something

restaurant business. Business Week

remember people. It’s nice to go

different that I noticed, not with

reports that nearly 60% of new

somewhere where people know

the food but with the people. As

restaurants fail within the first 3

who you are”.

soon as I sat down, Maico came

years. However, Terún has earned

The connection that Terún’s staff

out and we shook hands. He ask

Best New Restaurant of 2013 in the

makes and maintains with

us how we were doing, and talked

city of Palo Alto by readers of the

customers helps bring people back.

to my dad as if he had known him

Palo Alto Weekly.

As Maico said, “Restaurants are

for years. It was something I never

Every time I have gone to Terún it

made by people and by food. I

experienced in a restaurant, at least

has been full of customers. On

think we got a good combination.”

never on this level. This relates

Friday nights the restaurant is

This might be the key to why Terún

back to the time I went to Rome.

packed and bustling with patrons.

has been so successful in its early

The restaurants there, much like

On one Friday night, we

days: not just for their delicious

at Terún, were run by families or

interviewed David, a patron of

traditional pizza, but also for their

close friends. They connected and

Terún, about what separates Terún

connection that they maintain with

even remembered people that came from other restaurants. He

back, regardless of the hundreds

responded passionately, “I like

that come in and out of their

Terún because its got all I want in

the customers.

chapter three what makes a good pizza?

Kristyan, the chef at Terún, has a

I need to kill you”, he laughed, “But

in a wood oven. The temperature

story behind how he came to learn

I can tell you to make a good pizza

inside the oven is 800-900 degrees.

the art of making Neapolitan-style

you need everything absolutely and The pizza cooks very fast. And that

pizza. Kristyan grew up in Naples,

exactly right.”

Italy, and worked at his mom’s res-

At the risk of “death”, we decided to cook, but leave the same flavour.

taurant. This is where he found his

find out what really separates the

The olive oil doesn’t get burned.

passion for making pizza. After his

pizza that Kristyan makes from

The tomato - its cooked but not

mom sold the restaurant, he found

others.

burned. Everything has this good

a place in Naples where he could

One very important part is where

taste because of the fast way we

gives the chance for the product to

learn how to make traditional pizza the pizza is cooked. At Terún they

make it.” The wood burning oven

directly from an artisan pizza chef.

have a traditional wood burning

allows for all of the ingredients to

Kristyan explained, “He [the ar-

brick oven. This oven was actually

cook quickly and evenly as well

tisan pizza chef] always told me

made by a company in Naples, Italy as leaving a signature char at the

how I could make pizza, but he

that specialized in high-tempera-

crust, resulting in a delicious end

would never tell me the secret. So I

ture, wood-burning pizza ovens.

product. Everything from the

learned by myself.”

Terún sourced their pizza oven

source of the ingredients, to the

We asked Kristyan what the secret

from this company when building

Italian wood burning oven, and the

to making good pizza is and he re-

their kitchen.

man behind it all is straight from

plied “I cannot tell you its a secret.

Maico explained “this pizza cooks

Italy.

Conclusion

Terún pizza brings the traditional Pizza Napoletana to the Bay Area with arguably the best pizza in

California. However, it isn’t the chef ’s quest for the greatest pizza in the Bay Area that sets this place apart from the crowd. Rather, it is the way they connect with their customers and their devotion to making their customers feel at home. The restaurant creates an atmosphere where you feel connected to the people working there and where you can enjoy incredible Italian food. The chef ’s passion for making great pizza is demonstrated through the incredible attention to detail, using mostly italian ingredients and an impressive wood-burning pizza oven. His determination to create authentic and unique food from his home is shared through the rest of the staff at Terún. Although not everyone here works in the kitchen, it is clear that they are bringing their culture in everything they do. There aren’t many pizza places in California where you can say you ate the same delicious pies people enjoyed 300 years ago in Naples, Italy.

Works cited Anonymous patron. Personal interview. 12 Mar. 2014. Tsui, Bonnie. “A Slice of History: The American Angle on Traditional Italian Pizza.”Phaidon. Web. 20 Mar. 2014 Compilongo, Maico. Personal interview. 8 Feb. 2014. Kristyan. Personal interview. 12 Mar. 2014. “Italy Mulls Pizza Protection Law.” BBC News. BBC, 27 May 2004. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. Miller, Kerry. “The Restaurant-Failure Myth.” Bloomberg Business Week. Bloomberg, 16 Apr. 2007. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.