It seems like it was just three months ago that we young and enthusiastic priests of the pizza pie finally logged off Tube8, got our shit together and launched Doctors of Za — forever changing the world (world = average of 23 unique visitors per day). Fittingly, it has been exactly three months since the world’s greatest curse-word-heavy, primarily Wisconsin-based pizza review Web site (at least the greatest that we know of) began.

Sorry, Poppe.

Already, at only like 1.8 dog years of age, we’ve posted 50 reviews that span six different states; MLB Network’s Trenni Kusnierek Tweeted her love for the DoZ; I unnecessarily picked on talented and seemingly cool Milwaukee rapper JC Poppe; and I’m pretty sure one of us typed the word “cunt” at least once in a review.

But few know how far this site’s history truly spans… until now. Initial planning for Doctors of Za started when I worked for a daily newspaper in the Fox Cities. In a detailed 3-page submission destined for the Editor in Chief and our publisher, I pitched DoZ as a light-hearted blog devoted to one man’s appreciation for local pizza. It made it to a Content Manager (half a rung up the ladder), who stopped reading after a page, giving it the immediate thumbs down. Mind you, this newspaper has reader submitted pictures of dogs as the front page centerpiece three of seven days each week… so whatever.

Undaunted, I approached Ronnie and told him my idea… which he loved. I asked him to design a site any way he’d like, and he knocked it out of the park. Just look at this thing! From there, I recruited some friends, who happen to be some of the best and funniest writers in the state, to contribute to a blog where there would be no compensation, and possibly no readers. Everyone I asked accepted my invitation and has produced incredible stuff. Seriously, my dad likes Benji Mane’s reviews more than mine. 

Anyway, above this (slightly too long) letter will soon rest our 50th review: A collaborative effort between myself — the visionary and the original Doctor of Za — and Ronnie — the man who put my idea into action, and who has done a great deal of our reviews to date — to rate MaMa DeMarinis’ Pizza in Bay View. But 50 reviews merely marks the beginning. Thank you to the other writers, and mostly, to our readers. I assure you that as long as there’s pizza to eat and dick jokes to make, we’ll be there. I’m willing to even bet someone threatens to sue us before this is all over. That’d be kind of awesome.

Love,
T. Mario

As your work week wraps up, so does the first full week of Doctors of Za. Though we’re still in our beginning stages, and six of our writers have yet to post anything, our Reviews database continues to grow and expand to new and previously uncovered areas. We’ve already surpassed the 100 unique visitors/day mark twice (not bad for an 11-day-old site) thanks to continual link love from our buddies Brew Crew Ball and The Daily Drink, not to mention loyal readers like you.

Also this week:
• Reportedly, Doctors of Za can no longer be accessed at The Journal Sentinel office. Was it something I said?
• Ronnie earned his doctorate of Za with a quality review of Zayna’s Pizza.
• Ronnie and I also served up a hot slice of poetic judgement at Moct’s first annual Iron Pizza Competition. 
• Brian Butch made the best regional frozen pizza commercial I’ve ever seen (note: I’ve only seen one frozen pizza commercial in my life).

Expect a Madison review from the likes of Benji Mane and Tenderoni, a Shorewood review from Tony dan Za, and a T. Mario review of my dad’s favorite Appleton pizzeria in the near future. Hopefully, Sto Cazzo – who’s currently on tour with Red Knife Lottery – will also put up a review from the road, detailing exactly how many dicks non-Wisconsin pizza sucks. So keep reading!

Doctors of Za launched just four days ago, but the response has already been great. Readers have been e-mailing in to recommend places to review, sports blogs have been linking us — even the talented and lovely Trenni Kusnierek likes the site! Finding an immediate audience is incredible, and we’re thankful for your readership.

Going forward, we’ll get each of our nine geographically spread writers involved in writing reviews. Slowly, we’ll develop a working statewide pizza index to help you on your travels to such unfamiliar terrains as Eau Claire or Bonduel (and still probably not Racine), while also weighing in on the best options when visiting places like Madison and Milwaukee.

Keep reading, bookmark us, tell your friends and please feel inclined to send in restaurant recommendations. We’ll try and lend our Epicurus meets Weekend at Bernie’s 2-style reviews to as many restaurants as we can. The Doctors are in.

Doctors of Za is a coming together of the best, brightest and most brash Wisconsin pizza aficionados. Wherever there is pizza to be consumed, we’ll be there to judge it. But where, when and the manner in which we operate is not solely as means of passing judgment, but to inform, to educate and to enlighten our fellow statesmen of all things pizza.

Read on as we strive to develop a working index of pizza reviews both in and beyond Wisconsin. Please alert us to places we’ve yet to try. And if you’d like to treat one of our contributors to slice at your restaurant, we’d straight up get wood off that.