Since Matt Stanczak opened Stanziato's pizzeria about 10 minutes from my house, I have become a big fan of the lovely pies he cooks up in his Neapolitan oven. One of my favorite pastimes is simply to stand at the counter and watch a pizza cook, a process that takes less than three minutes from insertion to doneness. This is the kind of holiday fire that makes me all warm and cozy!

Here are a meatball pizza (on the left) and a bacon & onion pizza (right), start to finish. Granted, it's not the most exciting piece of cinema; but to me, there are few scenes more hypnotic than watching the mozzarella melt and the collar brown. Note how Matt holds the pie at the very top of the oven dome at the end. That's where it's hottest, and where he makes sure the toppings are as done as the crust.