Pizza Making Tests Four Dolphins In Boca Raton
July 16, 2009
By Andy Kent
MiamiDolphins.com
Pizza making could soon be added to the Dolphins' offseason training regimen after wide receiver Anthony Armstrong, long snapper John Denney, cornerback Nate Jones and fullback Lousaka Polite put their culinary skills to the test on Thursday in Boca Raton.
The cooking quartet went head to head with radio announcer Randy Moller and Bill Lindsay representing the Florida Panthers and Miami Heat small forward James Jones in a pizza making contest in front of Anna Vincenzo's Ristorante Italiano, with a crowd of over 200 hungry spectators looking on.
A camera crew was there taping an episode for the FOX reality series, "Kitchen Nightmares," hosted by legendary chef Gordon Ramsey, and the winning pizza was to be added to the menu celebrating Anna Vincenzo's relaunch that evening. In the interests of keeping everyone in suspense, you will have to wait for Episode 10 of Season 2, which will air sometime in October or November, to find out how the athletic chefs did in the allotted three minutes.
"That's almost worst than the two-minute drill," said Armstrong, who once worked at a Pizza Hut. "Before I knew it, I looked down and the Panthers were putting on sauce and toppings and then I look over and the Heat are putting on their toppings and we were still trying to get our dough together, but it worked out."
Prior to stepping in front of the table where the dough and toppings were awaiting them, all of the participants were briefed on the rules and some tips to making a good pizza by Ramsey's sous chef, Scott Libbfried. They then made their way out to the stage set up under a tent in the parking lot, where four Miami Dolphins cheerleaders were waiting to cheer them on and give them an edge over the Miami Heat dancers and the Florida Panthers ice dancers that were sharing the stage.
The enigmatic Ramsey took center stage and explained to the crowd what they were about to witness, and then watched the clock closely as the teams hurriedly put together their pizzas. There was flour, mushrooms and all sorts of toppings and ingredients flying everywhere, and then once Denney and Jones finished shaping the dough into what looked like a football, Armstrong poured on the sauce and Polite sprinkled on the mozzarella cheese and the rest of the toppings, much to the delight of Ramsey and the crowd.
"Footballers are not supposed to cook, right? They're supposed to play, defend, play offense and throw," said Ramsey, who is renowned for his role as host of FOX's "Hell's Kitchen." "So to see them working those disciplined fingers rolling that pizza dough, it was like second nature to them. They're big guys. They don't do small portions, so to see them come out with these nice little dinky, amazing little pizzas, it was hard to believe that these big bruisers created something so beautiful."
Ramsey was very impressed with the big turnout for the event and appreciative of all three professional teams showing their willingness to participate. He also held back from doing any of his patented yelling during the contest, although the Dolphins players were prepared. When time expired, it was back inside the restaurant where Libbfried placed the pizzas into the pizza oven, and then they came out all three teams boasted theirs looked the best.
Polite cautiously walked back outside to the stage with the Dolphins' two pizzas balanced on a wooden pizza peel and his three teammates tried to help him come up with a name for their creation. They settled on the Pro Bowl Pie, and then left it in the hands of the judges, restaurant owner and her father. Polite felt pretty confident in his team's chances.
"I'm a professional eater so I know what tastes good," said Polite, who never had made a pizza from scratch before. "I like food and over the years I was just lucky enough to understand what tastes good, so I took it upon myself to make sure it tastes better than how it looks."
Denney had the added pressure of knowing that his wife, Christy, is one week away from delivering their fourth child and was in the audience watching. He drew some cheers when he tried to toss and spin the dough like an old pro but he was struggling a bit with the shaping part of it.
"That's the first time I've tried to shape a pizza," Denney said. "I made a homemade pizza on an English muffin before but I never had to roll out dough. That dough was resilient and it snaps right back so it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be."
Jones had the last word.
"We had a good time out there," he said.
July 16, 2009
By Andy Kent
MiamiDolphins.com
Pizza making could soon be added to the Dolphins' offseason training regimen after wide receiver Anthony Armstrong, long snapper John Denney, cornerback Nate Jones and fullback Lousaka Polite put their culinary skills to the test on Thursday in Boca Raton.
The cooking quartet went head to head with radio announcer Randy Moller and Bill Lindsay representing the Florida Panthers and Miami Heat small forward James Jones in a pizza making contest in front of Anna Vincenzo's Ristorante Italiano, with a crowd of over 200 hungry spectators looking on.
A camera crew was there taping an episode for the FOX reality series, "Kitchen Nightmares," hosted by legendary chef Gordon Ramsey, and the winning pizza was to be added to the menu celebrating Anna Vincenzo's relaunch that evening. In the interests of keeping everyone in suspense, you will have to wait for Episode 10 of Season 2, which will air sometime in October or November, to find out how the athletic chefs did in the allotted three minutes.
"That's almost worst than the two-minute drill," said Armstrong, who once worked at a Pizza Hut. "Before I knew it, I looked down and the Panthers were putting on sauce and toppings and then I look over and the Heat are putting on their toppings and we were still trying to get our dough together, but it worked out."
Prior to stepping in front of the table where the dough and toppings were awaiting them, all of the participants were briefed on the rules and some tips to making a good pizza by Ramsey's sous chef, Scott Libbfried. They then made their way out to the stage set up under a tent in the parking lot, where four Miami Dolphins cheerleaders were waiting to cheer them on and give them an edge over the Miami Heat dancers and the Florida Panthers ice dancers that were sharing the stage.
The enigmatic Ramsey took center stage and explained to the crowd what they were about to witness, and then watched the clock closely as the teams hurriedly put together their pizzas. There was flour, mushrooms and all sorts of toppings and ingredients flying everywhere, and then once Denney and Jones finished shaping the dough into what looked like a football, Armstrong poured on the sauce and Polite sprinkled on the mozzarella cheese and the rest of the toppings, much to the delight of Ramsey and the crowd.
"Footballers are not supposed to cook, right? They're supposed to play, defend, play offense and throw," said Ramsey, who is renowned for his role as host of FOX's "Hell's Kitchen." "So to see them working those disciplined fingers rolling that pizza dough, it was like second nature to them. They're big guys. They don't do small portions, so to see them come out with these nice little dinky, amazing little pizzas, it was hard to believe that these big bruisers created something so beautiful."
Ramsey was very impressed with the big turnout for the event and appreciative of all three professional teams showing their willingness to participate. He also held back from doing any of his patented yelling during the contest, although the Dolphins players were prepared. When time expired, it was back inside the restaurant where Libbfried placed the pizzas into the pizza oven, and then they came out all three teams boasted theirs looked the best.
Polite cautiously walked back outside to the stage with the Dolphins' two pizzas balanced on a wooden pizza peel and his three teammates tried to help him come up with a name for their creation. They settled on the Pro Bowl Pie, and then left it in the hands of the judges, restaurant owner and her father. Polite felt pretty confident in his team's chances.
"I'm a professional eater so I know what tastes good," said Polite, who never had made a pizza from scratch before. "I like food and over the years I was just lucky enough to understand what tastes good, so I took it upon myself to make sure it tastes better than how it looks."
Denney had the added pressure of knowing that his wife, Christy, is one week away from delivering their fourth child and was in the audience watching. He drew some cheers when he tried to toss and spin the dough like an old pro but he was struggling a bit with the shaping part of it.
"That's the first time I've tried to shape a pizza," Denney said. "I made a homemade pizza on an English muffin before but I never had to roll out dough. That dough was resilient and it snaps right back so it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be."
Jones had the last word.
"We had a good time out there," he said.
