In Memoriam: Domenico DeMarco

The pizza community celebrates the inimitable founder of Di Fara Pizza—one of the original members of PMQ’s Pizza Hall of Fame. Years before Pizza Hall of Fame inductions hit every issue of PMQ Pizza Magazine, there were just a couple of handpicked members. One was the oldest still-operating pizzeria in the United States, Lombardi’s in…

Tony’s Baltimore Grill

Still operating a 24-hour bar in New Jersey’s gambling mecca, Tony’s Baltimore Grill has stood for nearly a century as a true Atlantic City original. When PMQ wanted to induct Tony’s Baltimore Grill in Atlantic City, New Jersey, into the Pizza Hall of Fame, the owners were game—but insisted they remain anonymous. “They are not…

Pizza Nova

Still family-owned while growing to 150 locations, this Toronto-based franchise success story has maintained its focus on people and premium products for nearly 60 years. In 1963, Italian immigrant Sam Primucci had a vision of opening a pizzeria in what was then the northern reaches of Toronto and enlisted his three brothers to bring a…

Roman Gourmet

Now in its second generation of ownership—with a third in the works—this Maplewood, New Jersey, staple melds old-school work ethics with modern-day updates. When Italian immigrants Anthony and Giovanna Loffredo arrived in the United States in 1968, they didn’t have much, but they did have a strong work ethic and an entrepreneurial spirit. While working…

Port Sandy Bay

After 70-plus years, rustic shipwreck decor, sled-pan pizzas and vintage high-school portraits still charm this pizzeria’s original patrons, who now visit with their grandkids in tow. Back in 1947, the small town of Two Rivers, Wisconsin, seemed an unlikely place for a pizzeria—but the concept didn’t start as a pie-slinging powerhouse. The brainchild of several…

Porretta’s Pizza

An Italian immigrant who taught a teen busboy the ins and outs of the pizza business shaped a worthy successor to carry his company into the future. A few years after arriving in the States from Italy, Pat Porretta, having already worked in a local pizzeria, was ready to stake his own claim on the Windy…

Dominick’s Pizza Shoppe

Part of an astonishingly productive pizza family, one father-and-son outlet celebrates 50 years of staying small, simple and hospitable. Sicilian immigrant Dominick Scavo was a true pizza pioneer in his family; at just 17 years old, he opened his first pizzeria with brother Sal in Brooklyn, New York, in 1965. Two years later, the brothers…

Barone’s Pizzeria

Running out of food during a busy shift proved a fortuitous accident for a tight-knit SoCal Italian family—it was the day they introduced pizza. In 1945, when Josephine Barone and her husband, Jerry, opened a small restaurant serving sandwiches and pasta in Sherman Oaks, California, she enlisted a small army of brothers and sisters as…

Mama Leone’s Italian Restaurant

Over multiple generations, pizza has ignited romances and forged strong family bonds at this mom-and-pop gem in northern Michigan. When 18-year-old Frank Mazzella arrived Stateside from the island of Ponza, Italy, in 1948, he settled in the Bronx in New York, living with relatives, working construction and pitching in at an Italian cafe and pizzeria….

Sbarro pizza hall of fame pic

Sbarro

With a recent top-to-bottom rejuvenation that’s inspiring surging sales, this mall-based megabrand shows that, even after 60 years, you can teach an old dog new tricks. When husband and wife Gennaro and Carmela Sbarro opened their eponymous Italian grocery store in Brooklyn, New York, back in 1956, they could never have imagined the icon Sbarro…