Tony Gemignani
{{Short description|American chef and restaurateur}}
{{Advert|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox chef
| name = Tony Gemignani
| image = Tony10.jpg
| image file =
| image_size =
| caption = Tony Gemignani at his restaurant, Tony's Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco.
| birth_name = Anthony Felix Gemignani
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Fremont, California
| death_date =
| death_place =
| education =
| spouse = {{marriage|Julie White Gemignani|2000}}
| style = Italian
| restaurants = {{plainlist|
- Tony's Pizza Napoletana, San Francisco (2009-present)
- Tony's Coal-Fired Pizza and Slicehouse, San Francisco (2010-present)
- Slicehouse by Tony Gemignani, San Francisco (2014-present); Rohnert Park, California (2013-present); Las Vegas (2013-present); Henderson, Nevada (2015-present); Walnut Creek, California (2017-present) ; Belmont, California (2022-Present); Burbank, California (2024-present)
- Pizza Rock, Sacramento, California (2011-2021); Las Vegas (2013-present); Henderson, Nevada (2015-present)
- Tony's of North Beach, Rohnert Park, California (2013-present)
- Capo's, San Francisco (2012-present)
- Little Tony's, Las Vegas (2015-present)
- Giovanni Italian Specialties, San Francisco (2017-present)
}}
| awards = {{plainlist|
- *First Place Pizza All Stars by Antonio Mezzero Porto, Portugal 2018 Cooking Pizza Neo Napoletana paired with Croft Port
- *First Place Best Pizza (Pizza in Pala) World Pizza Championships Parma, Italy 2016
- *8 Time World Champion Pizza Acrobat; 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007
- *1st Place World Champion Pizza Maker, 2007 – World Pizza Cup Naples, Italy
- *1st Place Roman Pizza World Championships of Pizza Makers 2011 Naples, Italy
- *1st Place Best of the Best World Champion/Master Pizza Maker 2012; Pizza Expo Las Vegas, Nevada
- *Gold Medal "Squadra Acrobatica " Pizza Olympics – Salsomaggiore, Italy 2007
- *Gold Medal "Squadra Acrobatica " Salsomaggiore, Italy 2006
- *Gold Medal "Team Acrobatic" Las Vegas 2005
- *Gold Medal/1st place Food Network "Pizza Battle" 2005
- *1st place Icon Estates Pizza Battaglia 2005
- *1st Triple Crown Winner in Pizza History
- *Gold Cup Pizza Classica – International Pizza Makers Challenge, Lecce, Italy 2008
- *Gold Cup Pizza Teglia -International Pizza Makers Challenge, Lecce, Italy 2008
- *Gold Cup Acrobat – International Pizza Makers Challenge, Lecce, Italy 2008
- *Best Pizza USA – World Pizza Championships, Salsomaggiore, Italy 2008
- *Silver Medal "Team Acrobatic" Salsomaggiore, Italy 2005
- *Bronze Medal "Pizza Acrobatic" Salsomaggiore, Italy 2005
- *Gold Medal / 1st Place Pizza Champions Challenge Food Network 2006
- *Gold Medal / First Place – Master of Champions (ABC TV)
- *Gold Medal/1st place World Pizza Cup Naples, Italy Best Pizza STG/Neapolitan category
}}
| website = {{URL|https://www.tonygemignani.com/}}
| module =
}}
Anthony Felix Gemignani is an American chef, restaurateur, and author. In 2009, Gemignani opened Tony's Pizza Napoletana in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Gemignani is a pizzaiolo and chef, having won 13 world titles in pizza making and opening numerous restaurants. He has appeared on multiple reality television series including Food Network Challenge, Bar Rescue on Spike TV, as well as on The Travel Channel and CNN.
Early life and career
Gemignani was born in Fremont, California, to Frank and Eileen Gemignani. He grew up on his family's farm, he is a third generation Italian American.
Gemignani graduated from Washington High School in Fremont, and later worked at Pyzano's, his brother Frank Jr.'s restaurant in Castro Valley, California, in 1991. Gemignani began his pizza tosser career while at Pyzano's as a way to entertain customers and to show the quality of the dough to diners. He competed all over the world, winning 8 world champion titles for pizza acrobatics between 1995–2007, and earning himself the nickname of the "Michael Jordan of Pizza Throwing". Gemignani traveled the world for 16 years, competing, working in others' kitchens, and learning about regional styles of pizza.
Gemignani formed the World Pizza Champions in 2005, which is made up of over 60 team members who have each earned the highest awards in the pizza industry, along with television appearances, Guinness World Records, and respect as leading professionals and pioneers in the pizza industry.
In 2007, Gemignani took the title of "World Champion Pizza Maker" at the World Pizza Cup in Naples, Italy. Gemignani was the first American and non-Neapolitan to ever take this title. Gemignani is the first and only Triple Crown winner for baking at the International Pizza Championships in Lecce, Italy, meaning, he won three first place titles in one competition.
Restaurants
=Tony's Pizza Napoletana=
{{main article|Tony's Pizza Napoletana}}
Gemignani opened his first restaurant, Tony's Pizza Napoletana, in July 2009, with partners Bruno DiFabio and Nancy Puglisi, in San Francisco's North Beach. The restaurant has 7 pizza ovens.
Tony's Pizza Napoletana is recognized as one of the city's best pizzerias. Along with being named "The Best Pizzeria in America" by Forbes magazine, the restaurant has received multiple accolades in a number of publications, both local and national, including Zagat, USA Today, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Huffington Post, Food and Wine, Travel + Leisure, Fox News, and others.
=The Original Slicehouse & Coal-Fired Pizza by Tony Gemignani=
Opening in 2010, Gemignani took ownership of an adjacent deli. Seeing this as an opportunity to serve more styles of pizzas like classic New York style slices, Sicilian, and California style slices, along with Chicago Beef Sandwiches and other deli favorites, the slicehouse allowed people to enjoy Gemignani's pizza without the infamous wait times usually seen at his flagship restaurant.
Since the opening in North Beach, Gemignani has expanded his slice house concept to include concessions stalls in Oracle Park & Chase Center, as well as multiple locations in California and Nevada under the name Slice House by Tony Gemignani. Tony G's Super Delicious Pizza is Tony Gemignani's newest slice house concept in Meridian, Idaho, with its delivery only concept under Crave Delivery.
=Pizza Rock=
File:Pizza Rock's Semi Truck.JPG
In 2011, Gemignani, Hewitt and Karpaty opened Pizza Rock in Sacramento California, with a focus on rock 'n' roll and great pizza. Pizza Rock offered many of the same items as Tony's Pizza Napoletana but featured events such as Acoustic Brunch and live DJs performing from a custom Peterbilt truck. Pizza Rock permanently closed in Sacramento, California on July 29, 2020 as a result of declining sales due to the Covid-19 pandemic.{{Cite web |date=2020-07-30 |title=Pizza Rock Closed: A Slice Of Struggling K Street During Coronavirus Pandemic - CBS Sacramento |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/sacramento/news/pizza-rock-closed-struggling-k-street/ |access-date=2024-01-08 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US}} Pizza Rock is still open in Las Vegas and Henderson, Nevada. Pizza Rock has received accolades in a number of publications, including the Sacramento and The Chew.
=Capo's=
Gemignani's Chicago-style pizza and whiskey bar, Capo's, opened in November 2012 just two blocks away from Tony's Pizza Napoletana; it was designed to feel like a prohibition era speakeasy. The restaurant invites family style dining, serving four styles of Chicago-style pizza: Deep Dish, Stuffed, Cast Iron Pan, and Tavern Style; along with Southern Italian dishes. Favorite items include the Quattro Forni, a thick, square cut pizza cooked in four ovens that is a variation on a pizza baked in three ovens that won Gemignani an international championship; The Dillinger and The Crown Point, Cast Iron Pan pizzas, that won the World's Best Pan Pizza and the Best of the Best at the International Pizza Challenge in Las Vegas in 2014 and 2016, and subsequently earned Chef Matt Molina the title of Pizza Maker of the Year in 2014 and Best of the Best Champion in 2016.
=Tony's of North Beach=
Opened in 2013 at the Graton Resort & Casino in Rohnert Park, California, Tony's of North Beach offers many styles of pizzas made by Tony Gemignani. The menu offers eight kinds of pizzas made in three different kinds of ovens, family-style pasta dinners, sandwiches, and salads.{{cite web|last1=Sweet|first1=Carey|title=Inside Tony's of North Beach at Graton Resort & Casino|url=http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2013/10/31/inside-tonys-of-north-beach-at-graton-resort-casino/|website=Inside Scoop SF|publisher=SF Gate|accessdate=19 March 2015}}
International School of Pizza
Gemignani is the first certified Master Instructor in the United States.{{By whom|date=July 2020}} He opened the International School of Pizza and the United States School of Pizza under the Scuola Italiana Pizzaioli. Gemignani and his fellow instructors certify students from around the world, and the certifications come direct from Italy with strict guidelines and theory followed from the Scuola Italiana Pizzaioli. Gemignani also offers non-professional home chef courses, designed to teach home cooks how to make restaurant quality pizza in their own kitchens. In 2023, Gemignani closed the International School of Pizza to focus on his numerous other pizza ventures.
Retail
Giovanni Italian Specialties opened in October 2017, Tony brought an "old-world Italian specialties shop" to the neighborhood of North Beach. Giovanni Italian Specialties offers fresh pasta, specialty cooking tools, cook books, and offers focaccia and piadina daily.
Tony Gemignani’s California Artisan Type 00 Pizza Blend flour is made by Central Milling.
Filmography
| class="wikitable"
|+Television appearances !Year !Episode title !Show !Channel !Season !Notes |
| 2013
|A Bar Full of Bull |season 3, episode 17 |
| 2013
|Jon of the Dead |Spike TV |season 3, episode 21 |
| 2014
|World Pizza Champ Turns Dough Into…Dough |Taking Stock with Pimm Fox | |
| |On Location: Pizza Rock Vegas
| | |
| |Pizza Paradise 2
|season 0, episode 41 |
| |Pizza Champions
|Challenge | |Michael Shepherd, Joe Carlucci, Siler Chapman and Tony Gemignani compete at Mall of America. |
| |
| |{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}} |
| |Cirque du Pizza: The Art of Pizza Acrobatics
|CNN | |
| |Sin City Eats
|season 4, episode 10 |
| |Ryan's Yummy Playdate/Ryan's Speedy Playdate
| | |{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}} |
Books
File:TonySteveSusieJacques.JPG.]]
Gemignani has authored three books:
- Pizza: More than 60 Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pizza (Chronicle Books, July 28, 2005){{cite book|last1=Gemignani|first1=Tony|title=Pizza: More than 60 Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pizza|date=2005|publisher=Chronicle Books|location=San Francisco|isbn=978-0811845540}}
- Tony and the Pizza Champions (Chronicle Books, March 4, 2009){{cite book|last1=Gemignani|first1=Tony|title=Tony and the pizza champions|date=2009|publisher=Chronicle Books|location=San Francisco|isbn=978-0811861625}}
- The Pizza Bible (Ten Speed Press, October 28, 2014){{cite book|last1=Gemignani|first1=Tony|title=The Pizza Bible|date=2014|publisher=Ten Speed Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-1607746058}}
Awards
= Titles =
- First Place Pizza All Stars by Antonio Mezzero Porto, Portugal 2018 Cooking Pizza Neo Napoletana paired with Croft Port{{cite web |last1=Avoral |first1=Linda |title=Port wine pizza?! Tony Gemignani wins a 13th title with this one |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/11/30/port-wine-pizza-tony-gemignani-wins-a-13th-title-with-this-one/ |website=The Mercury News |publisher=The Mercury News |accessdate=14 January 2019|date=2018-11-30 }}
- First Place Best Pizza (Pizza in Pala) World Pizza Championships Parma, Italy 2016{{cite web|last1=Palmer|first1=Tamara|title=This American Chef Just Won First Prize in Italy's Pizza Championship: Here's Where to Try His Pies|url=http://www.bravotv.com/blogs/american-chef-tony-gemignani-wins-first-prize-in-italy-pizza-championship|website=Bravo TV|publisher=Bravo TV|accessdate=25 April 2016|date=2016-04-21}}
- 8 Time World Champion Pizza Acrobat (1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007){{cite web|title=Tony Gemignani 11 time world pizza champion|url=http://www.worldpizzachampions.com/team/tony_g.php|website=World Pizza Champions|accessdate=9 June 2015}}
- World Champion Pizza Maker, 2007 World Pizza Cup, Naples, Italy
- Roman Pizza, 2011 World Championships of Pizza Makers, Naples, Italy
- Best of the Best World Champion/Master Pizza Maker, 2012 International Pizza Expo, Las Vegas, Nevada
- 2007 "Squadra Acrobatica" Pizza Olympics, Salsomaggiore, Italy
- 2006 "Squadra Acrobatica", Salsomaggiore, Italy
- 2005 "Team Acrobatic", Las Vegas, Nevada
- 2005 Food Network "Pizza Battle"
- 2005 Icon Estates Pizza Battaglia
- 1st Triple Crown Winner in Pizza History
- Gold Cup Pizza Classica, 2008 International Pizza Makers Challenge, Lecce, Italy
- Gold Cup Pizza Teglia, 2008 International Pizza Makers Challenge, Lecce, Italy
- Gold Cup Acrobat, 2008 International Pizza Makers Challenge, Lecce, Italy
- Best Pizza USA, 2008 World Pizza Championships, Salsomaggiore, Italy
- 2006 Pizza Champions Challenge, Food Network
- Master of Champions, ABC TV
- Inducted into the Legends of Pizza, 2006{{cite web|title=Tony Gemignani from Legends of Pizza|url=http://legendsofpizza.com/tonygemignani.html|website=Legends of Pizza|accessdate=20 March 2015}}
= Guinness Book of World Records =
- Largest pizza base spun in two minutes (36.5 inches) 2006{{cite web|title=Largest pizza base spun in two minutes|url=http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-pizza-base-spun-in-2-minutes|website=Guinness World Records|accessdate=20 March 2015}}
- Most Consecutive Rolls Across the Shoulders in 30 seconds (37 times) 2006{{cite web|last1=Cox|first1=Jeff|title=Cox: Superstar of Pizza|url=http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/2228094-181/cox-superstar-of-pizza|website=Press Democrat|accessdate=20 March 2015|date=2013-12-14}}
- World's Longest Pizza (1,930.39 m) 2017{{cite web |title=Longest Pizza |url=http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-pizza |website=Guinness World Records |accessdate=18 August 2018}}
- Most people tossing pizza dough (263) 2014{{cite web |title=San Francisco sets new world record for pizza dough tossing|url=https://abc7news.com/food/san-francisco-sets-new-world-record-for-pizza-dough-tossing/146894/|website=abc7News|accessdate=14 January 2018|date=2014-06-29}}
References
{{reflist|refs=
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External links
- [https://www.tonygemignani.com/ Official website]
- {{IMDb name|1945605}}
- {{cite web |title=About the World Pizza Champions: Tony Gemignani |url=http://www.worldpizzachampions.com/team/tony_g.php |website=World Pizza Champions |access-date=18 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150317032722/http://www.worldpizzachampions.com/team/tony_g.php |archive-date=17 March 2015 |date=17 March 2015}}
- {{cite web |title=MORE~ About the World Pizza Champions {{!}} Tony Gemignani |url=http://www.worldpizzachampions.com/team/tony_g_bio.php |website=World Pizza Champions |access-date=18 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141224115236/http://www.worldpizzachampions.com/team/tony_g_bio.php |archive-date=24 December 2014 |date=24 December 2014}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gemignani, Tony}}