David was born, raised, and has lived in NYC for over 30 years. He has been a rabid pizza fan for as long as he can remember, but it wasn’t until his first visit to the legendary Totonnos in Coney Island that his fandom turned into a lifelong obsession.
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David attended Bard College, and the Institute of Culinary Education in New York, where he graduated with highest Honors. He went on to work at highly rated NYC restaurants such as Lever House, Jacks Luxury Oyster Bar, Esca and Telepan.

That moment in Totonnos propelled him to scour the more obscure corners of NYC’s five boroughs, and the far corners of Naples and Rome in search of pizza nirvana. He read everything about pizza he could get his hands on from cookbooks, to blogs, and magazine articles.

He even participated in obscure chart forums on the internet where he argued about and shared pizza techniques with the likes of Miley Gee and Jeff Fasano, both of whom would later transform themselves from mere backyard heroes to highly acclaimed pizza masters.

He moved with his wife to Helsinki in 2008 and has worked in various restaurants including La Petit Maison, and Maxill.