PIZZA is my favorite food! My passion for pizza goes way back to my early childhood when my Sicilian Grandmother, Anna Leonardi-Intelisano, made her own pizza for us. At our house, we would often have pizza on Friday nights with cannoli for dessert.
Pizza was invented in Naples, Italy in the early to mid-1800s. The classic Margherita-style pizza was named after the Italian “Queen Margherita!” In celebration of the Queen’s visit to Naples in 1889, a popular pizzeria made a pizza pie to match the green, white, and red of the Italian flag.
Pizza became popular in the United States in late 1945, when returning soldiers who were stationed in Italy fighting in WWII spread the word. The first pizzeria in the U.S.A. was Lombardi’s, which opened in 1905 in Manhattan.
I led a pizza crawl in Greenwich Village in October 2019, which started at Famous Ben’s, then on to Prince Street pizza, (my #1 pepperoni Sicilian slice) followed by a fabulous sit-down meal in the Lombardi’s famous basement dining room.
I have asked many people the question, “Who opened up the first pizzeria serving slices in Queens?” Unless you live in the Woodside area, the odds are good you will not know the answer.
The story goes back to 1954. My Grandma Anna loaned $3,000 to her “Compare” Alfredo Leotta, to make his dream come true! Anna was the Maid of Honor at Alfredo’s wedding. He opened Alfredo’s Pizzeria later that year. Alfredo’s was the first pizzeria in Queens to serve SLICES of pizza. Alfredo’s was located diagonally across from the original Saint Sebastian’s Church, which was demolished when the Parish bought the Loew’s Theatre on Roosevelt Avenue and 58th street in Woodside.
The original cost for a slice was 25 cents. Alfredo was a tremendous pizzaiola; however, he did not speak English well and did not know how to properly run a small business. Alfredo should have considered joining the Queens Chamber of Commerce, created in 1911! After 5 years of limited profitability, Alfredo decided to close the business and went into landscaping.
Shortly after Alfredo’s Grand Opening, word traveled and there were other pizzerias in the works. Below is the list in chronological order of The First 10 Queens Pizzeria Openings:
1954 Alfredo’s Pizzeria in Woodside
1956 New Park Pizza in Howard Beach
1959 Dani’s House of Pizza in Kew Gardens
1959 Rizzo’s Fine Pizza in Astoria
1959 VIP Pizza in Bayside
1960 Pizza Garden in Flushing
1960 Gloria Pizza in Flushing
1961 Freddy’s Pizzeria in Whitestone
1962 Lucia Pizza in Flushing
1963 Brother’s Pizza in Fresh Meadows
Recently, a food and restaurant dining review website called “The Infatuation,” published their top 24 New York City pizzeria list. It included the 5 boroughs and northern New Jersey. Guess how many Queens-based pizzerias were on their list? Answer: ZERO!
This disrespect extends to Rockaway’s burgeoning “foodie” scene. Rockaway has recently added Rocco’s of Roc Beach and Pizza D’Amore to established spots such as Whit’s End, Ciro’s, Plum Tomatoes, Boardwalk and Elegante to name a few.
Since the early 1960s, the price of a regular New York Slice has almost matched the price of a subway token. This was called the “Pizza Principle” or the “Pizza-Subway Connection!” This held true until roughly 6-8 years ago when pizza prices started to ramp up and became a huge money-making business. Now, mostly due to inflation and Covid-19 based supply-chain ingredients shortages, many pizzerias charge anywhere from $4-$5 per gourmet slice, with toppings.
Americans LOVE pizza regardless of how much the slice costs!
Courtesy of FactRetriever.com, my top 10 pizza factoids are:
Where is YOUR favorite Rockaway slice from? Does YOUR favorite pizzeria NOT get the proper respect? Email me your favorite pizzeria and slice at Rob@InsuranceDoctor.us.