VIEW SLIDESHOW: 1,000 Passions' 'Making Pizza with Paulie Gee' Experience
[Photographs: Jessica Leibowitz]
Yes, that's me above in a role reversal of sorts. I'm usually on the eating side of the pizza equation (at least when I'm not at home). But when Slice/SE offered me the chance to possibly make pizza at Paulie Gee's in a private, pre-opening session, I was so there.
This opportunity is one of 70 available at 1,000 Passions, a website that offers exclusive private "experiences" along a number of themes, food and drink included.
The Paulie Gee Experience is a two-and-a-half hour meet-and-eat that begins at $275 for 2 people and includes all the pizza you can eat, along with wine pairings. Paulie Gee himself makes the pizza and joins you for the meal, regaling you with his stories, his methods, and his pizza philosophy. He'll answer any of your questions, to the best of his ability—just don't think you're going to get the secret of his tomatoes. (Disclosure: 1,000 Passions comped Slice/SE this event.)
Depending on the number of people in your party and your comfort level with pizza-making, you may get the opportunity to go behind the counter and do some work yourself. (Hey ... somebody's been reading Tom Sawyer.) With larger parties, Paulie says, it may be that you'll top the pizzas after he stretches the dough (it takes a while to teach people the stretching method). Because there were only two of us when we went on a recent Sunday afternoon, my wife (aka Girl Slice) and I both got a chance to shape some dough and top it. Which one of us do you think was better at it?