Who was the first person to try pineapple on a pizza? They oughta get a medal
BY CRYSTAL PETROCELLI
Get Out

Cantaloupe, lettuce, enchilada sauce on pizza? When did things get so wacky?

It’s been 100 years since the cheesy treat hit the streets of America, and there have been just as many crazy topping combinations since.

Would Gennaro Lombardi, the man credited with selling the first slice in North America, give today’s creative pies a high five, or would he slap the pizzaiolos for straying too far from tradition?

Chef Christopher Cristiano — who developed the menu at Sauce, which opens Monday in Mesa — had the guts to toss fresh melon on a pizza.

“Once you commit to having it, I think you’d be very surprised,” Cristiano says of his white prosciutto and melon combo. “You have that saltiness of the ham and the sweetness of the cool melon — it sells pretty well.”

“Of course, that pepperoni and that sausage and mushroom and things of that nature — that always sells. Everyone wants that, and that will always be your number one pizza,” Cristiano adds.

“We try not to go over people's heads. That's not what (Sauce) is about. It's about all the kids and the families coming for a nice dinner ... not to scare anyone away, we're not trying to redevelop the wheel here. We just want everyone to enjoy what's going on and be able to be a little daring.”

Chicago native Mark Russell, who owns five Oregano’s pizza places in the Valley, remembers the first nontraditional pie he dug into 20 years ago.

“A friend of mine said, ‘Hey, you have to come and try this pizza at Round Table. It’s a pineapple and ham.’ I go, ‘Pineapple and ham?’”

“In Chicago, it’s just sausage, pepperoni, green pepper, black olive and that’s all we knew,” says Russell, whose restaurant throws everything from lettuce to wasabi sauce to potatoes on its pies. “We didn't do anything fancy whatsoever.”

“So I went over to have the pineapple and ham pizza and it was very good. I think that, to me, was the start of when they started creating all these different combinations.”

When asked if any edgy ideas have been shot down by Oregano’s test kitchen, Russell laughs.

“We made a cheesesteak pizza — didn't like it,” he says with a chuckle. “The Mexico pizza is one of my favorites. We fought that for about a year. We always laugh about it today because it's just one of these pizzas that we couldn't get it right until one day we said, ‘OK, that’s perfect.’”

Are the days of pepperoni dominance coming to an end? “The old standbys are still the number one sellers,” Russell says. “That’s the staple and then where we go from there is just the fun stuff.”

Readers’ top 5 E.V. pizza places

1. Nello’s

2. Barro’s Pizza

3. Pizza Hut

4. (tie) New York Pizza Department and Oregano’s

PIZZA’S PAST

A long, long time ago, the hungry soldiers of Darius the Great tossed bread on their shields to sizzle in the sun while they marched. They topped it with cheese and dates.

Was that the first pizza or just hot bread with toppings?

There are many different takes on who created pizza. Some say it’s a Middle East thing, some think Romans should get credit and others say the Greeks brought pizza to Italy.

The pizza we know and love comes slathered with red sauce, a colorful addition that came about in 1522 when the poor people of Naples decided to throw caution to the wind and use the once-thought-poisonous tomato.

Many years later, tales of the tasty concoction spread and tourists began wandering into the peasant neighborhoods to taste what all the hype was about.

Eventually, the King of Naples caught on and in the late 18th century his wife insisted her summer home be outfitted with a special oven so she and her guests could gorge themselves on the popular peasant’s pie.

New York City boasted America's first pizzeria in 1905, but widespread popularity didn’t begin until after World War II. Seems soldiers fell for the cheesy dish during their service in Italy and they couldn’t stop craving it when they returned home in 1945. About a decade later, celebrities like Frank Sinatra and Joe DiMaggio increased pizza’s popularity tenfold by eating it in public. When Dean Martin sang “When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s amore” America was officially head over heels for pizza.

Trivia

• The word “pizzeria” dates to 1830, when Antica Pizzeria Port’Alba began cooking pizzas in an oven lined with lava rocks from nearby Mount Vesuvius. Exactly 175 years later, the Naples restaurant is still in business.

• A pizza maker is called a “pizzaiolo.”

• The Hawaiian pizza concept is not an island import — it’s a North American creation — and it’s not a big seller in Hawaii.

• The simple Pizza Margherita (tomatoes, cheese and basil) was born in 1889 when a famed Neapolitan pizzaiolo made Queen Margherita a patriotic pie that mirrored the Italian flag.

• Americans eat roughly 350 slices of pizza per second.

• Pizza is a $32 billion annual industry.

• Pepperoni is ordered on 36 percent of pizzas.

• Chicago-style deep dish pizza was created at Pizzeria Uno in 1943.

• Shakey's Pizza, one of the first U.S. chain pizza places, coined the term “pizza parlor.”

• More pizza is eaten during Super Bowl week than any other week of the year.

• Frozen pizzas showed up in grocery stores in 1957.