The By Rick Hynum Pizza Artist g of Glasgow
Scottish-Italian master chef Domenico Crolla earns global acclaim—and free
publicity—by crossing cultural and artistic boundaries.
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Everyone knows how James Bond likes his martinis, but what’s his idea of the perfect pizza?
Scottish-Italian master chef Domenico Crolla, owner of Bella Napoli
in Glasgow, Scotland, may not be a
superspy, but his knack for making
delicious pies—and his prodigious gift
for promoting them—has earned him
a reputation that even the suave and
unflappable 007 might envy. So when
the United Kingdom’s prestigious
Pizza and Pasta Association (PAPA)
approached him in 2006 to create the
world’s most expensive pizza—to be
auctioned for charity on eBay—Crolla
didn’t just pile it with pricey toppings; he gave it a name that the press
couldn’t resist.
“Originally, it was going to be called
the Pizza Royale, but the day of the
auction happened to be the same day
of the premiere of the new James
Bond movie, Casino Royale, in the
U.K.,” Crolla recalls. “It just occurred
to me to change the name of the pizza,
and I called it Pizza Royale 007. The
press got hold of this, called me and
said, ‘You’re making a James Bond
pizza?’ Unintentionally, this became
big, big news.”
The extravagant pie—featuring
such Bond-worthy toppings as salm-
on poached in Dom Perignon, grilled
venison, lobster marinated in Remy
Martin, beluga caviar soaked in (you
guessed it) vodka martini, white
truffles and edible 24-karat gold
leaf—sold for $4,500 to an Italian
bidder. But the publicity for Crolla,
the Glasgow-born son of hardscrabble
