Ed LaDou

Edward M. LaDou, III (October 9, 1955 – December 27, 2007) was an American pizza chef, who is credited with popularizing gourmet California-style pizzas. Ed LaDou was the first pizza chef at Wolfgang Puck's Spago restaurant in Los Angeles. He also developed the first menu for the American chain restaurant California Pizza Kitchen.

The invention of the California-style pizza begins with a Berkeley, California, pizza restaurant, Chez Panisse, and its owner, Alice Waters. Waters was the first to create pizzas with exotic and unusual toppings which were cooked in a wood-burning pizza oven. However, LaDou was a major figure in the development and popularity of these types of pizzas. LaDou was known for introducing very unusual ingredients into his pizza recipes at a time when such toppings were highly unorthodox. Examples include duck breast and hoisin sauce pizza and barbecue chicken pizza.