KCAA: Let's Dine Out with Allan Borgen (Sat, 24 May, 2025)

KCAA: Let's Dine Out with Allan Borgen on Sat, 24 May, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Slaw Dog, Sonora and Dog, Chili Dog and Seattle Dog
took to the famous venue for a Wiener Take All race.
Fans relished the opportunity to watch the iconic wienermobiles make
their way around the two and a half mile track.
In the end, it was Slaw Dog just getting past
Shy Dog to take the checkered flag.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
You're listening to the latest on NBC News Radio.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
NBC News on KCAA Lomolada sponsored by Teamsters Local nineteen
thirty two, protecting the Future of Working Families Teamsters nineteen
thirty two dot org.

Speaker 4 (00:41):
You're listening to an encore presentation of this program KCAA
The Inland Talk Express.

Speaker 5 (00:52):
Favorite diet just takes your own Men at Stake right stick.

Speaker 6 (01:00):
Wonderful host so Flamby, Why.

Speaker 7 (01:31):
Welcome to another delicious edition of the Let's Sign Out Show.
Food critic Alan Borgan here, and we have a show
for you, folks. I'm telling you, if you like pizza,
you're gonna love this show because it's all about pizzas
from around the world. And we have a special guest
coming on in about fifteen minutes. He is a world
champion Best of the Best for the last three years

(01:54):
and uh, just the neatest guy in the world and
great story. Just a great guy to here and listen to.
So we're gonna have him on. But anyway, we had
a great time. We just got back from Las Vegas
for the fortieth anniversary of the International Pizza Extule put
on by Pizza Today magazine, and unbelievable, it's the biggest
crowd they ever had. They've had besides vendors. There's over

(02:17):
four hundred vendors. They had. I don't know exactly how
many people, but lots and lots of people from around
the world, pizza makers, pizza owners, anything to do with
the pizza industry, they were there. And the vendors. I
mean we're talking sauces, cheeses, flowers, pizza making equipment, ovens, olives, boxes, shirts,

(02:40):
marketing ordering systems, olive oils, gelato, beer, yes, even vodka
and Italian beverages and plus so much more. Am missing anything?

Speaker 8 (02:52):
Plant?

Speaker 7 (02:53):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (02:53):
Plant based, plant based Yeah, definitely plant based foods. There's
actually there's spices machines how that you know, you wouldn't
think of all the different machines, the boxes, all the
packaging materials. So it's really everything about pizza.

Speaker 7 (03:10):
Right, and the common theme was just everyone's helping each other.
That's one thing about the whole pizza industry. I've never
met a more incredible bunch of people who really care
about the industry, who want to bring it up to
the highest level. Do you talk about respect Tony Jiminoni,
who is kind of the godfather. I hate use the
word godfather, but he is mister Pizza himself. He's really

(03:33):
brought the whole craft into existence, and you know, respect it.
It's not just something that's eat boom, that's it. It's
not just your fast food type of item that it
used to be. And he usually brought into a professional attitude.
And the people there are from around the world. I
mean we're talking Vietnam, China, Thailand, Italy, Norway, Mexico, all

(03:55):
of the fifty how many states we have fifty six, yes,
fifty states whatever, I don't know how many we have here,
and I mean literally all over the world, and just unbelievable.
They're they're like little puppies or tails are waggon. They
just want to learn and learn and learn and get
better and of course make money too. But it's not
just about that and just really really very impressive. And

(04:19):
my job for the last twelve years, thirteen years, my
involvement is I've been a judge at the International Pizza Expo,
and this year it was very interesting. Usually you had
one topic either well there's four or five different topics,
but I mean different types of pizta, and it was
always just one. Now they kind of threw everything at us,
so I'll tell you what some of them were. And

(04:42):
these I say, I think around seventy three pizzas I
judged in like two days and one segment. Panels. Yeah,
that's not my record. My record's ninety six, so I
think because they had another group of panels areas. Usually
there's eight judges, well this time it was twelve, and
they had over like I want to hear like five
one undred and sixty. I think it was competitors and

(05:02):
it was the most ever and they want to get
to over six hundred next time. So but we had
first of all traditional traditional it's pretty much sauce, cheese obviously,
the dough and only two toppings non traditional, which is
anything go. That's one of my favorites because you can
see some really unusual things from caviar to lobster to

(05:23):
bone marrow. I mean, just really unusual stuff, beautiful presentations
and really really that's I love that subject. That topic
pan pizzas that includes a Sicilian style, the thick crust
pizzas and Detroit style, which is my all time favorite.
You go nuts over that too, is he right?

Speaker 5 (05:41):
Yeah, that's I would say that's one of my favorite,
just you know, because we don't get a lot of
those around here, I mean our neck of the woods,
we don't see those.

Speaker 7 (05:51):
There's some out there, but they're not they don't taste
like they should taste. And I was lucky enough to
meet Sean who started it all four or five years ago.
I was on the final panel and all the judges,
he's one that introduced Detroit stylet pizzas, and all of
us we didn't say we're you know, we're very it's
all blind tastings except for his, and we just had

(06:12):
it and it was like, oh my god. It was
I've never given a ten across the board and he
really opened, you know, everybody's eyes to that. Unfortunately, a
lot of people here take shortcuts, so they just put
the name out, but they're not really, you know, and
we're gonna have a special on talking about Detroit Stout pizzas.
We found a couple of places that do have one.
They also had the best cheese slice, which was interesting.

(06:35):
This is the first year, and you know, the cheese
slice is very very popular. A lot of people just
ordered cheese pizzas and not sure why, but whatever. And
that was the hardest a judge because it was basically cheese,
sauce and dough. You know, a lot of them uses
same cheeses and it was very That was really difficult to, uh,

(06:56):
I think, to judge, but very popular.

Speaker 5 (06:58):
I think that the instance will be very subtle, Like
you know, it would be hard to compare one cheese
slice to another, whn't it.

Speaker 9 (07:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (07:06):
I think it was sponsored by the California Cheese Association.
The other one was a Neapolitan, which is basically tomato
mozzarella cheese, sometimes basil, but that's about it. Most of
the time. It's just tomato mozarella cheese. The dough is thinner,
it's very very light, airy chewy. It's actually great dough.

(07:27):
But judging it was a nightmare too, because everything tasted
and looked the same and like it's hard to judge
how much cheese. Some of them had very little cheese
and some had more than others, you know, and it
was just very hard. But judging is probably the hardest
I've done in my life in terms of pizzas. I've
done chili, I've done barbecue, I've done a bunch of

(07:48):
different ones. But Mexican food I did one time. But
this is the hardest, and there's so much. It's hard
to be objective, you know, you try to be, but
when you have five or six of everything looks the same,
tastes same, how do you judge it? And now no
one one perfect pizza. That's the thing.

Speaker 5 (08:05):
My question is, wouldn't it be the things? I think
the pizza would taste better on the first day because
it's a new versus the last day, where you have
had two days worth of pizzas.

Speaker 7 (08:17):
Yes or no. For the first time around, you're hungry,
so it looks good, it tastes okay, you know, but
as you drink, you know, as you eat more and
taste more, you have more perspective of what's good and
what's not good. Sometimes you think something at the beginning
is good and then at the end you know, towards
the middle of the day or the next day, it's

(08:37):
like it was okay, So.

Speaker 5 (08:39):
Now do you get to go back and change I
mean like some people don't know, like you know, how
it's being done. So once you judge it and once
you put your score in, do you just turn it
in right away?

Speaker 7 (08:49):
Yeah, we turn it right away. They first they come
to around the table with us. We don't it's in
a blind area in the back, so we don't see.
We don't know who is doing it. And a runner
comes shows us the pizza. We lift it up to
look at whether it's baked underneath, and we look at
it for the appearance, and then they bring it back
and then they kind of give us a slice and

(09:09):
usually big slices, unfortunately, and then we judge it where
we taste. It's based on taste creativity and the dough
does it have flavor, the sauce of cheese, how it
does it all come together. That's pretty easy that part,
but there's some times. One thing I noticed this time
around more than any time, was they spend so much

(09:30):
time on appearance on different ingredients. Some of them had
great ingredients, but they didn't go together. And that's something
I just I can't understand, you know, not being pizza maker,
I don't quite understand that some people I put like,
this is their best of all the different pizzas they
could make. This is their best, So and it wasn't,
I mean by far.

Speaker 5 (09:51):
Now, do you get to taste all the categories, all
the pizzas.

Speaker 7 (09:56):
Yeah, they keep bringing different ones out, so it might
be four cheese slices for Neapolitans is the only thing we didn't.
We did it at sometimes they for finals, they did
it for a special one.

Speaker 5 (10:08):
So they do switch it up.

Speaker 7 (10:10):
That's what I'm asking.

Speaker 5 (10:11):
Okay, so you don't get to taste every single pizza
that's been entered into the contest.

Speaker 7 (10:16):
No, because like I said, there's twelve. There's three panels
of four judges. So let's say, you know, one one
one panel tastes it, and another panel tastes another one,
and another panel all three taste different ones.

Speaker 5 (10:29):
So you guys get it gets mixed up. So if
somebody comes up to you and say, hey, you know,
I made this this pizza and you gave me the score,
you know, and then you're like, I didn't taste it.

Speaker 7 (10:40):
Yeah, So if someone woman did that and I'm like, oh,
thank you, but I don't think I taste it. They
also have plant based. This is the first year they
had plant based Daya, which is a big based plant
based company. They sponsored it, and I was actually hoping
for that because there's some great cheeses out there, but
I never got any. I don't know why it.

Speaker 5 (11:00):
Didn't, but so it sounds like they're trying to keep
the same category to the same group of judges so
that they get to compare amongst if you're doing plant based,
not to spread it across the.

Speaker 7 (11:12):
No, it was, it was spread across a different group.
So it's just for some reason the luck of the draw.
I guess I didn't get it. Okay, So you know
they didn't do it whatever came out early. You know,
if one came out and you're you're judging one already,
then the next group they look at and you know,
who's who does who's not eating?

Speaker 5 (11:29):
Okay, got okay? So they bet they do mix it up,
That's what I'm saying.

Speaker 7 (11:32):
Well, they do mix up very much.

Speaker 5 (11:34):
So so does your scorecard have like different categories like appearance?
Just somebody that haven't been there, don't know what you're
grading on does other categories, and then every time you graded,
you get a new score card and.

Speaker 7 (11:48):
You just turn to a new sheet this time on everything.
It's pink and purple and different colors. So pink is
one might be traditional, purple was it could be non traditional.
It depends. So they tell us non traditional. It tells
the competitors number. It's all we know is their number,
and we put down our initial for our judges, you know,
because in about two months they're gonna it's gonna be

(12:11):
all available with the public. If they want to see it.
Different pizza makers, they can look at the copies of
We make copies of it, and they see it and
they understand. We also read about comments on it and
why it was good or bad or suggestions or whatever.
We try to be kind. I mean, I admire anyone
who competes. But yeah, first it's it's appearance and the bake.

(12:32):
Is it baked? You know, does the crust look evenly baked?
And how is it something that's appealing. That's the first part.
Then once we taste it, it's creativity. Taste creativity, taste
the crust itself. And then overall, so that's after everything.

Speaker 5 (12:49):
Okay, and then are you aware how they tallied all
that up? Is it it's.

Speaker 7 (12:53):
One to ten. It's it's from one to ten, and
we can do like two point three, two point four whatever,
any point numbers afterwards? Is they asked us to do
that a lot because they don't want any ties. They
want it all separately and everything.

Speaker 5 (13:06):
Gotcha, Okay, Just so that you know, I'm just trying
to you know, if somebody has never been to one,
they never see in a scorecard, they have an understanding
what you're looking at and what kind of categories were
given to you.

Speaker 7 (13:17):
And how it's I'll be posting it the next day
or so. There's so much pictures I took it's not
even funny, but yeah, being showing pictures and everything. But
the one thing, again, it's not open to the public.
If it was, it'd be crazy, but it's not. It's
just for the professionals and.

Speaker 5 (13:33):
For the industry.

Speaker 7 (13:34):
Yeah, but it's quite It was done in the Las
Vegas Commission Center, the West Hall, big giant hall, and
just the nicest people. And every year you come, it's
like big family. I mean, I've never looked forward to
anything in my life, but this. I mean, this is
something when you know you're part of this too, you know,
coming with me, it's just a really nice feeling. And

(13:56):
I can just imagine being on the outside of this
in a sense, what it's like for the competitors, because
I mean everyone there's hugs, they help each other. It's
all about making the you know, the craft, making the
pizza industry higher and higher and higher. And they're doing
a fantastic job. Pizza Today, great magazine. They really care

(14:17):
about their people, and I mean, sure they want to
make money, you make the best pizzas, but it's more
than that. It's pride. It's not egos. I mean you
can almost count the egos in one hand. I mean,
in all the years I've been doing this, I've only
met a couple pizza makers who have big egos. Other
than that, every one of them are just down to
earth and people you'd want to hang around with. And

(14:38):
I'm odd. I mean, I learned so much every year,
and that's a food critic. When we go out or anything,
you too, Now you know what a good pizza is
and that's why we judge pizzas here and unfortunately the
England Empire, there's not a whole bunch of great pizzas.
There's some individual ones. But you know, it's hard. I
mean it's hard for restaurant owners to go. I really
push it to every pizza restaurant around. I told me,

(15:00):
you got to go, and the first thing they tell
me is we can't get away. We don't have staff.
And it's hard. So I understand that, and it's just
too bad. But they do a lot of at the convention.
They have a keynote speaker, they have a lot of workshops,
and you can really learn and get excited, and it's
fantastic for first timers who've never been in the business
or thinking and go into it. You go there and

(15:22):
you're so hyped up. You're so like, oh my god,
it's like being on major drugs. I mean, you're so
heped up. I mean it's incredible. It's a incredible feeling.

Speaker 5 (15:31):
I mean, am I right, Yeah, yeah, I agree. I
mean it's really a camoraeri that you feel like, you know,
from all the different people, even though competing against each
other and all own their own business, they tend to
like embrace each other and help each other out and
bring their business to a different line.

Speaker 7 (15:47):
And they help each other. That's the thing. It's not,
you know, they don't care. They help each other. I've
seen it probably about five years ago. I wasn't judging.
I was walking by the competition and guy was like,
oh my god, I don't have enough babes or something
like that, and the guy next to him, who's competing
with him, said, here, take some of mine. I mean,
I was like, whoa. Now, you don't see that in
the barbecue business in competition. I mean, it's a real

(16:08):
serious business, don't get me wrong. But they help each other,
and that's what life should be about. I mean, I
wish everybody in the world would like the pizza owners
and the whole industry. But okay, I'm just hyped up.
I'm happy. I'm a happy camper. But speaking of happy,
we met a lot of great people. There are a
lot of friends who we've met, we've known for years,

(16:29):
you know, And this gentleman we've had I've had the
pleaguer of hearing his name a lot, but we've met
in the last two years. Last year we met him
and we actually had him on our show. And this
year he took home and the big prize again. This
is I understand this is his third year in a row.
Like he's Wayne Gretzky of hockey. I mean amazing. To

(16:49):
win three times in a row is incredible and the
most low key guy you can believe. He's just such
a nice guy. His name is Joseph for Joe Carlucci
and Joe, We're lucky to have you on the line.
Welcome to let's sign out, Shoe.

Speaker 9 (17:04):
Oh sir, thank you for having me.

Speaker 7 (17:06):
Good. It sounds like your voice has been shot.

Speaker 5 (17:10):
Too much celebrating.

Speaker 7 (17:13):
Yeah, no problem anyway. Yeah, but thank you for joining us.
I was just wondering if you can just your story
is so neat and just talk about how and why
you got into you know, start of your pizza making journey,
how you got into the business.

Speaker 10 (17:31):
Oop?

Speaker 7 (17:31):
Do we lose them?

Speaker 9 (17:31):
Joe?

Speaker 7 (17:34):
Joe, I think we lost him? Show you there? Can
we lose them?

Speaker 9 (17:41):
Can you hear it?

Speaker 8 (17:42):
You can?

Speaker 7 (17:42):
I can hear you? Now? Go ahead try.

Speaker 9 (17:45):
Can you hear me? Now?

Speaker 7 (17:46):
Hear you? Now? Okay?

Speaker 9 (17:47):
All right?

Speaker 7 (17:48):
Yeah? I just wanted to how you got started?

Speaker 11 (17:51):
Uh?

Speaker 9 (17:52):
I well, you know, I grew up in carwoll New York,
and I started at by now brother in law, Pete
Thuria that make they sold the years ago, but it
was called Ridendos and I started, god thirty plus years ago,
you were right, Yes, so thirty plus years ago washing dishes?

Speaker 7 (18:09):
Okay?

Speaker 5 (18:11):
And what got you inspired and want to get into
the business because a lot of people will you know,
shadow somebody and go, ah, this is not for me.

Speaker 9 (18:20):
I think I was just you know, at that age
back then in the nineties, I you know, I didn't
really know what I wanted to do. I wasn't you know,
really super books smart, and you know, I always had
a work ethic that my parents instilled and my mother
instilled in me. I wasn't afraid of the long hours,
and I like a challenge. And I started off washing
dishes and my sister's husbands they were from the old school,

(18:43):
the parents. So like I couldn't make sauce, I had
to start on dishes, and I could have had to
go up to delivery and I'd like to challenge. Then
the counter and then I finally, you know, was allowed
to make a pizza. My first piece was like a football.
I'll never forget it.

Speaker 5 (18:58):
So, so, how what makes the Pizza Expo so special
to you? Since you know you've been there now so
many years, and you've been in the pizza business.

Speaker 9 (19:10):
I kid a camaraderie. How we work together, how we
try to help each other. We tell each other our problems.
You know, it's crazy to be halfway across the country
and still have the same problem as I'm having. And
that take a release for you to understand, like you're
not the only one going through this kind of stuff.
So it helps, like talking with others and seeing what
they're doing, and you give them solutions to their issues

(19:32):
as well.

Speaker 7 (19:32):
Right now, when you win your award, which you'll get
into a couple of minutes about your pizza and everything.
Your acceptance speech was very touching. I mean, I have
to admit I had a few tears coming down. I
thought it was incredible and very modest. You are and
like everybody else. But you mentioned a couple of people,
one Tony Domani to money. Yeah coming Joviani can talk gigs,

(19:53):
so excited and let's talk about him a little bit.
And I tried to get him on the show and unfortunately,
of course he's at a again opening piece of Parlors,
so he couldn't do it. But he wished you a
lot of luck, but to talk about him and what
he meant to you, because he seemed like he was
the one the catalyst who believed in you and really
mentioned you.

Speaker 9 (20:15):
Tony is a special individual. I don't think there's anybody
out there like him. Sometimes I tell him that you're
too nice, and you know, you give too much information.
But he's twenty four to seven. He's as real as
they come, like what you see is what you get.
And he believed in me twenty five plus years ago

(20:35):
when we started the World Pizza Champion, and I'm ever
indebted to him. He changed my life forever because I
don't know if I would have been on the path
I am today without him. You know, as many times
as I failed in life and I picked up the
phone and called Tony, He's always telling me to keep going,
keep going. It's okay, you know what you're doing. You know,

(20:56):
maybe change his course and change that course. But he
never gave up on me. And I mean this is
when I was at my lowest point in my life,
I called him, and he's just as real as they come.
And I'm forever and debted to him because he taught
me more than anything about life. The journey and just
you know, like you said, like how everybody helps each other,
I just want to do the same for everybody else

(21:17):
that he did for.

Speaker 7 (21:18):
Me, right, you know, positive words also came John Arena,
Derek Sanchez, who were very friendly with He said the
same thing and just, uh, you're all that way. I
mean it's really really nice and uh, but you also go,
you know, you're very modest, but you deserve a lot
of credit. Now you've won the best of the best
for what three years in a row?

Speaker 9 (21:37):
Now, well I want yeah, I want traditional hope. Uh yeah,
three years ago, then last year non traditional, and then
Peacemaker of the Year right after that the same show
and then they share best of the Best. But like
I said, like that made that moment that hour. You know,
I've come up with a formula with with Derek and Tony,

(22:00):
with the competing go and what I do and the
process that I've gone through over the years. But I still,
in my heart don't believe that I'm the best in
the world. There's so many more people that are knowledgeble
and talunted. And for me to sit here on the
phone and tell you I'm the best in the world
because I won that it's just not who I am.
And I'll never say that because I'm evolving, just like
we do in life in pizza and I'm always learning,

(22:22):
and you know that's I just believe that to the
heart for truth. You know. I mean, yes, I won, Yes,
at that competition, I was the best, but there's so
many great inspiring people out there that you can learn from.
So for me to get on the phone and say yeah,
I'm in the best in the world, now, I can't
do it, you know, I just I can't. You know,
it's not who I am. Maybe ten years ago I

(22:43):
could have done that, oh, absolutely exactly, but now, yeah,
but now that's not what I'm about.

Speaker 7 (22:49):
Wow. But like I said, you sound like Derek Sanchez,
who were friends with. That guy's like the mad scientist.
Just he's working twenty four seven as we get in sleep.
I don't think as Tony does either. But that's all
you think about. It is making the pizza better than
they already made. And just because they get to the
point where they want to be guess what, then they
try something else and you know from the time when
they're dead, then they stops better than that. It keeps evolving,

(23:11):
which is a great thing, is it. You had a question?

Speaker 5 (23:14):
Yeah, what does the award means to you? To win this?
I mean for three years in a row, to win.

Speaker 12 (23:19):
An award, there's a lot of different meetings, you know,
I mean forty five years ago when I competed.

Speaker 9 (23:28):
Growing up in New York, we think we're the best.
You know, we don't want to.

Speaker 11 (23:31):
Hear from anybody else, you know, anybody else what to
do and walking around with a little you know, American
petia and you get humbled. You know, Paul Catado, I've
been competing with. He's got to Indiana from Antonio's and
here members of the days when I was going to
the Ohio Show, Pizza the Deads and you know, the
International Pizza Show in Vegas and to come full circles,

(23:54):
you know, to hit rock bottom in the business, to
fail so many times and to not give up, and
you know, winning is great. I'm not going to sit
here and tell you that my business is not going
to be insane the next month, because that would be
a lie. But like for me personally, like it just
makes everything worthwhile. It makes everything that I went through,
and you know, these competitions, like honestly there's a lot

(24:17):
of there's a lot of.

Speaker 9 (24:18):
Luck in it. I'm not going to sit here and
tell you everything's got to go right for you. Yes,
you have to practice, you have to come up with things.
And I think most of the people that come compete,
and I can't speak for everybody. I take it like
like a whole other level, and I take it serious.
It's because I'm a competitive person. But it just makes

(24:38):
everything in the last twenty five years, you know, like
you look back and you're like, Okay, I went through this,
and I did.

Speaker 7 (24:45):
This, and reason it paid off and yeah, so are
you already thinking about next year's pizza?

Speaker 9 (24:51):
Well, I can't speat anyone. That's it.

Speaker 7 (24:53):
Oh really?

Speaker 9 (24:54):
Okay, Yeah, I'm bringing my girlfriend. She's learning piece in
a month, and I'm bringing my general manager.

Speaker 11 (25:02):
I bring a whole seat.

Speaker 9 (25:05):
Uh huh. So my girlfriend doesn't know yet, so she's
to be making pizzas. Oh goody shout. I'm going to
bring her in the whole staff because now I've totally
got it. I don't think.

Speaker 7 (25:19):
I'm sorry. You're breaking up, little bit.

Speaker 9 (25:21):
Well, the only place I can compete now is in Italy.

Speaker 7 (25:24):
Okay, wow, Okay, you know you.

Speaker 9 (25:25):
May when you win the best of the best that
you can't compete in Vegas. There's no more. There's nothing
more to compete in.

Speaker 7 (25:31):
Oh wow.

Speaker 9 (25:32):
Okay, so it's kind of it's kind of happy stack
kind of thing because I love the competition. But at
the same time, I can go to the show now,
step back and be a coach, you know, and uh,
you know, keep it in the family.

Speaker 7 (25:45):
That's my introduction way back when, just about twelve years ago.
I'll never forget it. I see the Italians coming in,
and the Italians all they all look like you're bully outfits.
I mean cocky. You can see every strida there was
cocky and stuff. You don't see that now. Now. It's
like it's they could their heads have to explode a
little bit. But it was so funny watching them come in.

(26:08):
Then they'd be really upset that they lost. And I
know Tony, he was the first American to win a
bunch of contests in Italy and uh, but it was
so funny watching that. And you know, the Italians think,
I mean, they're very first of all dis groups there.
There are great people. And when they won, it was
really fun. A couple of them, like four or five
they're yelling and it was really good. It adds a

(26:29):
lot of a lot of excitement and fun to the
whole industry. And uh, but it's funny how it's it's evolved. Now.
The Americans have really taken over a lot of prestige
and everything, and I think all of you have to
be you know, complimented for that.

Speaker 9 (26:44):
Oh yeah. When I first went to Italy with only
twenty years ago, you know, they would laugh at us,
like you're Americans, I'm Italian Americans. So they don't think
we know anything about pizza. They're like, oh, Joe Carluci,
he's an acrobat, he could throw pizza. And then you know,
when Tony won the best pizza in Aprile where pizzas form,

(27:04):
he had to get fleet escort.

Speaker 12 (27:06):
But that's how seriously was Oh yeah, and you know,
you know, to you know, put a stamp on how
Americans are or now for real with pizza. And you know,
how the respect of the Italians because I had so
many Italians, I can't tell you how many came up
and to congratulations Italian.

Speaker 9 (27:26):
You know, pizza block another level.

Speaker 7 (27:28):
Over there, right Well, when we were in Rome and Nepolie,
same thing. I mean, you know, I asked Jonathan Goldsmith
for a list of, you know, top restaurants we should
go to. E gives me like fight, but but it's true.
Every block there's fifteen pizza places. And in Rome it's
a whole different style there. But they take it very seriously.
A lot of it shouldn't be seriously. It's pride. They

(27:50):
really have pride in their products in their country. That's
something that a lot of time, you know, that's something
that I think you guys are trying to build the
same kind of ride in their products.

Speaker 9 (28:02):
You're you're right because in Italy there's no prize money,
there's no we don't win like in Vegas there's a
prize for winning each category, division and so forth. In
Italy you don't win a dollar. You win a trophy
and that's everything to you m to walk around saying
you want there's no money involved. In America there's always money.

Speaker 7 (28:22):
Yeah, but you also you also got a nice plaque
and everything. And I know marketing is yea beautiful yeah,
and plus you know marketing now you can market yourself
and again you mentioned it that it brings people in,
so you will be going crazy, you know, getting crazy
and everything. But yeah, your acceptance speech is exceptional. And
I really it really touched my heart. And I'm looking around.

(28:42):
Tony looked like a proud papa. I mean, I looked
at his face when you mentioned you should see the
smile on his face was like amazing. And Derek and
all of them, I'm looking around. Everyone had the biggest
smiles on their faces. They weren't like, crap, we lost.
They were just so happy for you and all the contestants.
And that means a lot. It meant a lot to

(29:03):
me being a judge.

Speaker 9 (29:05):
We we throughout the competition. War we're competing. They're right
there stude by side Andrew Sada from Staten Island, good fellows.
I mean, I was on the phone for the last
two weeks. Hey what do I do? I'm three seeking ingredients?
Hope it's too duck or I mean, what am I
going to do? You think you'll be fine? I'll be
right there. I'll be coaching you, like you know, you know,
you just you got to look at the crowd and

(29:25):
when when I was talking to everybody, like hey man,
you might have lost the team. And last doesn't mean
you're the worst piece of baker had a bad day
by me on the best, Like don't give up, get
back there next year, you know, and can I borrow this?
And yeah, whatever you need. Man, it's just different. The camaraderie,
you know, it's you know, it's like a family. And
I can't sit there and be like, okay, everybody stuck
on the best. It's just not It says who I am.

(29:47):
And for me not to pay respect to Tony for
the last twenty years, it's just you know, my mom
always said, don't forget where you came from, and don't
forget the major and I everybody, you know, Tony taught
me everything's school and you know, without him and without
the World Pizza Champions, you know, we have over fifty members.
We can call twenty four to seven that are great

(30:08):
business people, great pizza guys and get ideas. And I
just think that, you know, it's a family, like you said,
it's an industry family. Like it's not like barbecue or
other competitions. No, I guess we want to beat each other,
but at the same time we're generally happy. Paul. I
don't know if you saw Paul Capaldo, but he tackled me.
I spent you the video like he was so happy
for me and hugged me that when.

Speaker 7 (30:30):
I call my name, Yeah, I met you right before then,
and you were so you look so nervous and intense.
And that's when you told me that you're up for
it to war. But you look so nervous and intents
and yeah, you look. It was fun. But you're listening
to Let's sign out show right here on AM ten
fifty and one oh six point five FM, the stations
that leave no listener behind. And I we have the
honor to have Joseph Carlucci, who's an incredible winner, incredible

(30:54):
human being, and he just won the best of the
best at the International Pizza expul the fortieth anniversary. And
you don't deliver, do you? In southern California?

Speaker 9 (31:06):
No, you're gonna have to come take a trip to Alabama.

Speaker 7 (31:08):
Okay, well we'll do that. What about what was your
winning pizza? Once you describe it?

Speaker 9 (31:14):
So the three secret ingredients was pineapple, pork belly, and
red onion.

Speaker 7 (31:19):
Okay, And.

Speaker 9 (31:21):
A very important person and mentor told me a couple
of days prior and in fact like less is more
and my dough is like, is what I go off of.
It's my dough, it's my crush. You know, I'm trying
to perfect that that's surrounding the pizza. That's first for me.
So I watched and I let everybody go first, and

(31:44):
I tested the ovens. I threw two skins in there,
just to let him see where the hotspots were in
the oven. And then I sat back and got myself
together and I was watching people were grabbing, and I said,
you know, simple and stupid, and I just kept all
three ingredients. I just what I did is I diced
up the pineapple, cubed it a little caramelization, and put

(32:04):
it in an eight degree oven. I diced up the
bok belly and then uh, I just did a nice
light red sauce and when it came out, I topped
it was mint and that was it. I mean, it
was simple, and I let the dough shine everything out.

Speaker 7 (32:20):
And you know, from a judge standpoint, dough is so important.
There were so many toppings that were really great. I mean,
I should say there's a lot of good toppings, but
there was a dough that either sucked or it was
it was fantastic, but it was the dough and not
the toppings. And there was I mean, I'm not gonna
be I'll be honest with you. Not everything had great
toppings and great dough.

Speaker 8 (32:39):
You know.

Speaker 7 (32:40):
It was a mixed match on some some of the ingredients. Uh,
it was all tart. It was all soy based, it
was all you know, it had no balance of salt
and sugary.

Speaker 9 (32:52):
Yeah, you're the ones you got to hit right.

Speaker 7 (32:54):
And unfortunately, I think most of the competitors, and from
my standpoint as a judge, they spend more time thinking
about the ingredients than they did about the profile, the
flavor profile. And to me, unless I'm totally wrong, it's
it's that should be the main thing. Is if you're
gonna have tart, then have something that balances it out.

Speaker 9 (33:15):
And I think that's what.

Speaker 7 (33:18):
Yeah, that's what I would spend my time on. Yeah,
if anything, I would only suggestion I'll over give to
anybody who makes pizza. Is that's what we look for
as a judge. But again every judge is a little different.
So judging is very hard. It's over the years it's
getting a lot harder. And then they threw things that
us this year, like you know, the best cheese slice.
You know, how do you judge you know, cheese, sauce

(33:39):
and dough.

Speaker 3 (33:39):
That was it.

Speaker 7 (33:40):
I have to be honest, it's really hard. And you
know you're you're looking at it, you're trying to be objective,
but it's hard. It's really hard. And you know, for me,
the ones that were burnt where they had flavor at least,
you know, it's like whoa, you know, it's the same
mazzarella cheese, nothing different. But hopefully, you know, it's first year,
so maybe they'll be improve it next year. But uh yeah,

(34:01):
judging is very hard. I can imagine what it's like
to make it. But that's that's why when you have
pizza makers there as judges, I really like that because
they can they you know, compare, and the main thing
is to be objective. That's that's the thing. Whether you
like blue cheese or pineapple, I don't care about that.
It does it go together with what you're eating.

Speaker 9 (34:19):
That's that's what I like a great So I think
that most people, you know, the pizza industry, were like
a little bit argant we have the best pizza and
my do is great. And I think a lot of
people to say I'm going to bring my doll and
I do a total difference. I make a special dough
just for the competition. And people said, well, you don't
use the same restaurant. I said, no, this is just

(34:40):
for the competition. My do is great at my restaurant.
But I zero in a little more and I know
a little big, deeper, deep deeper. And that's from Tony
and Derek giving me some hints and knowledge, and I
think that that's sets the standard for you. With the
judges and then having a complex balance of salty acidities,
I mean, all that matters. You've got to do research,

(35:00):
you gotta do trial and are You can't just go
there and throw stuff on and think it's gonna work.

Speaker 13 (35:04):
Right.

Speaker 7 (35:05):
Yeah, some of the pizzas that we had to judge
was like, this is the best they had, this is
their best that they're competing with. I can do it.
I mean, it's like, come on, you know. But then again,
I admire anyone. To me, they're all winners, you know,
It's true. It's hard to do that. They learn from
it and you see them year after year after after
it's all said and done, it's all blind tasting. So

(35:26):
I don't know all the people what they did. They
always ask me, what's your favorite pizza? I'm like, I
just had seventy three of them? I don't remember. But
uh now in Alabama? What what is some of the
favorite pizzas there? What's what's hot in your area? What
style of pizzas, like, you know, Detroit style or Pepperonium
or pineapple or what what's what's you know the best seller?

Speaker 9 (35:50):
The best seller is probably eat Lever mm hm, you
know that that's a big.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
Do you do?

Speaker 7 (35:58):
Do you Detroit style?

Speaker 9 (36:02):
Again?

Speaker 7 (36:02):
Do you do Detroit style pizzas?

Speaker 9 (36:05):
I do a chick Fila of pizza in the sense
of I don't do any kitchen items other than some appetizers,
and I do Detroit style Sicilian New York flower.

Speaker 7 (36:15):
Okay, cool, Yeah, Detroit Style has come a long way
since Sean I was on the final panel of judging
and that was the first time any of us knew
what a Detroit sat pizza was. And we all just
looked at each other and know like, oh my goodness.
I mean, we said other words like that, but I mean,
if you talk about memorable, it just blew us out
of the world. It was amazing. But Uh, Unfortunately, a

(36:37):
lot of people out here, I think a lot of
companies or a lot of people they use you know,
they say it's Detroit style, but it's really not, just
because of you know, it's the name they use more
than anything else.

Speaker 9 (36:49):
You know, the style brick cheese when it comes out
and the cheese is chipping, has it like a cheddar
kind of based too. It's a brick cheese and it
goes over the top, and then the sauce comes and
it's actually Detroit pan. So it's a totally different style.
But you're a under pent right. I go to places
and I get in Detroit and I'm like, this is
not a Detroit but I don't say anything. I keep
my mouth shutting, like okay, they're just the most most

(37:11):
people don't know. So they're eating and going, oh, this
is great, but it's really not authentic Detroit style.

Speaker 7 (37:16):
Pizza. Well, we don't say that. We just like, don't no,
it's not Detroit. We went to one restaurant. It was
under baked and it tastes it awful. Is he's making faces?

Speaker 12 (37:25):
What?

Speaker 7 (37:27):
And the chef came out like, well, this is Detroit,
you know, real cocky as can be and no it's not,
and so we took one. Biden unfortunately wouldn't even take
it off the bill, but we paid for it in
a way. He was like, what the heck? But uh, no,
I I what do you think will be? Is there
any idea what the next hot one is going to be?
Do you have any idea with that? Because I know

(37:47):
the Grandma came up the last couple of years, Detroit
sal was big. Plant bas is coming up more and more.

Speaker 9 (37:53):
What do you think Tony has the new style coming
out house? And I can't think of a name up
that you Uh that he's starting, Uh, it's trying to
get I don't know if he's starting starting to pick up?
You know?

Speaker 7 (38:07):
Is that that's not Tavern?

Speaker 9 (38:08):
Is it? You tns out?

Speaker 12 (38:11):
Now?

Speaker 9 (38:11):
I have that as well. Uh has a thick corner
across you know, cast Iron is pretty big too. That's
a name for itself too. So you know, there's always
something coming out and you always have to be on
top of the game, and you know, try new things
and it's scary, but you know I'll dip into that
too as well.

Speaker 7 (38:29):
Yeah, but you know you love it, don't you?

Speaker 13 (38:32):
I do.

Speaker 9 (38:33):
I doalize that it's uh, like, I want to compete
next year, but it's gonna be nice not competing. But
now I you know, I have an excuse telling my
girlfriend day we got to go to Italy because.

Speaker 7 (38:45):
Well, at least that's a good But now you can
pass it on to her all the I mean you
take all that out. Yeah.

Speaker 9 (38:52):
Yeah, she's the type of person that might win the
first year because she'll do her research and she's the
diligent and like asan questions.

Speaker 7 (39:00):
Ve, well, you know, I is he wanted to learn
more about it, and so she's been we've been calling
in talking with Derek and she's telling you know, Derek
is telling a bunch of stuff. And we got double
zero fall, We got everything. It took I mean what
four or five times for her to do it, and
she if she worked for you, she'd make two pizzas
a day. You know, it has me perfectly round and perfect.

(39:22):
But that's what it takes to win. That's what it
takes for perfection. And I admire that kid her about it.
But it's all about you know, there's so many it's
like a science. It's I went to chef's school. Yeah,
I went to chef's school and one of the classes
we had to take was baking and oh my god,
you know temperature and yeast and I mean it's just
humidity and oh my god. You know cooking is different.

(39:43):
Cooking it's a little salty, but you add something and
you take it away. But you know, baking, if you
don't have something, it's gone. You got to throw it away.

Speaker 9 (39:50):
So people don't realize it's just not water and flower
right behind it.

Speaker 5 (39:55):
Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 7 (39:56):
I'll tell you how good crust is everything. I mean,
you have a good crust, you can almost put nothing
on it and it's still delicious. So so why I
admire you. I admire all of you guys, and it's
I feel like family. I feel like I've been adopted,
even though I'm not Italian. Then I have nothing to
do with pizzas, but I've just really fascinated by it.
I learned every time I go, and I've I've meeaten

(40:17):
the nicest people in the food industry. Plus the vendors too,
are just so behind you. They're so nice, they work
with you, and it's not just about money, it's really caring.

Speaker 9 (40:27):
And if you're on the nose, like there's so much
to learn. Every year you can grow and help each
other in the industry and pick up the phone. You
meet new people that are doing great or struggling in
certain things that you are, and now you figure it
out and you can help them and vice versa, whether
it's about employees, vendors, recipes, all that together. When you're

(40:48):
there and try to help each other out, you know,
we're in this together. You know, it's not an easy industry.
You know, we're not getting people from Harvard walking off
the walking into Apart for jobs. So can do a
lot of different you know, mindsets and people and problems
in life, and you know, to have them come work
for you and how do you handle that and how

(41:09):
do they handle it? You know? Plus staffing that's a
big issua.

Speaker 7 (41:13):
Yeah. Plus you can have the greatest recipes in the world,
but if you don't have the staff to bring it out,
it's useless.

Speaker 9 (41:19):
My staff is the reason I am where I am.
My staff. I empower my staff. I tell them I
work for them or for me. Uh, didn't want to
come to work. I'm going to send you a video
when we hang out of kids that pulled my phone
and did a thirty second video of good Luck. I'm

(41:39):
very blessed, but I have a lot of young kids
and I have older people, and uh, we're just we
have thirty employees and we're a big family. Like I
believe in empower them from you know, we go to
Costco once a month, spent a couple hundred dollars for
We have a splash machine and a coffee expresso machine.
We have a break room wh can sit down. I
believe in empowering those people and you'll get the right people.

(42:01):
That why you have to set the standard high. It's
not just about pizza. It's about the quality coming in.
It's about their education and what I teach him about
the quality of the product that we're used in and
they buy in.

Speaker 7 (42:12):
You must have been talked to the chef James Trees.
We've had dinner with him and he owns Estra's Kitchen
and a bunch of I mean, he's an incredible chef,
but you never know. He's a chef and his number
one thing is, you know, my recipes are one thing,
but it's the people. And he does a training. He
spends ninety nine percent, I think he said of the
time with his just like you said. Everything you said,

(42:34):
that's what he does. His people. His people want to
work for him. His people, don't you know, they're smiles,
our faces, a peckable service. I mean, it's all about staff,
and you hardly see that anymore. I mean, now, I
hate to say it, but nobody wants to work number one,
So you got to give him a reason to work.
It's not just the money. I mean, everyone's got to
earn money on the trade, but you gotta get go ahead.

Speaker 9 (42:56):
I also not to tell you, I also believe there's
no such thing as a bad employe. There's no bad kids.
I believe there's bad management and bad ownership. Like you said,
the standard. If I come in miserable, if I don't
come in the black shoes, black pants and ready to
work on time and unshaved, how am I going to
tell my staff to come in on time and to
look appropriate. I can't do that. So you have to

(43:17):
be an example. But you have to give them the
tools to go out there and do it. And I
think a lot of times we're just like God, play
stuck or late or this, Well, you let them be late,
set of standards, don't hire them. We're telling these a
great here. We have standards. We have a thing on
the door, top five things before you walk in, go
look at the mirror. No cell phones allowed, no Apple watches,
no hoop hearing. If you buy it to me, I

(43:37):
guarantee you'll make the money. And then they buy into it,
and you know there's some bumps and roots in the way.
But like for the fall's sake, it's up to me.
I mean, I look in the Maryland as a problem.
I plan to self. Did we teach them enough? Do
we give them the schools to go out? Because they're
front line. I'm just making the pieces. They're getting the
ones from the customers. So I think a lot of

(43:59):
the problems today is just that the ego of the
owner or manager says everybody sucks. And that's either just
like there's a bad kid, if the kid's acting up
in the restaurant, or what his iPad like the parents
are allowing that right. Instead, you set a standard and
then all of a sudden you start getting quality people
that want to be there, that want to come, and

(44:21):
you keep following. I'm not saying it's easy, because I
went from fifteen hundred square feet of five thousand but
over time and time and time you can grow that.
You just you can't give up. You just got to
keep looking good for good people out There's a good
kids out.

Speaker 7 (44:34):
There, you know, in the past, the old owners, a
lot of them, they just live on their past. They
live on their laurels, and you can't. You always have
to be ahead. You always have to think ahead. And
that's something that you and Tony and Derek and everyone does,
and that's the key to success and happiness, I think
is is thinking ahead. And you know it's not what
you want or anything else, what the customers want. And again,

(44:57):
what does that apot with me about us?

Speaker 9 (44:58):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (44:59):
Yeah, are so. I'll tell you I've learned a lot
just talking to you. Is he pointing a question here?

Speaker 13 (45:05):
No?

Speaker 5 (45:05):
No, I just want to make sure everybody knows where
you're at. So if they want to come visit you
happened in your neck of the woods to come visit
your southern California. You want to share your business name
and where you are located.

Speaker 9 (45:21):
Sure, I mean Madison, Alabama. Valentine three a wine bar
and our website is Valentine dot com. We do not
deliver h We loved anybody in the area, or if
you're traveling for something here, please come Bay.

Speaker 5 (45:35):
Yeah, definitely. And then Valentina is your daughter, So is
she following your footsteps?

Speaker 7 (45:39):
Now?

Speaker 8 (45:40):
She is?

Speaker 9 (45:41):
She is. She loves working at the restaurant. Last week
she was on spring break before we went to Vegas
and she hosted. She enjoys it. She likes to get
paid on the spots, one of your ways, but she does.
You know, I think there's a little discrepancy if when
she gets older about working weekend.

Speaker 7 (45:59):
So yeah, might change.

Speaker 9 (46:01):
No, she she does have a passion for it.

Speaker 7 (46:04):
I love watching videos of she know Tony's kid, and
you know, I've noticed since he was a kid, and
to see the enthusiasm and everything. That's so bitch and
that's so neat to have a kid that you can
work with and everything. And it's really an honor to
know you and you know even more. And if you're
there in southern California, you you know, please let us know.

(46:24):
We'd love to take you round two. And when you
start delivering, please keep you in mind. We're in southern
California here, not too far away. So any last words.

Speaker 12 (46:35):
You want to tell people, don't give up, don't give
up on life, don't give up on yourself, follow your dream,
don't listen to and just.

Speaker 9 (46:44):
Head down and grind. And when you think you are
your lottest point, just keep grinding and pushing and.

Speaker 7 (46:50):
Never give up. Even if you're at the top, keep going.

Speaker 9 (46:52):
Yep, yeah yeah, and always be humble and grateful of
you know. Remember where you came from, remember how you
got there.

Speaker 7 (47:01):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (47:02):
Great words to live by.

Speaker 7 (47:03):
Oh yeah, that's so neat. Definitely what a great, great,
great guy. So well, Joe, thank you so much for
joining us. I know you're busy, it's lunchtime or our
dinner time there, but thank you for your time and
I look forward to keep in contact with you throughout
the year and anything new, anything happens, anything you want
to talk about. You've got my number, give me a call.
We'd love to have you back on. Thank you a

(47:24):
great night, okay you Tobe, be well, Good night, Happy
eating night. What an inspiration you know. It's again we
talk about over and over and over. But it's not
just him, it's not just Tony, it's not just Dear,
it's almost everybody we've met. I'd say ninety nine percent
of the people we've met have been wonderful. I've only
met one that was a jerk, the New York uh

(47:45):
snobble guy.

Speaker 5 (47:46):
That's well, that's just people, right, I mean, that's just
you know, there's always good and bad people and everything.
I think the ones that are succeeding, and I'll bring
other people up with them, are the ones that live
want to mentor and pass on their knowledge to the
people around them and bring them up. So it's amazing,
it's so inspiring to watch this. You know, just be

(48:09):
part of it too.

Speaker 7 (48:10):
But I have to give you credit because in your job,
you deal with the issues, you deal with people underneath
you who you supervise and help and everything. You're always
being objective, You're always being courteous, professional, You're always giving
to you know, inspiration, You do things a little for
you know, things for them, and you're the same way.

(48:30):
I don't know if you see yourself that way, but
I do and others do too. I mean we got
to get well.

Speaker 5 (48:35):
I learned from other good managers, right, I mean, this
is how you bring the quality up right, to inspire
people to want to be better, to do better, to
work harder, you know, because you're asking a lot from
people you know, to really put in their one hundred percent,
one hundred and twenty percent right every day. So if

(48:56):
you're not trying to, you know, you're not that kind
of person trying to coach somebody to be better, then
you know you shouldn't be doing what you're doing. You
don't feel that passion to want to bring people up
to that level.

Speaker 7 (49:06):
It's a great concept, but like that.

Speaker 5 (49:09):
Well, but you know, that's where you see where businesses
are succeeding versus the people that are not succeeding, right,
And you do, I do believe that even if you're
the best, you're still not the best. You always there's
always room to learn in every industry. So I really
think those are you know, just Joe's word are you know,
those are great advice and words to live by and

(49:32):
no matter what you do in life.

Speaker 7 (49:34):
Yeah, and he's the typical you want to hang around with. Definitely,
I want to learn from him. I mean, I feel
like I've known him forever and I haven't, but it
just makes you feel good him and Derek and Tony.

Speaker 5 (49:43):
And it's yeah, I mean I love being part of
you know, be able to be a spectator. I guess
you know, because I'm not the one making Yeah, but
you know, I really learn a lot. I mean just
from the teams, the teamwork, you know, watching everybody, you know,
really the camaraderie. You know, not to it's not about themselves,

(50:07):
it's about the people around them, you know, and not
to backstab anybody, because you don't get that in a
lot of industry. You know, you get people backstabbing you
and you know, heartbeating. I've never seen it, you know,
so so that's inspiring. And you know, such a great
environment and the energy is amazing to be there. And
I learned so much, you know, I love chemistry. I
love the whole you know, science part of it. So

(50:29):
it's just really fascinating. And thanks to you know, Derek
that kind of coached me on my own on back
in my back room doing the pizza dough that you know,
really appreciate the the art. It's really an art to
make that perfect dough. And like Joe said, it is
you know, there's many you could have the best dough.

(50:50):
And I's like somebody open your oven when you're competing
and stuck their pizza next to you, right next to you,
a cold pizza next to your warm pizza. It affects
the entire rising place in the cook process. Right, So
there's a lot of factors can really throw your game off,
right and then get you feel really down upon yourself.
But it's not about that. It's like, well, next time

(51:10):
I'm gonna do better.

Speaker 7 (51:11):
You know when we open up is he's pizza parlor.

Speaker 5 (51:15):
My second career, when I have time.

Speaker 7 (51:17):
When I win the lottery, so you don't have to
pay bills, Yeah, exactly, but it's fun and you know
we're next week, we're we're talking about we go to
Las Vegas a lot for business and pleasure too. But
there's a lot of great restaurants for finding, and there's
so many incredible restaurants off the strip, and we just
say that a newer one that was actually in a
good experience, pretty good experience. It was called Resort World

(51:38):
by the Hilton Hotels there, so where we talked about
that and some great sushi restaurants and just a whole
bunch of other stuff. What else do we want to
talk about?

Speaker 5 (51:47):
More pizzas I had pizza for lunch. It was amazing.
It was a leftover I got from you know, from
from the competitors. Because they were handing out test slices
and stuff, and I was able to bring it home
and so does. Alan was able to share a couple
of the good ones for me. So I rehear it.
That's what I had for lunch. So I'm still inspired

(52:09):
by the pizza.

Speaker 7 (52:10):
I forgot to ask him and Derek and Tony how
do they keep their weight off? Right?

Speaker 5 (52:14):
Throw like one hundred pounds and yeah, it's totally fit.
And I see all these pizza makers and it's like,
how do you keep that? Because by just tasting your
own food, you know, like there's a lot of carbs.
I guess it's all the hard work they put in,
you know, being on their feet and running.

Speaker 7 (52:28):
Around looking at me. I don't put in hard work.

Speaker 5 (52:30):
Yeah, try not.

Speaker 7 (52:33):
I try. I try. It's hard. But uh, anyway, what
do you wanna do for dinner tonight? How about pizza? Yeah?
You know, people people thought there's after a day of
eating pizza, you think you don't want to eat in
a couple a couple of the judges, they just went
home and went back to hotels and slept. They didn't eat. No,
we went to Well you Can Eat Sushi twice. We

(52:53):
went to a great place called Bee's bissel b Eso.
It's a Balkan Eastern you can slav Eastern, European and
Mediterranean restaurant, which we'll talk about next week for sure.
So uh, but you know, pizza is just an incredible bite,
and again, being a judge, you just take small bites.
Obviously you don't eat the whole thing. So uh, I
gotta keep my boys figure.

Speaker 5 (53:15):
So uh.

Speaker 7 (53:16):
Anyway, you're listening to a Let's line out show. We're
on every Saturday from four to five right here on
AM ten fifty one oh six point five FM. And
again we really appreciate you listening to us. And I
gotta go to bathroom. So until next week, happy everybody,
Bye bye you.

Speaker 11 (53:35):
I don't wanta dbaite, don't want to hear about who
you hate.

Speaker 7 (53:40):
You will get not desert till you clean on your flights,
So eat it.

Speaker 4 (53:45):
Don't you tell me your.

Speaker 2 (53:51):
San Bernardino lo Melenda rialto listens to k c AA radio.

Speaker 8 (53:57):
You've eaten lots of great fun and lots of great
food at restaurants Cowboy Burgers in Fontana and now on
Arlington at Riverside will fast become one of your favorites
with their delicious, mouth watering burgers and breakfast burritos. Cowboy
Burgers and Barbecue also serves fantastic smoke barbecue, baby back ribs,
dry tip chicken, pulled pork sandwiches, as well as lunch

(54:18):
and dinner plates.

Speaker 7 (54:19):
Everything is made from scratch, including.

Speaker 8 (54:21):
Their delicious side dishes like coal slap potato salad, barbecue beans,
and much much more. Check out their rich decad it
chocolate brownies.

Speaker 12 (54:29):
Hi.

Speaker 7 (54:29):
I'm food critic Allen Borgan, and you can dine in,
take food out, or have them cater your next special event.
I highly recommend Cowboy Burgers and Barbecue at their new
location at five five seven three Arlington Avenue in the Riverside.
Just look them up on the Internet. That's Cowboy Burgers
and Barbecue, Happy eating.

Speaker 8 (54:48):
And perfect for the holidays. Cowboy Burgers and Barbecue is
also available for catering. That's Cowboy Burgers in Barbecue in
Fontana and now in Riverside on Arlington. This program sponsored
in part by Absolute Custom Painting. Custom Painting you can
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Speaker 14 (55:58):
Snap your fingers, smack lips and mark those calendars as
the Horsetown ruin Queue Festival returns for another great year
of barbecue, beer and music, and this year it's going
to be two days of fun. May thirty first through
June first in Norco. You meet Texas celebrity pitmasters, sample barbecue, beer,
and enjoy great country rock, blues and R and B.

(56:20):
Enjoy this family friendly event. Information and tickets are available
at Ruinque dot com.

Speaker 15 (56:27):
Don't text and drive, keep your eyes on the road,
because that's where it counts. Our sponsor, Grand Plumbing of
Island is family owned and operated, serving the area with
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(56:48):
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Speaker 13 (56:58):
One of the best ways to build a healthier local
economy is by shopping locally. Teamster Advantage is a shop
local program started by Teamster Local nineteen thirty two that
is brought together hundreds of locally owned businesses to provide
discounts for residents who make shopping locally their priority, everything
from restaurants like Corkies, to fund times at SB Raceway,

(57:22):
and much much more. If you're not currently at Teamster
and you want access to these local business discounts, contact
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That number again is nine oh nine eight eight nine

(57:43):
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Speaker 7 (57:50):
NBC News Radio.

Speaker 10 (57:51):
I'm Chris Gragio. Millions of Americans are hitting the road
this holiday weekend. The TSA says Friday was its third
busiest travel day of all time, with more than three
million passengers screened yesterday alone. The agency now says it
expects to screen eighteen million passengers at airports nationwide during
the extended Memorial Day weekend. Triple A is forecasting a
record breaking thirty nine million people will travel by car

(58:14):
between May twenty second and the twenty sixth, which would
break the previous records set back in two thousand and five.
Former President Joe Biden says he's feeling fine while making
his first public appearance since his prostate cancer diagnosis. Biden
attended his grandson's high school graduation in Salisbury, Connecticut, Friday.
Photos of the graduation were posted on Instagram by former
First Lady Jill Biden and daughter Ashley Biden. Sunday, Biden

(58:37):
announced that he was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer Tuesday.
His office said that he had never been diagnosed with
prostate cancer before last week. Toyota is recalling over four
hundred and forty thousand Tundra and Tundra Hybrid trucks due
to issues with backup lights. More Now from Lisa Carton.

Speaker 2 (58:54):
The recall reports at failure of the reverse lights could
limit the driver's rear visibility during low light conditions and
does not signal other drivers that the trucks are backing up.
Toyota said the recall only affects the twenty twenty two
to twenty twenty five Tundra and Tundra Hybrid vehicles equipped
with reverse lamp assemblies of a specific design. The automaker

(59:15):
will notify Tundra and Tundra Hybrid owners about the issue
and how to get it fixed by mid July.

Speaker 10 (59:22):
The WNBA says one player is helping make the league
a billion dollars. According to the Indianapolis Star, that's the
assessment of valuations expert Ryan Brewer on Caitlin Clark's economic
impact on the league. Brewer found that Clark was responsible
for twenty six percent of all WNBA economic activity last season,
and he went on to say that he could easily
see that eclipsing a billion dollars.

Speaker 7 (59:44):
I'm Chris Caragio, NBC News Radio.

Speaker 3 (59:48):
NBC News on KCAA Lomolada sponsored by Teamsters Local nineteen
thirty two. Protecting the Future of Working Families Teamsters nineteen
thirty two, dot org