Best Day Of The Year: The SF Pizza, Bagel & Beer Festival Returns
by Joe Bonadio
Just as there’s no other neighborhood like North Beach, there’s really nothing else like the SF Pizza, Bagel & Beer Festival. On Saturday, August 16th, the city celebrated the third annual, and somehow the whole thing was better than ever. With roughly 40 pizzerias represented this time around, there were more pizza makers working their magic, as well as more bagelries—and thanks to Sierra Nevada, the festival’s first beer sponsor, a lot more beer. And of course, more revelers: well over 3,000 hungry souls showed up for the festivities this time around.
I was there early to talk with the chefs, a thermos full of barbaresco banging against my hip (what can I say, I’m not a beer drinker). The weather was just a little bit funky, and the neighborhood had been under a misty Maui rainstorm for most of the morning, but nothing wet enough to dampen the proceedings. It was obvious from the outset that spirits were high, and people were excited for the day ahead. Bakers and brewers work hard at their crafts, and you got the sense that this event was something like summer camp for them.
Like last year, there were a number of guest chefs on hand who rotated through as the day went on. The first one I spoke to was John Arena, who should need no introduction here: a longtime member of the World Pizza Champions, Arena has been making world-class pizza for nearly half a century. He was one of the first serious pizza makers to arrive in Las Vegas, where he opened Metro Pizza all the way back in 1980. He opened Truly Pizza with partners Chris Decker, Michael Vakneen and Donna Baldwin in Dana Point in 2023, and this year the fledgling pizzeria landed the #9 spot on the influential 100 Best Pizzas list. When I asked Arena what he thought of the festival, the chef didn’t mince words. “It’s the best pizza street festival in the country. I wouldn’t miss it,” Arena said. “The atmosphere, the quality of the pizza makers….nothing compares.”
Next I sought out OG Papa Fern, whom I first met at last year’s festival. The pop-up chef came all the way from New York, where he has been building quite a following for his Argentine-style pizza. Looking around at the layout, the chef marveled at the scale of the event. “I don’t know how much work it takes to put something like this together,” the up-and-coming pizzaiolo told me. “Everything works perfectly. It’s like a well-oiled machine.”
David Jacobson just opened his Cheezy’s Pizza at Saluhall in April, but this wasn’t his first appearance at the SFPBB festival. Jacobson, a member of the World Pizza Champions, explained: “This is my first time representing our brick-and-mortar, Cheezy’s. The year before that, I represented another restaurant. The first year I was a guest chef, after I won the Real California Milk Pizza Contest in 2022,” he said. “This is awesome—it’s the coolest event of the year.”
Of course our very own Laura Meyer was in attendance, representing her thriving Berkeley restaurant, Pizzeria da Laura. A two-time world pizza champ, Meyer opened her pizzeria in 2023, and recently added a market next door, dubbed Mercatino. One of the more familiar faces at the event, Meyer has been involved from the very beginning. “It’s great, because it gets bigger, better and more streamlined every year,” she told me. “And North Beach is my second home, if not my first, and will forever be in my heart.”
Alex Koons of Hot Tongue Pizza (my pick for best pizzeria name) made the trip up from Los Angeles to cook as a guest chef, and this was his first time at the festival. An industry consultant who hosts a podcast called PIE 2 PIE, Koons was floored by the scale of the festival. “I’ve never been to a pizza event that is this zesty, and epic,” he told me. “It’s right in the middle of the city, and North Beach is so vibrant. Everything…the pizza, the people, the beers.
“The energy is palpable. It’s flowing, it’s going, and everyone’s showing,” Koons riffed. “And no one’s knowing that they’re eating the best pizza in the bay right now.”
Also on hand was Adam Sachs, who has been collaborating with Tony for years (including at Dago Bagel, where they worked together to develop the primary recipe). Along with Eidref Laxa, Sachs moderated the SF Ooni Pizza Championship, reprising the role for his third year. “It’s awesome. We get fifteen people who are home bakers, and they show what they can do with an Ooni oven, and some dough and some sauce,” Sachs explained. “Their pizzas were incredible.”
The winner of the Ooni contest was home chef Jay Gist, who confounded the judges with his creation: a paean to the Cuban sandwich that incorporated pork, pickles, provolone and Swiss cheese. “With pickles and mustard on top! And he used lard in the dough,” Sachs said. “It was delicious, really clever.”
Special thanks to BiRite, DoorDash, Sierra Nevada and all of our generous sponsors, without whom this event would not be possible.
