Sporting an old-school work ethic and menu in tech-obsessed San Francisco, this North Beach institution seals its modern-day longevity by transporting diners to the past. Tommaso’s, a bona fide San Francisco legend, brought the West Coast its first wood-fired brick oven in 1935. And, nearly 85 years later, not much has changed. Some things, of…
A business-savvy Greek immigrant joined the Greeley, Colorado, town council to build a name for his new pizzeria before handing it off to a longtime employee. Following a foray into the restaurant business in Superior, Wisconsin, Fonta Fafoutis relocated to Greeley, Colorado, and jumped into the pizza game, opening Fontas Pizza in 1966. To drum…
This Little Italy institution in The Bronx, now run by 4th- and 5th-generation family members, celebrates its centennial anniversary this year. Mario’s Restaurant has its 100-year-old roots planted firmly in pizza. After Scolastica Migliucci and her son, Giuseppe, moved from Italy to New York City, they opened up a pizzeria in lower Manhattan. But when…
Two high school sweethearts who met at Bernie’s ended up generating the lifeline that would keep the pizzeria thriving for future generations. Not much is known about the very early days of Bernie’s Pizza, located in Dallas, Pennsylvania—only that it was started sometime in the 1950s by Bernie Ambrose, a sharp businessman from a family…
Over three generations, this family-owned thin-crust institution in Ohio has forged connections among staff and customers alike for 60-plus years. Frank Incorvaia Sr. and his wife, Gloria, started their now third-generation pizza business on a very small scale: working out of a bar kitchen in suburban Rossford, Ohio. As business took off, they secured their…
Thanks to a Greek shepherd-turned-tailor and a barefoot teenager looking for a waitress job, this Massachusetts pizzeria has thrived for 55 years. Greek immigrant Spike Nousis, a shepherd back in his homeland, clearly needed an alternate moneymaker when he arrived in the United States in the 1940s. During a stint as a tailor at a…
A former teenage dishwasher at this Buffalo-area pizzeria has taken the once-hippie takeout peddler into three generations of family ownership. Back in 1969, James Wilson opened a little pizzeria in Hamburg, New York, with a decidedly hippie-esque vibe appropriate for the times—think bright orange decor, black-light posters, and illumination by lava lamp, with pizza sizes…
A stroke of bad luck transformed into a surprise blessing, spawning one of the oldest pizzerias in the United States. Though born in the United States, Nick Bevacqua moved with his family to their homeland, Italy, as an infant, eventually returning at 17 years old. With little English but a strong work ethic, he toiled…
This Arkansas institution boasts a rich family heritage over generations of pizza making—and its latest location is helping revive a modern-day downtown. Just after the turn of the century, in 1903, Giovanni Bruno emigrated from Naples, Italy, landing in New York and opening a bakery with his brother, where they sold pizza. His son, Vincenzo…
Despite decades of neighborhood hardship—and ruthless development—owner Louie Gritsipis delights in his pizzeria remaining a familiar fixture in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen. Louie Gritsipis, owner of 42nd Street Pizza in New York, didn’t stay in the United States long after emigrating from Greece at 18 years old. He was soon back in his homeland, completing…
