Caliente pizza staff ready for Las Vegas expo
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Caliente Pizza began in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood in 2012, and has since expanded to Mt. Lebanon and Sewickley. The local chain will open its Crafton store in April.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Eric Von Hansen, head regional chef for Caliente, will enter this decadent pizza in the non-traditional category at this year’s International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Last year, Eric Von Hansen’s Mee-Maw pizza was named America’s Best Pizza at the World Pizza Championship. He will compete in this year’s International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas, serving up this delightful concoction in the non-traditional category.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
When Nick Fink won the traditional category at 2017’s International Pizza Expo, he became one of the youngest to take home gold. This year, he’s entering this pie, topped with homemade pepperoni, in that same category.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Jay Falk has been dreaming of this deep-dish pizza for a year. Falk will enter this Detroit-style pie in this year’s pan category at the International Pizza Expo.
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
This is Jay Falk’s favorite pizza to date. He has spent the past year refining the recipe for this year’s International Pizza Expo.
Caliente Pizza’s head regional chef Eric Von Hansen slides a silver tray decorated decadently in pizza covered with thinly sliced pork and brandied jam across a glossy wooden table inside the chain’s Aspinwall location.
“They haven’t tried it yet,” Von Hansen grins, watching as Caliente’s district manager Jay Falk and the Bloomfield store’s general manager Nick Fink help themselves to a slice. “I hold my stuff until the last possible hour.”
And this is it, the last minute. Time is ticking the moments until Von Hansen, Falk, Fink and several other Caliente employees board a plane bound for Las Vegas and the 38th annual International Pizza Expo, scheduled for March 22 to 24.
“It’s the Olympics. You have everybody, from all over the world. It’s the best,” said Von Hansen, now in his sixth expo. “When it’s time to go, you got to go. You’re up, you’re ready. It’s like ‘Chopped.'”
The atmosphere is indescribable: pizzaiolos dancing around a kitchen stage, sweating to beat the 30 minutes on the clock while their team screams and competitors watch with bated breath until the buzzer blares.
“We’re there to root each other on,” said Von Hansen.
He and his chefs will cheer on the Mt. Lebanon store’s general manager, Max Mathious, when he takes the stage during the largest dough stretch competition. Mathious is also going for speed in this year’s fastest stretch competition.
He and his bar’s manager, Kaylee Nagy, will enter into some friendly competition when they go head-to-head in the box-folding contest, where competitors hurry to fold five boxes in the shortest amount of time.
Von Hansen, whose Mee-Maw pie was named America’s Best Pizza at the 2019 World Pizza Championship, is competing in the non-traditional pizza category, while Falk is trying his hand in the pan category and Fink’s baking up a traditional pie.
The non-traditional pizza category is no-holds barred: If you can dream it, you can bake it.
The pan division is a smaller competition, where pizza makers craft and present their deep-dish pies to a panel of judges. Like an artist dreaming and revising a great work in their mind, Falk has spent nearly a year working to perfect his Detroit-style pizza for this year’s competition.
“(Jay) came flying in at 9 in the morning, ‘I came up with my pizza!'” said Von Hansen, who said his chefs keep notepads on them at all times in case pizza inspiration strikes.
“I’ve probably been talking to (Von Hansen) about a year about this one pizza,” Fink said, adding he’s baked the pie five times, but gone through nearly 100 iterations of the creation in his head since its inception.
Falk’s pizza is a tasteful, balanced blend of cheeses and meats atop a fluffy dough that’s perfectly crispy on the edges. He placed eighth last year, and hopes to top 2021’s performance and bring home gold.
Fink will battle to create the most delicious pizza within the confines of the traditional pizza category. He won the category in 2017 (one of the youngest competitors to win) with a three-sausage, 10-pepper medley pizza that he’s updated for this year’s competition.
The pizzaiolos said no matter how many times they compete, stepping onstage at the expo brings a fresh batch of nerves. But getting to Vegas is nearly as nerve-wracking as taking the stage before pizza’s best and most talented.
“One year, it was funny: we all wrote, ‘It’s not cocaine, it’s flour’ on these big bags of flour,” said Von Hansen, noting ingredients have been tossed by TSA agents. “We bring our own yeast. Sugar and salt for the dough, we can get anywhere.”
The first couple years, Von Hansen and staff made their dough in the hotel’s sink. Since then, Caliente has made connections with the Vegas restaurant scene, and the crew arrives early to the expo to shop for ingredients and make dough in Tony Gemignani’s kitchen.
Winning isn’t everything, but it does come with its perks. When Von Hansen’s pizza won America’s Best, Caliente sold a record-breaking number of pies that month.
“We sold the city of Pittsburgh and surrounding areas out of Parmigiano Reggiano. I had to go to Ohio to get Parmigiano Reggiano from a supplier,” Von Hansen laughed. “We had no Parmigiano Reggiano in Pennsylvania for three weeks.”
Though the glory of winning at the pizza expo is good for business and pizzaiolos confidence alike, pizza-offs aren’t the only entertainment in Vegas.
Caliente staff will also present at the expo. Along with Von Hansen and other chefs, the local chain’s creator, Nick Bogacz, will instill his knowledge of operating on a shoestring budget upon crowds.
“Caliente’s so well-known, now that we’re taking more people. We’ve won,” said Von Hansen. “Every year, I think we elevate our game.”
The eatery is hoping to level up with wins across the board. The staff also plans on bringing home new knowledge – Caliente makes its own dough, and Von Hansen aims to start topping pies with homemade cheese.
“You have to think outside the pizza box,” he said. “What has been done, and how can you make it better?”
Win or no, Caliente is going to Vegas with a strong hand of talented employees and original recipes. This expo is a chance to sharpen skills and have a little fun with the international pizza community.
“All three of the pizzas are phenomenal in my eyes, and I think the flavor profiles are off the chain,” said Von Hansen. “We love what we do. We wait all year for this.”