For nearly a century Columbus, Ohio pizza parlors have served up delicious meals by the tray and by the slice. This history goes back to the 1930s, when TAT Ristorante began serving pizza. Today, it is the oldest family-owned restaurant in the city. Over the years, a specific style evolved guided by the experiences and culinary interpretations of local pizza pioneers like Jimmy Massey, Romeo Sirij, Tommy Iacono, Joe Gatto, Cosmo Leonardo, Pat Orecchio, Reuben Cohen, Guido Casa and Richie DiPaolo. The years of experimentation and refinement culminated in Columbus being crowned the pizza capital of the USA in the 1990s. Author and founder of the city’s first pizza tour Jim Ellison chronicles one of the city’s favorite foods.
Jim Ellison’s first slice of pizza was from Dante’s in Clintonville. He was four or five years old. By fourth grade, he was a convert. He fondly recalls Pizza Quick on English Muffins and Stouffer’s French Bread pizza in middle school and plenty of Franco’s, Villa Nova, Pizza House and Iacono’s in high school. College introduced him to Flying Pizza and Adriatico’s and eventually postgrad brought Hounddog’s. He began his CMH Gourmand blog in 2006 and in 2013 founded a pizza tour built from his (now former) tour company, Columbus Brew Adventures. Columbus Pizza is his first book.