Patsy's Pizzeria | |
---|---|
Restaurant information | |
Established | 1933 |
Owner(s) | Frank Brija |
Previous owner(s) | Pasquale "Patsy" Lancieri |
Food type | Italian-American pizzeria |
Dress code | casual |
Street address | 2287 1st Avenue and East 117th Street in East Harlem |
City | New York City |
County | Manhattan |
Postal/ZIP Code | 10035 |
Country | United States |
Other locations | 12 locations in New York, and counting |
Other information | Franchise owned by Frank Brija |
Website | www |
Patsy's Pizzeria is a historic coal-oven pizzeria in New York City. Opened in 1933, [1] it was regarded as one of New York's original pizzerias for its use of traditional New York style thin crust pizza. [2]
Patsy's Pizzeria was founded in what used to be the predominantly Italian neighborhood of East Harlem, or Italian Harlem, in 1933 by Pasquale "Patsy" Lanceri. [1] When it opened it was one of New York's earliest pizzerias along with Lombardi's, Totonno's and John's. [3] Patsy's claims to have originated the idea of selling pizza by the slice. [4] Lancieri is said to have learned his craft at Lombardi's brick-walled coal oven. [5] New York's pizza dynasties are now in their third and fourth generations, and counting. [5]
Patsy's Pizzeria was sold and expanded after its founder's death to Frank Brija, an Albanian from Kosovo, who bought the pizzeria from its founder's widow in 1991. [6] Brija, the current owner of the East Harlem Patsy's Pizzeria, trademarked the name and in 1995 opened Patsy's Pizzeria franchise at 509 Third Avenue, near 34th Street. [5] Tsoulos, "a member of a Greek pizza-making clan in Queens", and his partners opened four more franchise locations in Manhattan. [6]
The original Patsy died in the 1970s and his widow sold the East Harlem pizzeria to longtime employees in 1991, "to the chagrin of Patsy Grimaldi, her nephew, who opened a Patsy's in Brooklyn in 1990". [5] The feuding deepened when Frank Brija began expanding his Patsy's Pizzeria franchise in Manhattan, and Patsy Grimaldi changed the name of his pizzeria to Grimaldi's Pizzeria, which the New York Times said is the best and truest to the original. [5]
In 2009, there was a legal battle with Patsy's Restaurant on West 56th Street, founded by Pasquale (Patsy) Scognamillo in 1944 and a haven for Frank Sinatra and many celebrities, and Patsy's Pizzeria which was sold to Frank Brija in 1991. [1] [7]
A story from The New York Times reported in 1998 that, before the "pizza renaissance" of the 1990s, "the classic pizza was on the endangered list, treasured as an artifact of old New York but bypassed by a culture that preferred its pizzas fast, cheap and delivered." The tradition was kept alive by "just a few pizza landmarks, most famously John's Pizzeria on Bleecker Street, Patsy's Pizza in East Harlem and Totonno's Pizzeria Napolitano in Coney Island ... [who] zealously preserved the traditions." [5] Environmental regulations made it hard to build new coal ovens because they could only be rebuilt or replaced under an environmental grandfather clause, "not installed from scratch." [5] According to The New York Times, "Pizza makers have become architectural historians, seeking out spaces that once housed a coal-burning oven, like old bakeries or restaurants". [5]
In 2019, a waiter at Patsy's Pizzeria returned a $423,987.55 cashier's check to a customer who left it behind on one of their tables. The customer had left without tipping, after complaining that the restaurant didn't have enough photos of women on their walls. [8]
Patsy's Pizzeria was featured in a Manhattan-based episode of the Cooking Channel show Man v. Food , which first aired on April 7, 2020.[ citation needed ]
Pizza is a dish of Italian origin consisting of a usually round, flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomatoes, cheese, and often various other ingredients, which is then baked at a high temperature, traditionally in a wood-fired oven.
The cuisine of New York City comprises many cuisines belonging to various ethnic groups that have entered the United States through the city. Almost all ethnic cuisines are well represented in New York, both within and outside the various ethnic neighborhoods.
Gennaro Lombardi was an Italian immigrant who moved to the United States in 1897, and known for allegedly opening the first pizzeria in the United States, Lombardi's. He opened a small grocery store in New York City's Little Italy. An employee of his, Antonio Totonno Pero, also an Italian immigrant, began making pizza for the store to sell. Their pizza became so popular that Lombardi opened the first US pizzeria in 1905, naming it simply Lombardi's.
New York–style pizza is pizza made with a characteristically large hand-tossed thin crust, often sold in wide slices to go. The crust is thick and crisp only along its edge, yet soft, thin, and pliable enough beneath its toppings to be folded in half to eat. Traditional toppings are simply tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese. This was a popular meal amongst poor Italians due to the ratio of product from the limited produce.
Sally's Apizza is a pizzeria in the Wooster Square neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut. Sally's Apizza also has locations in Stamford, Connecticut and Fairfield, Connecticut.
Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana, commonly known as Frank Pepe's or simply Pepe's, is a popular pizza restaurant in the Wooster Square neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut, at 163 Wooster Street. Opened in 1925, it is one of the oldest and best known pizzerias in the United States.
New Haven–style pizza is a style of thin-crust, coal-fired Neapolitan pizza common in and around New Haven, Connecticut. Locally known as apizza, it originated in 1925 at the Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana and is now served in many other pizza restaurants in the area, most notably Sally's Apizza and Modern Apizza. This geographically limited pizza style has been favorably regarded by national critics.
Grimaldi's Pizzeria is an American pizzeria chain from the New York City area with several restaurants throughout the United States. Its most famous restaurant is under the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn at 1 Front Street, next door to its original location. Zagat Survey rated Grimaldi's the No. 1 Pizzeria in New York in 2007. With a carry-out and delivery service model in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2022 it had 43 restaurants in operation overall. It does not sell slices, only whole pies, which are cooked by coal-fired brick oven. It also sells wines and appetizers, as well as calzones. Among deserts are cannoli and tiramisu, as well as New York–style cheesescake.
The history of pizza begins in antiquity, as various ancient cultures produced basic flatbreads with several toppings.
Di Fara Pizza is a pizzeria located at 1424 Avenue J in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, New York City. Situated between East 14th and East 15th Streets, the restaurant has been owned and operated by Domenico DeMarco (1936–2022) since 1965.
Totonno's is a pizzeria located at 1524 Neptune Avenue in Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York. It was established in 1924 by Antonio "Totonno" Pero.
Carol Grimaldi was an American restaurateur and co-founder of Grimaldi's Pizzeria.
Juliana's is a pizzeria located in Brooklyn, New York. Founded in 2012 by Pasquale "Patsy" Grimaldi and named after his mother, in 2015 it was rated the best pizzeria in the United States on TripAdvisor. Along with cannoli and egg cream seltzer drinks, the restaurant is known for its "classic margherita" pizza with San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil.
John's of Bleecker Street, simply known as John's Pizzeria, is a historic pizzeria on Bleecker Street in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Founded in 1929, the pizzeria serves coal fired brick oven pizza prepared in the style of a tomato pie. In 2015, it was ranked the 10th best pizzeria in the United States by TripAdvisor.
Kesté Pizza & Vino, also known as Kesté Pizzeria or simply Keste's, is a pizzeria, located in Manhattan, that serves Neapolitan-style wood-fired brick oven pizza. As of 2015, it is the fourth-highest rated pizzeria in the United States on TripAdvisor. The Bleecker Street restaurant had permanently closed due to the coronavirus pandemic by October 2021, although there remained a secondary location open in FiDi. Wrote TimeOut about the Bleecker Street location, "it ushered in a wave of thin pies with puffy pockets of air and tiny black blisters across the city."
Pizza by the slice is a fast food sold by pizzerias and food stands, making it also often a street food. The pizza slices may be plain or have various toppings. Some restaurants and pizza stands only sell pizza by the slice, while others sell both slices and whole pizzas. The jumbo slice is a large-sized slice of New York–style pizza made in areas of Washington, D.C. Pizza al taglio is a style of rectangular slice of pizza that originated in Rome and is typically sold by weight.
Scarr's Pizza is a pizzeria at 22 Orchard Street in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City.