Pizzeria

Stephen Starr took the boys (and a couple of girls) out for pizza Thursday. At 9:41 in the morning. For a clam pie, in New Haven, Conn., for goodness' sake, four hours and change by jouncing shuttle bus from his offices over the Continental in Old City. In the gray, drumming rain. He was so hungry by the time he got there that he did what any famished pizza-eater would do: He promptly, and with rueful chagrin, burned the roof of his mouth. And that was just pizzeria Numero Uno. There were four more to come on this gonzo pizza tour - back down in New York's East Village, and in Brooklyn, the harp wires of the bridge going hazy in the fading light.

As one prosecutor put it, Thomas Kisselback knew where the dough was. But Kisselback's fondness for burglarizing pizzerias did not pay. In one, all he managed to gather was $10. In another, his take was a BB gun. For both, he earned three to 15 years in state prison. Kisselback, 38, of the 400 block of Dugan Street in Philadelphia, was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty to charges that included burglary, theft and receiving stolen property. According to court records, Kisselback was first arrested on Nov. 18, 1989.

Mom's Pizza Inc. has sound reasons for developing the way it has. It's the product that is half-baked. It used to be a conventional pizzeria operation, founded by Nicholas Castellucci in Manayunk in 1961. Then "in 1979 I decided, why can't people take our product home and bake it?" Castellucci says. "I'm pretty sure I was the first in the country" to concentrate exclusively on the bake-at-home concept. Mom may have been first, but she's not alone now. There are five Pizza & More Stores in New Jersey with a similar concept, and 11 more are planned to open by the end of the year throughout the Philadelphia area.

The stretch of South Street from Broad Street west into Grays Ferry has been growing as a food destination, what with such recent arrivals as the Cambridge , Magpie Artisan Pie Boutique , Sawatdee , and the Quick Fixx , and with the second location of Honey's Sit 'n Eat opening shortly at 21st and South Streets. Saturday will see the debut of Miles Table at 1620 South St. (267-318-7337), a cozy, neighborhood-friendly spot from Michael Lynch, whose business Catering by Miles counts for much of the reason people want to join Lombard Swim Club, where he's the exclusive caterer.

If you didn't know better, you might think that "Mack & Manco" is how they say "pizza" in Ocean City. After all, for more than 50 years along the town's famed boardwalk, the name has been synonymous with what is arguably America's favorite fast food. You need look no further than the three - count 'em, three - Mack & Mancos on a mere four-block stretch in the heart of the wooden esplanade - a feat of market saturation that would make even Starbucks executives gnash their teeth in envy.

Everyone likes pizza. Well, almost everyone. William Woys Weaver of Devon, a food historian and author of seven books on food - a man who has savored a colonial-era dish made of pig's ears - considers eating the venerable tomato-and-cheese pie a desperate act. "Once on a talk show," Weaver said, "I was asked the meaning of 'emergency food.' I said in Holland during World War II, people ate tulip bulbs. For me, it's pizza. It's too salty. I guess it's the cheese I don't like.

To call Pizzeria Beddia hot is an understatement. This tiny Fishtown corner takeout is as inconvenient as possible - open only Wednesday through Saturday, with a limited cash-only menu and no phone. But I'd endure the hour-plus wait again because Joe Beddia puts so much love into every crispy New York-style round. From the locally sourced ingredients to his meticulously fermented dough, he practically sends each one into the oven with a goodbye kiss. But things get genuinely hot with the Arrabiata, an "angry" pizza whose thick Jersey tomato sauce is spiked with so many chiles, both pickled serranos and thinly shaved fresh Thai peppers, that it's bound to become Philly's new object of spicy desire.

FORMER Lenny Dykstra business manager, Dan Herman , has filed a complaint against former Fox 29 weatherman John Bolaris , after a text-message battle between the two resulted in Herman going to the Pennsylvania State Police. The dispute began when Herman, the owner of Chinga Chang Records, pitched a documentary called "Race in the Ring," about the 1982 fight between boxers Larry Holmes and Gerry Cooney . On June 28, 2012, Herman says he entered into a contract with Bolaris to narrate the documentary, in exchange for a one-fifth ownership of the film.

My friend Ed Levine grabs a slice by its puffy outer lip, lifts it high over the table, and peers at its crusty underside with the knowing eyes of a mechanic looking under the hood of a tomato-red sports coupe. "Uh-huh . . . " he says softly, examining the margherita at Pizzeria Stella and starting to tick through his checklist. The "leoparding" is gorgeous, he says, indicating the perfect constellation of charry dots and heat blisters scattered across the crust. There's a nice rise to the edge, which inflates like a bike tire around the pie. And then there is the chew, a distinct yet delicate outer crisp, giving way to an inner tenderness that has just the right amount of salt and a roasty hint of wood smoke.

Tony Scotto Di Luzio, owner of a Haddonfield pizzeria, handled a delivery last Thursday that he will never forget: the birth of his first daughter, Ariana. "It was the best experience in my whole life," Scotto Di Luzio said. "God couldn't have made a more perfect moment. " He and his wife, Laura, were sent home from the hospital earlier that morning, after being told that her contractions weren't quite strong enough. About 4:30 p.m., he was tossing pies in Tony's Pizzeria on Haddon Avenue when he heard his wife yell down from their apartment upstairs: "Tony, the baby is coming!"