World Cup Inspires New 7-Spice Pizza At Tony’s Pizza Napoletana

by Joe Bonadio

On June 11, the FIFA World Cup returns to the U.S. for the first time since 1994, nearly a third of a century ago. As hard as it may be to believe, there wasn’t even a professional soccer league in the U.S. back then—Major League Soccer wasn’t formed until 1996. Three decades hence, the landscape of American culture has shifted inexorably. The MLS is a 30-team league today, and soccer has become the third most popular sport in the country, a beloved staple of the American sports scene.

This year the Bay Area will be one of eleven American locales to host the 2026 World Cup, marking the event’s first appearance in Northern California—and anticipation is running high, to say the least. Soccer fans are expected to converge on SF from all over the world, with nearly 260,000 travelers forecast to visit the Bay for the event, billed by FIFA promoters as a “month-long party.” It’s actually five weeks to be precise, and hotels, bars and restaurants citywide are bracing themselves for what’s expected to be a more-than-welcome shot in the arm for summer business.

With its well worn reputation for bars, bacchanalia (and ballgames), North Beach is sure to be the focus of much of that activity. And being the soccer fan that he is, Tony Gemignani is coming to this party prepared—with a special pizza he dreamed up specifically for the World Cup. I met Tony last week at his flagship North Beach restaurant Tony’s Pizza Napoletana, and the pizza maker was kind enough to fill me in on all the details.

Joe Bonadio (JB): So Tony, tell me about this 7-Spice Pizza.

Tony Gemignani (TG): So, the World Cup is coming.

JB: Is that going to be big for the city, you think?

TG: You know, I think it’s just big for any soccer fan. I grew up playing soccer, my son plays soccer.

JB: He’s pretty good, too!

TG: Yeah, he’s pretty good. It’s hard, you know, especially where we’re at. The Mustang: that league is tough. But he practices hard, and he trains hard.

But to explain, I had been trying to think of a pizza that represented the World Cup, something that didn’t revolve around making a soccer ball out of the pizza. You know, it’s white and black, and it looks like a soccer ball. I just wasn’t going to go down that route. Something like that would take 20 times as long to make for one thing; it would be a kitchen nightmare.

JB: I can just imagine.

TG: So I thought, huh. I wonder if there are seven spices I can use, you know, one from each continent? Of course Antarctica was the hardest one, because nothing grows there. But you can get salt, Antarctic salt, which we did. So I started ordering all these different spices. And it was one of those things where I just knew, I need to Google this. Because I didn’t know enough about Oceania, and Antarctica, and South America.

So anyway, I got all these spices in. And Oscar walks in one morning, and I was kind of like, I Got It!

JB: Eureka! (Laughter)

TG: Exactly! I literally opened the spices and smelled them, and said Okay: I’ll go with this one, this one, this one and this one. This one’s for Asia, this is Europe, you know. Hungarian paprika, okay, that’s Europe. Then I’m thinking, what am I going to do from Italy? How am I going to make it Italian? But the spices just kind of told me what to do. We had these pork carnitas, so I added some water to these spices and cooked them down, and braised those carnitas—and it came out really fucking good! (Laughter)

When I first tasted it, it was kind of sweet and spicy, but the sweet was like….I don’t know how to explain it, it just came out really, really great.

JB: So it wasn’t like you went through a bunch of iterations? You had it in your mind, you made it, and it just turned out great?

TG: Yeah, I just thought I would put it all together in a pot, and make it taste beautiful. The only thing I had to do was strain it, for the peppercorns, star anise, black pepper pods, that were just chunks and pieces. So I just needed to cook it down, strain it, then re-braise it. And with the braise, it was just unexpectedly great. I was like, holy shit.

JB: It was easier than you thought it was going to be.

TG: It was. But that kind of happens, for some reason, when I’m experimenting. I’m usually just off by maybe one ingredient. In this case I added Latteria Sorrentina Smoked Provola and mozzarella, so it’s a white pie with two cheeses. I finish it with garlic oil, and what’s Italian about it? A final chiffonade of basil. I know Italy isn’t in the World Cup, but I needed to represent Italy in some way.

And what’s cool is, if you order that pizza for dine-in, you get a free Tony’s soccer ball. It’s a little mini ball, and if you can show that you can juggle it at least five times, and tag us on the video, you actually get the chance to win a thousand bucks. Also an autographed Pizza Bible, and a full pizza making kit worth $500.

JB: That’s pretty cool.

TG: For me it was more of a way to promote kids playing soccer, or just anyone for that matter. Keeping people active.

JB: So, do you have to juggle it with your feet, like a soccer ball?

TG: Well yeah, it depends. You can do your foot, your knee, your head, your shoulder, just like you would a real soccer ball.

JB: It’s kind of like halfway between a soccer ball and a hacky sack.

TG: Yeah, there’s one right here.

JB: Oh nice, those really turned out good!

TG: Thanks! We opened up with it yesterday, and we already sold a few.

JB: How long will it be going on?

TG: It’s going to go on through the end of the World Cup, I believe it’s July 19th. Or while supplies last.

JB: Just here at Tony’s?

TG: Yeah, it’s going to be Tony’s, dine-in only. But if you want to purchase a soccer ball and not get the pizza, you can, for $6 I think.

JB: So if you really want to be a pain in the ass and not eat the 7-spice pizza. If you want to be a spoilsport… (Laughter)

TG: Well, if somebody can’t have pork, that pizza is all about the pork and spice. And it’s cooked in it, it’s not added to it.

JB: Well, I was excited about having this pizza before, and now that you’ve explained it to me, I’m totally psyched to have it.

TG: Yeah, it’s great. The flavors are unique, and I really can’t put my finger on it, but it has a Latin kind of taste to it.

So we’re going to run it until July 19th, or while we’ve still got the soccer balls. I ended up getting like a few hundred balls, you know. It’s funny, my dad called me and said I heard you have a soccer ball. And I’m like, how did you hear about this? He said the neighbor had shown him a video of it.

JB: Haha! That’s how you know your social is working.

TG: I know! (Laughter)

So meanwhile, trying to juggle this thing five times might be a little challenging if you haven’t picked up a soccer ball in a while. It’s not heavy, so you really have to concentrate on it. Because the bigger the ball is, the more solid it lands—it doesn’t go right and left as easily. You know I haven’t really played lately, especially since my whole shoulder surgery. But I got Gino to the park, and we were kicking balls around the other day.

JB: I just saw that online.

Yeah, it wasn’t easy. I think I did like nine or something, but Gino was like, I can’t do five of this! He was all pissed, and we’re trying to get pictures on Sunday at the park. Julie’s filming, and she’s like, Okay guys, are you gonna get five or not? I’m like, Okay, I gotta get this video done. And I didn’t feel good either. So we’re going through it: One, Two, okay. One Two, Three, alright. One more time!

JB: It’s like when you’re recording music. All right, once again!

TG: And Gino is like, I can’t do this.

JB: So it sounds like you came up with a pretty good challenge…

TG: I did, at least for us! (Laughter)

Also, did we talk about the Jeremy Fish sandwich?

JB: You mentioned that, but I didn’t get the details.

TG: We just launched that too. It’s actually at Slice House only. Jeremy wanted to do something to recognize Slice House specifically. He came to me and said, Can we do a sandwich? I want to recognize Slice House. He felt like Tony’s always gets all the hype, but the Slice House doesn’t really get as much attention.

So his idea was to do a sandwich collab. Buffalo chicken—you know, fried chicken cutlet with buffalo sauce. I said, that’s easy. So we did it on our focaccia with mozzarella, with a house-made coleslaw that we make to order. Because that’s what you have to do for that sandwich, so it’s nice and fresh when you order it.

JB: That sounds delicious.

TG: I’ve got to get the name right, because at first we called it the Jeremy Fish Sandwich, and everyone said ‘Oh, it’s a fish sandwich.’ No, it’s not a fish sandwich! So we had to kind of get Jeremy’s name out of it. I’ll get you the right name.

[Fortunately at this point Tony’s Manager Rebecca Scaramuzzino walks by.]

TG: Rebecca, what’s Jeremy Fish’s sandwich called exactly?

Rebecca: The North Beach Buffalo Bird.

TG: Thank you so much. But it’s called something else….what’s on the bag? Show me the bag, Okay, there it is. (At this point, Rebecca and Tony recite it in unison): the North Beach Buffalo Bird Spicy Buffalo Chicken Parm Sandwich! (Laughter)

JB: Jesus, that’s a long name. (Laughter)

TG: It is! That’s why I was like, that’s only half of it. North Beach Buffalo Bird is kind of the short version.

Rebecca: It’s actually the North Beach Buffalo Bird Spicy Buffalo Chicken Parm Sando.

TG: Thank you very much. Just to let you know! And if you say Fish Sandwich, no, it’s not a fish sandwich.

Another thing, there’s a tote that Jeremy made, and if you order three sandwiches, you get a free tote bag. And this is a Jeremy Fish limited edition bag.

JB: Oh, that’s cool.

TG: Yeah, it is kind of cool. I also incorporated the sandwich into a picnic kit for the park: two sandwiches, the tote, a mini soccer ball, a Tony’s blanket, two drinks. So you can go to the park, hang out on your blanket and chill, have a little picnic.

JB: Nice. A pizza picnic.

TG: I did it to promote hanging out in the park. It’s just such a nice spot for that.

JB: And the weather has been nuts lately.

TG: Next time we can talk about the pizza festival coming up in August. It’s going to be different. We’re taking over the park this time, and we have a music component now. I’ll tell you about it next time we meet.

JB: Cool. Thanks again, Tony.