Heard on the Hill: What GQ Left Out of Pizza Story
Seventh Hill chef Anthony Pilla, a proud pizzaiolo who’s honed his craft for the past five years, confessed that he was “bummed” Herman Cain and GQ writer Alan Richman so dismissively shunned his Maryland Ave pie. Cain said he prefers a more “manly” pizza piled with meat.
Pilla tapped the Potomac Ave, a minimalist pie marrying milky mozzarella, savory Felino salami and peppery arugula, as his personal go-to. “Of all the pizzas I’ve designed, I could eat that one every day,” Pilla says, adding, “It’s so light and fresh.”
And while he has no immediate plans to add the five-meat monster he improvised for the carnivorous Cain — “I just did that to joke around with him,” Pilla says of the pie he piled high with capicola, mortadella, chorizo, Felino salami, sausage, fresh mozzarella, parmesan, basil, red peppers and onions — he’s not opposed to whipping one up on occasion.
“If somebody asked for the ‘Godfather Pizza,’ I would know what they were talking about,” Pilla says.
Meanwhile, Pilla’s general manager Bob Pick suggested that what the Cain GQ article gushed about must have been lost on him. In fact, he thought the entire conversation was a total goof, asserting that the GQ writers “basically made fun of [Cain] the entire time.”