Inspired by a recent viewing of the Travel Channel's excellent Food Wars: Pizza, Slice's excellent pizza coverage, and a couple of trips to my favorite New York pizzeria, Grimaldi's, I decided to do some reseach on the history of pizza in New York City and share my findings with you. Here is New York Pizza, Part I.
Early History
Pizza most likely evolved from the flat, round, un-leaven breads eaten by the ancient peoples of the Mediterranean region, and the introduction of the tomato into European cooking and recipes in the 18th century. Pizza as we know it today is most often attributed to Raffaele Esposito, who is credited with combining pizza crust with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and basil in 1889 to honor Queen Margherita. At the time he was considered Naples' most popular pizziola (pizza chef) and at the request of the visiting King and Queen, he prepared three kinds of pizzas: one with pork fat, cheese, and basil; one with garlic, oil, and tomatoes; and another with mozzarella, basil, and tomatoes (in the colors of the Italian flag). The Queen liked the last kind of pizza so much that she sent a letter to Esposito to thank him saying, "I assure you that the three kinds of pizza you have prepared were very delicious." This letter has been preserved and is on display in Naples' oldest pizzeria, Brandi, open since 1780.
Pizza arrives in New York City
New York City is the undisputed birth place of pizza in America. But the history of New York pizza is in itself, one big dispute, beginning with who was the first pizza maker.
Pizza arrived in Little Italy thanks to Gennaro Lombardi. Lombardi arrived in New York City in 1897 and opened a grocery store at 53 1/2 Spring Street. In 1905, he began serving pizza out of his store. But it wasn’t until the end of WWII that pizza became more widely popular, thanks in part to the return of soldiers who had enjoyed Italian pizza firsthand. The current Lombardi’s is a few doors down from the original location on Spring Street, and uses a 100 year-old coal burning brick oven, one of the few grandfathered into Manhattan’s fire code.
Everyone may agree that Lombardi’s is the oldest pizzeria in New York City, but not everyone agrees on who invented pizza in New York City, in particular, the folks at Totonno’s. Totonno’s opened in 1924 on Coney Island. According to the Totonno family, Anthony “Totonno” Pero worked at Lombardi’s grocery and was the one making the pizza, not Lombardi, making Totonno New York’s first "Master Pizziolas.” While we may never know for certain whether it was Lombardi or Totonno baking New York's first pizzas, there is no disputing the fact that Totonno’s is the oldest continuously operating pizzeria in the U.S. run by the same family.
