Fueled by bocce ball and a passion for a good pie, this family-run pizzeria has been a Buffalo-area favorite for more than 60 years. After returning from a post-WW II tour of Italy, Dino Pacciotti—the son of Italian immigrants in Buffalo in the 1920s—had the traditions of his ancestors on his mind: namely, bocce ball…
The oldest family-owned pizzeria in the United States turned 100 last year. Papa’s Tomato Pies (papastomatopies.com) wasn’t the first pizzeria in Trenton, New Jersey, when it opened in 1912, but it’s the only one still standing today—more than a century later. Naples transplant Giuseppe (“Joe”) Papa was only 17 years old when he opened the pizzeria’s…
Founded by “the Dom DeMarco of Manhattan,” this Upper West Side pizzeria has been serving up slices and ices for more than 50 years. After immigrating to the United States from Italy in 1957, Sal Malanga worked 22 hours a day to save up for a pizza shop, and in the summer of 1959, that…
Baseball-loving Joseph Santarpio gave up a shot at playing for the New York Yankees to run his dad’s bakery—and Red Sox pizza fans are forever grateful. Pizza might never have been introduced at Boston-based Santarpio’s Pizza (santarpiospizza.com) if Joseph Santarpio didn’t turn down an offer to play for the New York Yankees. His father, Francisco,…
Best-known for his White Clam Pizza, Frank Pepe is also credited as the originator of New Haven-style pies. Today, pizza from New Haven, Connecticut, is legendary for its misshapen appearance, thin crust and charred edges—but someone had to start it all, and that someone was Frank Pepe, who in 1925 opened up Frank Pepe Pizzeria…
Lou Santillo started out delivering bread in a horse and buggy. Today, Santillos creates handcrafted pies suited to individual customers’ tastes. Combine three generations of pizza making, an antique oven that’s more than 100 years old, and a passion for the perfect pie, and you’ve got one of the most unique pizzerias in the country:…
Founded in 1953, this Omaha, Nebraska, fixture attracts skilled employees with health insurance and tuition assistance, employs social media and recently rolled out a food truck. After husband and wife Joe and Sebastiana Patane had immigrated from Sicily as young adults, Joe made a living as a carpenter, eventually starting his own fixture company in the basement…
This beloved Midwest institution started out as a fruit market in a town that knew little about pizza. Val and Zena Weiler owned a fruit market in Lincoln, Nebraska, in the 1950s, but they feared the larger grocery chains would muscle them out of business. Their solution? Open a pizzeria instead! Thus, in July 1957,…
This Pennsylvania-based “little pizzeria that could” overcame hardships through innovation and sheer will to succeed. At 19 and 22 years old, brothers Ray and Michael Savokinas were ready to take the plunge into pizza when a local pizzeria owner who was leaving town promised it’d cost only $800 to set up shop. The year was…
Founded in 1948, this Pennsylvania pizzeria’s pies are assembled with the cheese first, followed by the sauce. Pica’s Italian-born founder, Frank Pica Sr., came to pizza through a natural progression: After working in a bakery and then running his own bread route in Philadelphia, he decided to open up a shop where he could make…
