According to the the Huffington Post and the New York Post, DiFara’s, the legendary Brooklyn pizza shop, has plans to open outposts in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Texas and Arizona. Am I excited? Hell yes. But also concerned that it won’t be the same thing.

The 42 year old  Dominick Demarco, Jr. has plans to expand on the pizza legend built by his father. But here’s the thing – in the Brooklyn shop, Dom Senior makes all the pizzas himself, and has for decades until recent years when his health hasn’t been so hot. Sure, the Grande cheese and the other ingredients matter, but Dom Senior is what makes DiFara’s so good. Can Dom Jr. teach all the minute steps in the pizza making process to someone else? We’ll see about that.

Also according the the NY Post story, the Baker’s Pride deck ovens used in Brooklyn will be replaced with Wood Stone gas and wood ovens in the new locations. The domed Wood Stones don’t cook the top of the pizzas in the same way as deck ovens. I don’t know what Junior is thinking, but he’s already changing what works.

The NY Post story claims that Dom Junior wants to alter the local water to chemically replicate New York City tap water. The myth that NY pizza or bagels can’t be produced outsite of New York is bullshit, and I proved it during my own bagel baking experiments. See also the fact that Joe’s Pizza in Santa Monica is just like the Joe’s Pizza in Greenwich Village.  Joe didn’t foist the NYC tap water lie – Joe himself moved to L.A. and taught his staff how to make the dough correctly.  The fact that Dom Junior is already pitching the water myth sounds like he’s setting up an excuse for failing to produce pizza like his old man’s.

So bring it, Junior. I can’t wait to try the pizza, and I’ll be the first one to say I was wrong if you pull this one off.

A Denver marijuana dispensary has opened the country’s first restaurant with a menu laced with pot.  The Ganja Gourmet sells brownies,  chocolates,  lasagna, and a goat cheese and sausage pizza.  Let’s hope their ganja cookery tastes better than those oddly green, haybale-tasting brownies you made in college.

Colorado is one of the states that allows medical marijuana patients to buy pot with a doctor’s recommendation, so all customers must have their doctor’s permission before ordering anything off the menu. The Associated Press reports that goat cheese and sausage pizza sells for $89, which might make it the most expensive pizza in the county.  I wonder if I can just buy a slice and sprinkle on a little extra “oregano” from the shaky jar instead?

After all these years of torturing you with pretty photos from my barbecue contests, I sincerely hope you’ve had the chance to go to one in person and eat the great food that my contest peers cook.

If you haven’t been to one, tune in to BBQ Pitmasters, TLC’s brand new series that airs tonight at 10pm across all time zones.  It’ll give an insider’s view of  competition BBQ at some of the biggest contests in America.

My friends Harry Soo and Mark Tung of Slap Yo’ Daddy BBQ, featuring pit bitch Gary Notley star in this series. They’re the only team from west of Texas cast for the show, and will be challenging some of the behemoths of the contest BBQ world. Harry and Mark came out of nowhere two years ago, and have won one grand champion title after another. There’s no journalistic detachment on this one – I’ll be rooting for Slap Yo’ Daddy all the way!

My barbecue teammate Neil Strawder, aka BigMista, is a TV spokesperson for Fresh & Easy, the grocery store chain owned by the British Tesco conglomerate.

What’s Fresh & Easy? It’s sort of a convenience store supersized into a supermarket, with a focus on low prices. It’s for someone who wants to cook their own meals, with minimal hassle. Think blister packed fresh meats, many ready-flavored, in family sized portions to make dinner prep fast and easy.

Fresh & Easy hired Neil because he’s got a reputation as Los Angeles’ best BBQ cook among many Chowhounds, Yelpers and the general public, which voted for our team as People’s Choice champion in numerous BBQ contests. Well that, and his natural telegenic personality.

This Fourth of July, he’s been making the rounds on TV morning shows in Las Vegas, Phoenix, and San Diego. Here’s BigMista on Fox5 in Vegas. On other shows, he gives BBQ cookout tips to make your Fourth Fresh & Easy. I can’t work in that phrase into this post any more times, people.

He’s a natural! Watch for Neil and family in an upcoming episode of Over Your Head on HGTV, too. Get this man an agent, quick!