[Movie] Chefs Table: Pizza Season 1 Review – A delicious deep dive into genius pizza makers

Episode Guide

Chris Bianco
Gabriele Bonci
Ann Kim
Franco Pepe
Yoshihiro Imai
Sarah Minnick

What is the secret to a good pizza? For those who have been to Italy, you’ll probably say it’s the fresh ingredients. For others, it may be the right chef taking the reigns of the kitchen. But for these six individuals showcased in Chef’s Table: Pizza, those reasons run much deeper than that.

For those familiar with the Chef’s Table format, Pizza will hold no surprises. The series uses a combination of family history, archival footage and talking head interviews, blended together with some gorgeous money shots of food to hammer home the main theme here – these men and women certainly know how to cook a pizza!

The episodes themselves focus on each individual chef, with the first introducing us to the “greatest pizza maker in the US”, Chris Bianco. A hands-on workaholic, Chris works tirelessly to try and better himself and his restaurants, while simultaneously finding deeper meaning with his food. In another chapter late on, we jet across to Japan where Yoshihiro Imai steps away from his family history of dentistry to sink his teeth into something he’s far more passionate about – food.

Each of the chapters follow a similar format, as detailed above, with the chefs themselves lending their voice to allow us a deeper insight into their psyche and how they view pizza. We also see their struggles and challenges making it to the top of their field.

The series offers a really fascinating deep dive and through this, we learn what makes each of these individuals tick as well as the adversities they’ve had to overcome through time. All the while, the series has some fantastic visuals and whether it be the handheld cameras getting up and close and personal with the pizza ovens, or the all-important final money-shot, complete with expository text to show us what the pizza is called, Chef’s Table brings its A-game when it comes to the editing.

If there’s one downside that comes with this series though, it’s the heavy slant toward American-based pizza joints. 3 of the 6 episodes are dedicated to different parts of the US while 2 focus on Italy (one in Rome and another in Naples) and finally one in Tokyo. There are a lot of amazing pizzas across the world and while I appreciate the US does have some delicious joints, a more worldwide focus, really jetting off to different areas outside the norm, would have helped this series zing.

Aside from that though, if you’re a fan of food documentaries, Chef’s Table: Pizza is a worthwhile watch and an intriguing variation to the usual Chef’s Table formula. This is a show as much about the people as it is about the food, and in that respect this series absolutely nails its dish to perfection.

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