So this might mean more to some of you than it does to others, but it’s pizza-relevant nonetheless…
Back in the ’80s there was a pizza chain called Showbiz Pizza Place. If you’re not familiar with it, you might have heard of a similar place called Chuck E Cheese’s. The basic idea of both restaurants was that they served pizza, had a bunch of arcade games, and provided entertainment for kids via large anthropomorphic animals.
Showbiz, which is now defunct, featured a live music act (if you can call it that) called the Rock-afire Explosion, manned by animatronic animals.
Since the Showbiz chain has gone down, there has been a group of obsessive Rock-afire Explosion fanatics that collect and maintain the musical robots. As is the case with so many quirky hobbies nowadays, there is a documentary about the phenomenon coming out (scheduled to be released in Fall 2008, according to the documentary’s MySpace page).
I attended the previously mentionedNYC Food Film Fest‘s Pizza Night in the parking lot next to Grimaldi’s in Brooklyn the other night. It was great to be around a bunch of other pizza fanatics directly under the Brooklyn Bridge.
While I was waiting around for the show to start, I had the pleasure of finally meeting the mastermind behind the amazing Slice pizza blog, Adam Kuban, in person. He told me some interesting stuff about his life as a full-time pizza blogger, but that’s a whole other story…
After a couple short speeches from the Food Film Fest crew and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, they screened 3 short films: Pure & Simple, which is a view in to the daily life of hardcore pizzeria Una Pizza Napoletana (I’ve never been, but I definitely intend to check it out soon); Brooklyn Pizza which showed what Adam Kuban described as “pizza porn” — the pizza-making process at 3 different Brooklyn pizzerias (Di Fara, Totonno’s, and Grimaldi’s); and finally In Pignata: Calabrian Fireside Cooking, which wasn’t really about pizza at all, but followed around an aging traditional Italian farmer as she prepped food from her own harvests.
Grimaldi’s sent out a couple rounds of sampling pies for the salivating crowd throughout the night. Much appreciated, but after the event I decided to wait in line to get a proper dose. Nothing has changed about Grimaldi’s pie since I first had it: it’s still one of the best pizzas I’ve ever eaten. So good.
Last night I moved in to the room I will be subletting in Brooklyn for the summer. Needless to say, I’m excited about the pizza potential (and other general food stuff) for the next few months. I’ve decided that I want to eat out as much as possible while I’m here, even if it ends up costing me more.
It seems that I timed my move perfectly: the 2nd annual NYC Food Film Festival is under way, and tomorrow there will be a screening of 3 short pizza-related films in the parking lot next to one of my all-time favorite pizzerias, Grimaldi’s, in Brooklyn.
The event is free, with food starting at 7:30pm and the screenings at 8:30. Tomorrow, 17 June. Rain or shine.
