My baking story starts at the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdown in March 2020 when I started out making various basic bread doughs, baguettes, sandwich rolls, bagels, soft pretzels, anything with flour, yeast, salt and water and I was all in. I bulk ordered 50 pound sacks of bread flour from restaurant supply (grocery stores were sold out), yeast by the pound (again, yeast could not be found anywhere), various other flour varieties to experiment. Countless on-line searches for the next thing to bake. Then.. BAM, it hit me- • - PIZZA! I've loved pizza all my life, all kinds of pizza, it doesn't matter. NY style, traditional Neapolitan, Chicago deep dish, Detroit Style, Grandma, Sicilian, Margherita, Trenton Style, Old Forge Style, Boardwalk Style... the list goes on and on. So, with all this spare time staying home with quarantine, why couldn't I figure out how to make my own pizza? Not just okay pizza, but to make the best pizza possible in a home oven, better than the local pizza joint's pies.. and so my pizza journey began.. and I found something totally unexpected along the way, I discovered an amazing on-line pizza community that has been so welcoming, helpful and encouraging. If anything good has come out of the pandemic, its the normalcy of making dough every week for pizza Friday and the quest for the perfect pizza.. 

Fast forward to today where Jim has competed at the International Pizza Expo in Las Vegas, and placed 19 out of 92 competitors in the non-traditional category with his South Philly Roast Pork Detroit Style Pizza. He's also been honored as a guest to attend the invitation only Stanislaus Tomatoes and Carta Olive Oil Summer Harvest Experience in the central valley of California, where the countries best tomatoes and olive oil are produced. And he was Invited to attend the Pizza University 3-day intensive Hands-On Pizza course covering Traditional Neopolitan Techniques in Wood-Fired ovens, taught by Maestro Pizzaiolo Enzo Coccia and Maestro Leo Spizzirri. He's also gained a fairly large social media following along the way where he has become affectionately known as 'The Frico King', a testament to his Detroit Style Pizzas that look like they could be featured in Architectural Digest. 

Jim created NEPA Pizza Review in 2012 to shine a spotlight on the local pizza scene and share his pizza passion with the world. Since that time, the blog has focused on telling the stories of small businesses who are the backbone of our communities. Jim takes his role as a pizza influencer and small business supporter very seriously and strives to keep pizza content feature-based and positive in nature. Jim is driven by his motto of "Connecting People and Pizza." 

As a professional pizza maker who worked in pizzerias for more than a decade, Jim loves to share his passion for teaching the art and science of pizza. Jim's mission is to make pizza feel accessible to all. Pizza is a simple food and shouldn't be intimidating or exclusive to only those who have been professionally trained or spent years learning the craft. NEPA Pizza Review shares recipes and tips, provides mentoring opportunities, and helps to raise the bar in the pizza industry. 

One of Jim's proudest pizza accomplishments was being featured on the cover of PMQ Pizza magazine, a widely circulated national trade publication. He is a member of the Gozney Pizza Collective, has written pizza recipes for Ooni, and also publishes recipes on www.nepapizzareview.com. None of Jim's pizza journey would be possible without his supportive wife Jaimie, daughter Layla, and son Jack. They have watched Jim make thousands of pizzas at home and endured endless pizza reviews including a 6 hour walking pizza tour in New Haven, CT.