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Message
TulaneLSU’s top 10 pizzas in Metairie history
Posted on 11/21/24 at 5:00 pm
Posted on 11/21/24 at 5:00 pm
Friends,
It came upon my mind today, after reading an historically myopic claim, that we have never discussed the top pizzas in the history of the historic hamlet of Metairie. And this is not good, for Metairie is home to the oldest pizzeria in the New Orleans Metro. We know with certainty that New Orleans first pizzas were baked in home ovens in the first two decades of the 1900s. It is unknown at present if Italians baked pizzas in New Orleans even before those early years, but I am enthusiastically researching it.
Metairie was known for much of its early European history as the lily white American suburb, where Protestantism reigned over Roman Catholicism. Italians were not very welcome in the early days of Metairie. Only after World War II, when VA loans became available and the swamps drained, did the demographics of Metairie begin to reflect the cosmopolitan demographics of New Orleans proper. And the Italians, being such a large part of New Orleans, flooded into Metairie in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Their food, including pizza, first appeared in supermarkets like Schwegmann Brothers and Zuppardo’s when they arrived on Vets in 1960, and later in restaurants, came with them. In fact, the Metairie Civitans threw the first ever pizza party in the Metro area in 1957 not far from Metairie Road.
Many will be dissatisfied with this list. I am not including Theo’s, Pizza Florence, The Pizza Gourmet, or Mr. Roma’s, as they just missed the mark. That’s Amore is beloved for their deep dish, but even if deep dish were to be considered pizza, I put it on par with Gino’s East, which I do not find good. R&O’s has its own contingent, who regularly overrates its roast beef poorboy, but its pizza is hardly above conveyor belt chain quality. Older Metairians will be disappointed I did not include Shakey’s or Toney’s Spaghetti House.To each of you, my heartfelt apologies that we do not see eye to eye.
10. Showbiz Pizza / Chuck E. Cheese Pizza
The dough is always crisp and the cheese plentiful and quality. Is it just nostalgia or is it actually good pizza? I argue it is both. Following is something I wrote last year regarding my first experience with Showbiz:
October of 1980 is remembered by most Americans as the month of the only ever Reagan versus Carter debate. It was the most watched Presidential debate until 2016, and played a large role in Reagan trouncing Carter in the election just one week later. Some may remember the month for the Ali versus Holmes fight. But Uncle tells me it is most notable in New Orleans as the month when he started seeing advertisements in the Times Picayune classified section for an unknown pizza company out of Topeka, Kansas of all places.
Uncle told me the story on this weekend’s trip. “It was called Showbiz Pizza Place. They ran ads for months, clogging up our classified ads. They wanted managers, technicians, cooks, computer programmers. You name it. They opened at 7000 Veterans in the deep heart of Metairie in that old shopping center where GEX was.”
I asked, “GEX? What was that?”
“GEX was a forerunner of Sam’s. It was a members only department store, but its members came from the military and certain labor unions. Not many people remember it because so few people could enter, but they had a butcher, groceries, clothes, suits, jewelry, sporting goods. It closed in 1976 and became an Appliance Warehouse for a year before being bought by K-Mart.”
“When K-Mart opened in 1979, it brought a wave of development in that complex. Security Sporting Goods initially had a single store on Carrollton Avenue, near where Costco is. It was there that your grandfather bought me my first baseball glove. In ‘79, Security opened a huge store next to the K-Mart. I can still smell the chlorine from the above ground pool it had inside, and good thing because the crickets in there would have otherwise made a terrible stench.”
“By 1981, both K&B and a Showbiz Pizza had opened in that shopping center. You do not remember this, but Showbiz had opened its first Metro branch on General DeGaulle on the Westbank just three months earlier. It was one of the few times the Westbank beat the Eastbank to the punch.”
Showbiz Pizza was among the first non-fast food restaurant chains to make inroads into the New Orleans Metro, and its success paved the way for many others. Its invasion into our fair lands was part of a national expansion of the brand, which started as a brainchild of Nolan Bushnell, creator of Atari. Disney had inspired Bushnell, and he wanted to create a chain of pizzerias that had Disney-like animatronics. After selling Atari to Warner Communications in 1976, Bushnell purchased the rights to open the entertainment pizzerias back from Warner and thus started Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Time. Its mascot was a rat, Chuck and one of Chuck’s sidekicks was Pasqually, an Italian chef whose kitchen survives today.
Three years later, Bob Broch, the famed Holiday Inn magnate of Kansas, bought rights from Bushnell to open up these themed pizzerias in the Midwest and South. Broch called it Showbiz Pizza Place. Uncle’s memories of the marketing flood in the early 80s by Showbiz Pizza fit into this story.
Showbiz and Chuck E Cheese battled each other the first few years of the 80s, both in New Orleans and nationally. Two Chuck E Cheese Pizza Times opened in the Metro, one on Airline near Old Metairie and the other in Chalmette on Judge Perez before merging. Although many suggestions have been offered as to why Showbiz conquered Chuck E Cheese, it is generally agreed that the band Billy Bob and the Rock-Afire Explosion was the primary one.
Billy Bob was always supposed to be the main act, but within a few months of his debut, it was Fatz Geronimo who won the hearts of the people. Fatz, Uncle tells me, was born in Audubon Zoo and was a candidate to become President of the World. After some research, I can confirm that, in fact, Fatz was born at Audubon Zoo. Though a native, Fatz always scared me, to the extent that no one in the audience ever tried to hit on the looker, Mitzy Mozzarella.
Mother tells me it was 1989 when I first visited the Showbiz Pizza in Metairie. It was for Ralph’s fifth birthday party. I remember entering through a separate door – a semicircular-hole like door made for children. While others played games, I ate and watched the Rock-Afire Explosion. By the next year, for Ralph’s sixth birthday party, the theming had all changed to Chuck E Cheese. Gone were my favorite characters, so I was left to play skee-ball, at which I excelled. Mother said she had never seen a better player.
The late ‘80s and early 90’s were the years of children’s entertainment in the New Orleans Metro. Arcades throughout the city were packed. Batters’ Box and Slick Track and other go-cart facilities had wait lines. Fun Works was buzzing. Rummey was busy playing at Putt Putt. I was tempting the young lasses with my moves at Skate Country. Had Celebration Station not opened in 1992, I think Kid’s Playhouse, which had a less than memorable buffet, might have been a smashing success.
Yes, it is hard to argue that the children of the late 80s and 90s did not have some of the most privileged and exciting upbringing of anyone. There was the outdoor freedom of the ‘80s with the technology of the 90s without the sloth of social media. Showbiz and Chuck E Cheese were just a feather in that generation’s cap.
It came upon my mind today, after reading an historically myopic claim, that we have never discussed the top pizzas in the history of the historic hamlet of Metairie. And this is not good, for Metairie is home to the oldest pizzeria in the New Orleans Metro. We know with certainty that New Orleans first pizzas were baked in home ovens in the first two decades of the 1900s. It is unknown at present if Italians baked pizzas in New Orleans even before those early years, but I am enthusiastically researching it.
Metairie was known for much of its early European history as the lily white American suburb, where Protestantism reigned over Roman Catholicism. Italians were not very welcome in the early days of Metairie. Only after World War II, when VA loans became available and the swamps drained, did the demographics of Metairie begin to reflect the cosmopolitan demographics of New Orleans proper. And the Italians, being such a large part of New Orleans, flooded into Metairie in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s. Their food, including pizza, first appeared in supermarkets like Schwegmann Brothers and Zuppardo’s when they arrived on Vets in 1960, and later in restaurants, came with them. In fact, the Metairie Civitans threw the first ever pizza party in the Metro area in 1957 not far from Metairie Road.
Many will be dissatisfied with this list. I am not including Theo’s, Pizza Florence, The Pizza Gourmet, or Mr. Roma’s, as they just missed the mark. That’s Amore is beloved for their deep dish, but even if deep dish were to be considered pizza, I put it on par with Gino’s East, which I do not find good. R&O’s has its own contingent, who regularly overrates its roast beef poorboy, but its pizza is hardly above conveyor belt chain quality. Older Metairians will be disappointed I did not include Shakey’s or Toney’s Spaghetti House.To each of you, my heartfelt apologies that we do not see eye to eye.
10. Showbiz Pizza / Chuck E. Cheese Pizza
The dough is always crisp and the cheese plentiful and quality. Is it just nostalgia or is it actually good pizza? I argue it is both. Following is something I wrote last year regarding my first experience with Showbiz:
October of 1980 is remembered by most Americans as the month of the only ever Reagan versus Carter debate. It was the most watched Presidential debate until 2016, and played a large role in Reagan trouncing Carter in the election just one week later. Some may remember the month for the Ali versus Holmes fight. But Uncle tells me it is most notable in New Orleans as the month when he started seeing advertisements in the Times Picayune classified section for an unknown pizza company out of Topeka, Kansas of all places.
Uncle told me the story on this weekend’s trip. “It was called Showbiz Pizza Place. They ran ads for months, clogging up our classified ads. They wanted managers, technicians, cooks, computer programmers. You name it. They opened at 7000 Veterans in the deep heart of Metairie in that old shopping center where GEX was.”
I asked, “GEX? What was that?”
“GEX was a forerunner of Sam’s. It was a members only department store, but its members came from the military and certain labor unions. Not many people remember it because so few people could enter, but they had a butcher, groceries, clothes, suits, jewelry, sporting goods. It closed in 1976 and became an Appliance Warehouse for a year before being bought by K-Mart.”
“When K-Mart opened in 1979, it brought a wave of development in that complex. Security Sporting Goods initially had a single store on Carrollton Avenue, near where Costco is. It was there that your grandfather bought me my first baseball glove. In ‘79, Security opened a huge store next to the K-Mart. I can still smell the chlorine from the above ground pool it had inside, and good thing because the crickets in there would have otherwise made a terrible stench.”
“By 1981, both K&B and a Showbiz Pizza had opened in that shopping center. You do not remember this, but Showbiz had opened its first Metro branch on General DeGaulle on the Westbank just three months earlier. It was one of the few times the Westbank beat the Eastbank to the punch.”
Showbiz Pizza was among the first non-fast food restaurant chains to make inroads into the New Orleans Metro, and its success paved the way for many others. Its invasion into our fair lands was part of a national expansion of the brand, which started as a brainchild of Nolan Bushnell, creator of Atari. Disney had inspired Bushnell, and he wanted to create a chain of pizzerias that had Disney-like animatronics. After selling Atari to Warner Communications in 1976, Bushnell purchased the rights to open the entertainment pizzerias back from Warner and thus started Chuck E. Cheese Pizza Time. Its mascot was a rat, Chuck and one of Chuck’s sidekicks was Pasqually, an Italian chef whose kitchen survives today.
Three years later, Bob Broch, the famed Holiday Inn magnate of Kansas, bought rights from Bushnell to open up these themed pizzerias in the Midwest and South. Broch called it Showbiz Pizza Place. Uncle’s memories of the marketing flood in the early 80s by Showbiz Pizza fit into this story.
Showbiz and Chuck E Cheese battled each other the first few years of the 80s, both in New Orleans and nationally. Two Chuck E Cheese Pizza Times opened in the Metro, one on Airline near Old Metairie and the other in Chalmette on Judge Perez before merging. Although many suggestions have been offered as to why Showbiz conquered Chuck E Cheese, it is generally agreed that the band Billy Bob and the Rock-Afire Explosion was the primary one.
Billy Bob was always supposed to be the main act, but within a few months of his debut, it was Fatz Geronimo who won the hearts of the people. Fatz, Uncle tells me, was born in Audubon Zoo and was a candidate to become President of the World. After some research, I can confirm that, in fact, Fatz was born at Audubon Zoo. Though a native, Fatz always scared me, to the extent that no one in the audience ever tried to hit on the looker, Mitzy Mozzarella.
Mother tells me it was 1989 when I first visited the Showbiz Pizza in Metairie. It was for Ralph’s fifth birthday party. I remember entering through a separate door – a semicircular-hole like door made for children. While others played games, I ate and watched the Rock-Afire Explosion. By the next year, for Ralph’s sixth birthday party, the theming had all changed to Chuck E Cheese. Gone were my favorite characters, so I was left to play skee-ball, at which I excelled. Mother said she had never seen a better player.
The late ‘80s and early 90’s were the years of children’s entertainment in the New Orleans Metro. Arcades throughout the city were packed. Batters’ Box and Slick Track and other go-cart facilities had wait lines. Fun Works was buzzing. Rummey was busy playing at Putt Putt. I was tempting the young lasses with my moves at Skate Country. Had Celebration Station not opened in 1992, I think Kid’s Playhouse, which had a less than memorable buffet, might have been a smashing success.
Yes, it is hard to argue that the children of the late 80s and 90s did not have some of the most privileged and exciting upbringing of anyone. There was the outdoor freedom of the ‘80s with the technology of the 90s without the sloth of social media. Showbiz and Chuck E Cheese were just a feather in that generation’s cap.
5
Posted on 11/21/24 at 5:01 pm to TulaneLSU
9. Pizza Inn
When one of my classmates was selected on the court of one of the lesser Metairie Mardi Gras krewes, I believe it was Caesar, Mother forced us to attend the parade with our Kenner cousins. Dutifully, and despite my wishes, we trekked to Metairie, near Lakeside Mall, to Severn Avenue, not far from America’s greatest Italian restaurant.
It was a cold Saturday evening before a wonderful service at Christ Church Cathedral the next day and we joined the masses along that less than beautiful medianed boulevard. I was still hungry after a small roast Grandmother had made me.
I saw a sign for Pizza Inn, a clever little name, as it called to mind a bucolic little lodging house in the Lake District of England. It was a similar sign that resided over a little pizzeria at the edge of the world in Buras, where Uncle would take me in years following before our week long fishing trips out of Port Eads on his Viking. Mother allowed me to enter the Metairie and I was introduced to my first all-you-can-eat pizza buffet.
All I remember from that blur of gluttony was the pepperoni and jalapeno pizza. The thin, cracker-like crust was honestly superior in every way to Vito & Nick’s in Chicago. I finished three full pizzas that night.
Uncle tells me that Pizza Inn has been in the area since the 1970s, and the Veterans-Severn one, owned by Derel Broussard, since 1983. It closed around 1995 and became a Primo. Today nothing of Pizza Inn, Metairie remains. I believe the building is now a parking lot between the Shake Shack and Cafe Equator.
8. Whole Foods
The Metairie Whole Foods might not serve the city’s best burger, like its cousin on Magazine, but it serves a fine gas fired pizza. We all know that Whole Foods started in Austin and purchased the name from a little Uptown grocery on Cohn and Adams.
7. Mark Twain’s Pizza Landing
Undoubtedly the greatest named pizzeria in New Orleans history, Mark Twain’s was where our family often would eat after Sister’s softball games at The Fly. I know many of you share fond memories of eating at Mark Twain’s, never abbreviated as The Landing. It opened in the food desert of Old Metairie, well south of the neighborhood’s heart on Vets, by Dan Greenbaum in 1985.
To me, the atmosphere always came before the quality of the pizza. Famous for specialty pizzas, like the Creole, the spinach-feta-tasso, and the Hawaiian, I have always thought the dough was less than stellar. A decent Picard gas oven has fired over a million pizzas there, each with varied levels of success. For me, it is a pizzeria for nostalgia. Somewhere I heard that the second owner, Jacques Broussard, sold the pizzeria in the past year. Broussard, I believe, was the owner of the reincarnated Dino’s on Vets during the 1990s. I have not tried Mark Twain’s since the supposed sale.
6. Sbarro
The first Sbarro pizzeria started as a sliced meat deli in Bensonhurt, Brooklyn in 1956. Only decades later did it become known for its excellent pizza, as the family franchised that winning recipe, popularizing Brooklyn style pizza to the world. New Orleans was home to one of the South’s first Sbarro’s, when in 1984, Sbarro’s opened at Jax Brewery in the Quarter. It moved to The Cafe on the third level of Canal Place just a year later. It was a resounding success.
For seven long years, the people of Metairie clamored for and then demanded a Sbarro’s closer to them. Their prayers were answered when, in 1991, the famous Sbarro’s of Lakeside Mall, opened, delighting pizza lovers everywhere. Sbarro’s set the standard for NY pizza in New Orleans until Antonio Bongiorno arrived in 2000. I was heart broken when the Lakeside location, the last Sbarro’s in the Metro, closed abruptly in 2023. Now New Orleanians have to drive all the way to Baton Rouge to get a slice of Brooklyn.
5. Il Supremo
Making great pizza is not as hard as some people assume. It takes a long proofing, good ingredients, time, and only minimal skill behind the peel. Making great pizza consistently, every day, when you do not have preorders – these are the skills that make for a great pizzeria.
Il Supremo burst on the Metairie scene in May of this year with owners Nick Hufft and Lon Marchand pulling dough in the pop-up on Pink. They focus on pasta production but have expanded to the world of pizza. We first were made aware of it through the always thoughtful and generous Episcopalian, toof. We have since tried it twice. The first time it was very good. The second, good.
Like Chrissy’s in New York, it remains to be seen if a great pop-up pizza maker can translate into a great pizzeria. If Il Supremo does, it could enter the top four.
4. Dino’s
The Dino’s franchise was originally founded by legendary pizza man, Walter Forschler. In either 1966 or 1971, depending on whom you ask. It was Forschler’s third pizzeria, after Arista and Tower in New Orleans East, and first in Metairie. It originally opened in the location where present day Tower of Pizza resides.
In the 1990s, though, the brand rose again on Veterans, this time under the ownership of Jacques Broussard, future owner of Mark Twain’s. The location was suspiciously across the street from Tower, between Shogun, where Shakey’s once operated, and that big bank just to the east.
Dino’s for me was always a late night treat when we lived on Prytania. Sometimes Mother or Uncle would pick up a pizza from the Dino’s next to The Boot on Broadway. I never entered that building in those years, so my only experience was takeout Dino’s, which was always exceptional. When the one in Metairie opened, I was finally able to eat a fresh Dino’s pie.
I remember it being so incredibly cheesy that it was like eating Houston’s cheese bread, which if red sauce were added on that now extinct Houston’s menu item, would have been one of the best pizzas in Metro history. We only were able to return a handful of times before it closed sometime in the late 90s. One odd memory of the restaurant was a Florida State University poster that boasted of however many AP top 4 finishes in the 90s. This was before 1999, so it did not say ten. It might have said seven – my memory fails me.
When one of my classmates was selected on the court of one of the lesser Metairie Mardi Gras krewes, I believe it was Caesar, Mother forced us to attend the parade with our Kenner cousins. Dutifully, and despite my wishes, we trekked to Metairie, near Lakeside Mall, to Severn Avenue, not far from America’s greatest Italian restaurant.
It was a cold Saturday evening before a wonderful service at Christ Church Cathedral the next day and we joined the masses along that less than beautiful medianed boulevard. I was still hungry after a small roast Grandmother had made me.
I saw a sign for Pizza Inn, a clever little name, as it called to mind a bucolic little lodging house in the Lake District of England. It was a similar sign that resided over a little pizzeria at the edge of the world in Buras, where Uncle would take me in years following before our week long fishing trips out of Port Eads on his Viking. Mother allowed me to enter the Metairie and I was introduced to my first all-you-can-eat pizza buffet.
All I remember from that blur of gluttony was the pepperoni and jalapeno pizza. The thin, cracker-like crust was honestly superior in every way to Vito & Nick’s in Chicago. I finished three full pizzas that night.
Uncle tells me that Pizza Inn has been in the area since the 1970s, and the Veterans-Severn one, owned by Derel Broussard, since 1983. It closed around 1995 and became a Primo. Today nothing of Pizza Inn, Metairie remains. I believe the building is now a parking lot between the Shake Shack and Cafe Equator.
8. Whole Foods
The Metairie Whole Foods might not serve the city’s best burger, like its cousin on Magazine, but it serves a fine gas fired pizza. We all know that Whole Foods started in Austin and purchased the name from a little Uptown grocery on Cohn and Adams.
7. Mark Twain’s Pizza Landing
Undoubtedly the greatest named pizzeria in New Orleans history, Mark Twain’s was where our family often would eat after Sister’s softball games at The Fly. I know many of you share fond memories of eating at Mark Twain’s, never abbreviated as The Landing. It opened in the food desert of Old Metairie, well south of the neighborhood’s heart on Vets, by Dan Greenbaum in 1985.
To me, the atmosphere always came before the quality of the pizza. Famous for specialty pizzas, like the Creole, the spinach-feta-tasso, and the Hawaiian, I have always thought the dough was less than stellar. A decent Picard gas oven has fired over a million pizzas there, each with varied levels of success. For me, it is a pizzeria for nostalgia. Somewhere I heard that the second owner, Jacques Broussard, sold the pizzeria in the past year. Broussard, I believe, was the owner of the reincarnated Dino’s on Vets during the 1990s. I have not tried Mark Twain’s since the supposed sale.
6. Sbarro
The first Sbarro pizzeria started as a sliced meat deli in Bensonhurt, Brooklyn in 1956. Only decades later did it become known for its excellent pizza, as the family franchised that winning recipe, popularizing Brooklyn style pizza to the world. New Orleans was home to one of the South’s first Sbarro’s, when in 1984, Sbarro’s opened at Jax Brewery in the Quarter. It moved to The Cafe on the third level of Canal Place just a year later. It was a resounding success.
For seven long years, the people of Metairie clamored for and then demanded a Sbarro’s closer to them. Their prayers were answered when, in 1991, the famous Sbarro’s of Lakeside Mall, opened, delighting pizza lovers everywhere. Sbarro’s set the standard for NY pizza in New Orleans until Antonio Bongiorno arrived in 2000. I was heart broken when the Lakeside location, the last Sbarro’s in the Metro, closed abruptly in 2023. Now New Orleanians have to drive all the way to Baton Rouge to get a slice of Brooklyn.
5. Il Supremo
Making great pizza is not as hard as some people assume. It takes a long proofing, good ingredients, time, and only minimal skill behind the peel. Making great pizza consistently, every day, when you do not have preorders – these are the skills that make for a great pizzeria.
Il Supremo burst on the Metairie scene in May of this year with owners Nick Hufft and Lon Marchand pulling dough in the pop-up on Pink. They focus on pasta production but have expanded to the world of pizza. We first were made aware of it through the always thoughtful and generous Episcopalian, toof. We have since tried it twice. The first time it was very good. The second, good.
Like Chrissy’s in New York, it remains to be seen if a great pop-up pizza maker can translate into a great pizzeria. If Il Supremo does, it could enter the top four.
4. Dino’s
The Dino’s franchise was originally founded by legendary pizza man, Walter Forschler. In either 1966 or 1971, depending on whom you ask. It was Forschler’s third pizzeria, after Arista and Tower in New Orleans East, and first in Metairie. It originally opened in the location where present day Tower of Pizza resides.
In the 1990s, though, the brand rose again on Veterans, this time under the ownership of Jacques Broussard, future owner of Mark Twain’s. The location was suspiciously across the street from Tower, between Shogun, where Shakey’s once operated, and that big bank just to the east.
Dino’s for me was always a late night treat when we lived on Prytania. Sometimes Mother or Uncle would pick up a pizza from the Dino’s next to The Boot on Broadway. I never entered that building in those years, so my only experience was takeout Dino’s, which was always exceptional. When the one in Metairie opened, I was finally able to eat a fresh Dino’s pie.
I remember it being so incredibly cheesy that it was like eating Houston’s cheese bread, which if red sauce were added on that now extinct Houston’s menu item, would have been one of the best pizzas in Metro history. We only were able to return a handful of times before it closed sometime in the late 90s. One odd memory of the restaurant was a Florida State University poster that boasted of however many AP top 4 finishes in the 90s. This was before 1999, so it did not say ten. It might have said seven – my memory fails me.
This post was edited on 11/21/24 at 5:02 pm
Posted on 11/21/24 at 5:01 pm to TulaneLSU
3. Tower of Pizza
Recently Biloxi started claiming a city specific style of pizza. It is not that Biloxi actually has added anything to the world of pizza. Instead, Biloxites have for decades dipped their pizzas in French salad dressing. This unappealing, revolting “style” is more loathsome than the trend to put Ranch dressing on subpar pizzas.
Many cities claim to have a specific style of pizza: New York, Trenton, New Haven, Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, even the obnoxiously bad Ohio/Dayton/Columbus style. If New Orleans were to have a distinct style of pizza, I would nominate Tower of Pizza as the city’s archetype.
Tower of Pizza owes its being to Walter Forschler who first opened Arista in 1957 on Franklin Avenue. Forschler decided to move and change his pizzeria’s name to Tower of Pizza, moving to the East on Downman in 1966. Several months later, he expanded to Metairie, opening Dino’s Pizza. It remained Dino’s until he renamed it Tower of Pizza in 1976.
Today, Tower of Pizza is the quintessential New Orleans pizzeria. It may be the city’s only. Sure Venezia has been open longer, but it has not served pizza as long. Inside Tower, there are wood panels that fit the red and white checkered table cloths to a T. The 50s style painted panel menu, the oddly canary yellow fluorescent lights outside, the broken neon sign, and the windowed pizza room, which pays homage to Shakey’s pizza room, which was across the street, all are blocks that build the quintessentially New Orleans pizzeria.
The pizza is hand tossed in front of throngs of mostly older patrons, and is ever consistent. The sauce slightly sweet, the dough slightly puffy but crisp on the bottom, and the cheese I believe from Grande all make for what most New Orleanians envision as a pizza. The pizzas pair perfectly with their famed artichoke salads, which are dripping with oil as heavy as the unforgettably musky interior smell.
2. Pizza Shack
Alvin Robinson and Carlo Sacco are well known in local pizza circles as the fathers of pizza in Metairie. In 1967, even before Tower found a home on Vets, Robinson and Sacco opened Pizza Shack at the corner of Sena Drive and Veterans. The dynamic duo were famous for three things: pizza, cheap but delicious muffulettas, and sponsoring outstanding baseball teams.
I will be quite frank – the only Pizza Shack pizza I ever tried was a frozen one in 1989. Uncle, the consummate pizza eater found out that Sacco was selling Pizza Shack in 1985 to John Bishop. So he purchased an entire ice box worth of pizzas. He waited until I was old enough to share one with me. And it was instant love. Even four years frozen, Pizza Shack’s dough and sauce were as close to perfect as I have ever known in the Metro.
Bishop thought the pizza so great he opened a second location in Old Mandeville, possibly the first pizzeria in Mandeville. It became for a short while known as Giovanni’s Pizza Shack, before finally closing, ending this lustrous chapter in Metairie pizza history in 1988.
1. Brooklyn Pizzeria
Todd Duvio and family moved from New York to New Orleans shortly before Katrina. When he arrived, he realized New Orleans did not do the best style of pizza in the world very well – I do not know if he ever tried Antonio Bongiorno’s Nino’s, which operated one of the city’s best ever pizzerias from 2000 to 2018. I do know that the Duvio family made an authentically great Brooklyn style pizza.
He first started from a tiny hole in the wall off Airline before relocating in a food truck on Airline in 2007. Before the year was over, demand for his pizza was so great that he took over a former Lee’s Hamburgers that had been shuttered, along with its neighboring Tastee Donuts, since Katrina flooded Veterans Blvd. Until 2019, he operated the best pizzeria Metairie has ever known from that faux bricked floor, dim restaurant with what I believe were Bakers Pride gas deck ovens.
In its last years in Metairie, consistency floundered, as the owner was seldom in house. I was told that the primary reason for closing was a move to California to follow his sons’ sports careers. Both sons, Dalton and Dylan, were top class pole vaulters who starred at Stanford.
Brooklyn Pizzeria still exists, though, and Mother and I were blessed to try it again last year on a visit to the Bay Area. Once again from a food truck in Santa Clara, owner Todd is baking, bringing an authentic slice of Brooklyn to the always overrated West Coast pizza scene. If you told me Brooklyn Pizzeria is better than Tony Gemignani’s in SF, I would not resist you. But what a pizza loss we all experienced in 2018-2019 when the two best pizzerias in New Orleans history, Brooklyn and Nino’s, both closed.
Yours,
TulaneLSU
Recently Biloxi started claiming a city specific style of pizza. It is not that Biloxi actually has added anything to the world of pizza. Instead, Biloxites have for decades dipped their pizzas in French salad dressing. This unappealing, revolting “style” is more loathsome than the trend to put Ranch dressing on subpar pizzas.
Many cities claim to have a specific style of pizza: New York, Trenton, New Haven, Chicago, Detroit, St. Louis, even the obnoxiously bad Ohio/Dayton/Columbus style. If New Orleans were to have a distinct style of pizza, I would nominate Tower of Pizza as the city’s archetype.
Tower of Pizza owes its being to Walter Forschler who first opened Arista in 1957 on Franklin Avenue. Forschler decided to move and change his pizzeria’s name to Tower of Pizza, moving to the East on Downman in 1966. Several months later, he expanded to Metairie, opening Dino’s Pizza. It remained Dino’s until he renamed it Tower of Pizza in 1976.
Today, Tower of Pizza is the quintessential New Orleans pizzeria. It may be the city’s only. Sure Venezia has been open longer, but it has not served pizza as long. Inside Tower, there are wood panels that fit the red and white checkered table cloths to a T. The 50s style painted panel menu, the oddly canary yellow fluorescent lights outside, the broken neon sign, and the windowed pizza room, which pays homage to Shakey’s pizza room, which was across the street, all are blocks that build the quintessentially New Orleans pizzeria.
The pizza is hand tossed in front of throngs of mostly older patrons, and is ever consistent. The sauce slightly sweet, the dough slightly puffy but crisp on the bottom, and the cheese I believe from Grande all make for what most New Orleanians envision as a pizza. The pizzas pair perfectly with their famed artichoke salads, which are dripping with oil as heavy as the unforgettably musky interior smell.
2. Pizza Shack
Alvin Robinson and Carlo Sacco are well known in local pizza circles as the fathers of pizza in Metairie. In 1967, even before Tower found a home on Vets, Robinson and Sacco opened Pizza Shack at the corner of Sena Drive and Veterans. The dynamic duo were famous for three things: pizza, cheap but delicious muffulettas, and sponsoring outstanding baseball teams.
I will be quite frank – the only Pizza Shack pizza I ever tried was a frozen one in 1989. Uncle, the consummate pizza eater found out that Sacco was selling Pizza Shack in 1985 to John Bishop. So he purchased an entire ice box worth of pizzas. He waited until I was old enough to share one with me. And it was instant love. Even four years frozen, Pizza Shack’s dough and sauce were as close to perfect as I have ever known in the Metro.
Bishop thought the pizza so great he opened a second location in Old Mandeville, possibly the first pizzeria in Mandeville. It became for a short while known as Giovanni’s Pizza Shack, before finally closing, ending this lustrous chapter in Metairie pizza history in 1988.
1. Brooklyn Pizzeria
Todd Duvio and family moved from New York to New Orleans shortly before Katrina. When he arrived, he realized New Orleans did not do the best style of pizza in the world very well – I do not know if he ever tried Antonio Bongiorno’s Nino’s, which operated one of the city’s best ever pizzerias from 2000 to 2018. I do know that the Duvio family made an authentically great Brooklyn style pizza.
He first started from a tiny hole in the wall off Airline before relocating in a food truck on Airline in 2007. Before the year was over, demand for his pizza was so great that he took over a former Lee’s Hamburgers that had been shuttered, along with its neighboring Tastee Donuts, since Katrina flooded Veterans Blvd. Until 2019, he operated the best pizzeria Metairie has ever known from that faux bricked floor, dim restaurant with what I believe were Bakers Pride gas deck ovens.
In its last years in Metairie, consistency floundered, as the owner was seldom in house. I was told that the primary reason for closing was a move to California to follow his sons’ sports careers. Both sons, Dalton and Dylan, were top class pole vaulters who starred at Stanford.
Brooklyn Pizzeria still exists, though, and Mother and I were blessed to try it again last year on a visit to the Bay Area. Once again from a food truck in Santa Clara, owner Todd is baking, bringing an authentic slice of Brooklyn to the always overrated West Coast pizza scene. If you told me Brooklyn Pizzeria is better than Tony Gemignani’s in SF, I would not resist you. But what a pizza loss we all experienced in 2018-2019 when the two best pizzerias in New Orleans history, Brooklyn and Nino’s, both closed.
Yours,
TulaneLSU
This post was edited on 11/21/24 at 5:03 pm
Posted on 11/21/24 at 5:25 pm to TulaneLSU
I very much miss Brooklyn Pizza. In the end they were having staffing issues too.
Posted on 11/21/24 at 8:46 pm to TulaneLSU
TulaneLSU,
You know, your style really rubs me the wrong way sometimes, but you have earned a small measure of redemption by naming Brooklyn Pizzeria number 1.
When I read the subject of your post, my immediate thought was of Brooklyn. I thought to myself, he probably won't even have them on the list. As I scanned down your list I am shocked that you put them first.
Maybe the boy does have a few sensible brain cells after all.
ETA:
The first time I had his pizza, Todd had just opened on Airline. After tasting it, I walked up to the counter and told him that that was the best pizza I ever ate. It was. We became friends after that.
I don't think he was from NY. He told me he went to work in a pizzeria up there to learn the process and ingredients. He quit after 2 weeks and didn't even bother about his paycheck. Somewhere, he bought a dough recipe for a small price and set out to open his own place here.
After Katrina, Todd had one of the first hot food outlets in the area. It wasn't as late as 2007 though. He worked out of a TINY trailer, but the quality was as good as ever.
As I remember it, Todd's son was a shot-putter and got a scholarship to Stanford. I think the permanent move to the Bay Area came only after his wife was stricken with a serious illness, and the best available treatment for her was out there.
He tried to keep the Metairie shop going, but absentee ownership is difficult from such a distance, especially in a business that depends on young adults. His staff used drugs extensively. That was his downfall.
You know, your style really rubs me the wrong way sometimes, but you have earned a small measure of redemption by naming Brooklyn Pizzeria number 1.
When I read the subject of your post, my immediate thought was of Brooklyn. I thought to myself, he probably won't even have them on the list. As I scanned down your list I am shocked that you put them first.
Maybe the boy does have a few sensible brain cells after all.
ETA:
The first time I had his pizza, Todd had just opened on Airline. After tasting it, I walked up to the counter and told him that that was the best pizza I ever ate. It was. We became friends after that.
I don't think he was from NY. He told me he went to work in a pizzeria up there to learn the process and ingredients. He quit after 2 weeks and didn't even bother about his paycheck. Somewhere, he bought a dough recipe for a small price and set out to open his own place here.
After Katrina, Todd had one of the first hot food outlets in the area. It wasn't as late as 2007 though. He worked out of a TINY trailer, but the quality was as good as ever.
As I remember it, Todd's son was a shot-putter and got a scholarship to Stanford. I think the permanent move to the Bay Area came only after his wife was stricken with a serious illness, and the best available treatment for her was out there.
He tried to keep the Metairie shop going, but absentee ownership is difficult from such a distance, especially in a business that depends on young adults. His staff used drugs extensively. That was his downfall.
This post was edited on 11/21/24 at 9:08 pm
Posted on 11/21/24 at 9:12 pm to TulaneLSU
quote:
Brooklyn Pizzeria
Wasn’t there some type of crossover from the Gulfport Brooklyn Pizzeria? I know the BSL location is tied to the Gulfport Pizzeria.
Also french dressing on pizza is delicious. I have fond memories of there being french dressing bottles on every table of Pizza Hut in BSL when the Hut was in it’s heyday
This post was edited on 11/21/24 at 9:13 pm
Posted on 11/21/24 at 9:14 pm to Stadium Rat
When I was a kid in Green Bay, WI it was Showbiz, and that it shall always remain to me. I also kinda had a crush on the animatronic mouse cheerleader in the band.
Posted on 11/21/24 at 9:16 pm to TulaneLSU
2 egregious omissions:
Shakey’s Pizza on Vets (where Shogun is now) next to Takee Outee and Zack’s Frozen Yogurt
Godfathers on Vets in the strip mall across from the entrance to Lafreniere Park by Tiffin Inn
Shakey’s Pizza on Vets (where Shogun is now) next to Takee Outee and Zack’s Frozen Yogurt
Godfathers on Vets in the strip mall across from the entrance to Lafreniere Park by Tiffin Inn
Posted on 11/21/24 at 10:17 pm to Saskwatch
quote:No.
Wasn’t there some type of crossover from the Gulfport Brooklyn Pizzeria?
Posted on 11/21/24 at 11:25 pm to TulaneLSU
quote:At the Brooklyn Pizzeria in Gulfport they say it's Catalina dressing. I don't know because it's off-putting to me.
Biloxites have for decades dipped their pizzas in French salad dressing
Posted on 11/22/24 at 12:06 am to TulaneLSU
I agree that Brooklyn was the best regular take out joint around. I miss it.
Remember Fireside Inn on Vets in the 1970s?
I would put them on the list.
Domino’s Restaurant (not the takeout chain) next to the theater on Airline (or was it Jefferson Highway) was good.
I would put Shakey’s in the top 10.
Pizza Inn was good in its day. We used to go to the one in Kenner on Roosevelt near Vets.
Remember Fireside Inn on Vets in the 1970s?
I would put them on the list.
Domino’s Restaurant (not the takeout chain) next to the theater on Airline (or was it Jefferson Highway) was good.
I would put Shakey’s in the top 10.
Pizza Inn was good in its day. We used to go to the one in Kenner on Roosevelt near Vets.
Posted on 11/22/24 at 12:26 am to TulaneLSU
Mark Twains GOAT
Posted on 11/22/24 at 1:26 am to Stadium Rat
No Gios?
Posted on 11/22/24 at 8:44 am to TulaneLSU
Curious if Tulano's didn't make the cut or if it was missed on accident.
Posted on 11/22/24 at 8:46 am to t00f
Pizza Inn at #9 behind shite like Sbarro makes this list bullshite
Pizza Inn is top 3 no doubt
Pizza Inn is top 3 no doubt
Posted on 11/22/24 at 8:52 am to Stadium Rat
Upon further reflection, there are 2 more places that come to mind that should be mentioned honorably.
The first is Cibo's Pizza, which was located in a cramped cell in a small strip mall on Veterans near Patio Drugs between Transcontinental and Green Acres. This was almost certainly the first pizza I ate that was nether frozen nor made on top of a flattened biscuit. (Those biscuit dough mini pizzas were the first thing I ever cooked, at about 6 yrs old.)
There are 2 things that stand out from my hazy 1960's memory:
They put the cheese on top of the sauce and pepperoni. Being a stupid pizza neophyte, I didn't like pepperoni and pulled up all the cheese to get the pepperoni off of there.My 3 big brothers fought over my discards. The sauce was kind of orange. I think now that may have been due to some kind of grated cheese mixed into it.
The other place, Tulano's, was located nearby at an old gas station at Vets and Haring. This was later in the 70's. The pizza there was thicker, with lots of gooey mozzerella. Excellent crust and sauce, too. (And lots of pepperoni.)
The first is Cibo's Pizza, which was located in a cramped cell in a small strip mall on Veterans near Patio Drugs between Transcontinental and Green Acres. This was almost certainly the first pizza I ate that was nether frozen nor made on top of a flattened biscuit. (Those biscuit dough mini pizzas were the first thing I ever cooked, at about 6 yrs old.)
There are 2 things that stand out from my hazy 1960's memory:
They put the cheese on top of the sauce and pepperoni. Being a stupid pizza neophyte, I didn't like pepperoni and pulled up all the cheese to get the pepperoni off of there.My 3 big brothers fought over my discards. The sauce was kind of orange. I think now that may have been due to some kind of grated cheese mixed into it.
The other place, Tulano's, was located nearby at an old gas station at Vets and Haring. This was later in the 70's. The pizza there was thicker, with lots of gooey mozzerella. Excellent crust and sauce, too. (And lots of pepperoni.)
This post was edited on 11/22/24 at 8:53 am
Posted on 11/22/24 at 9:01 am to Fun Bunch
I only vaguely recall that place and the fact they had a buffet and maybe a breakfast and dessert pizza.
Posted on 11/22/24 at 9:34 am to Stadium Rat
Also just thought about Pied Piper. It wasn't classic but was damn good for Metairie in the 70s/80s.
Posted on 11/22/24 at 10:35 am to TulaneLSU
Two guys from Italy pizza w esplanade and causeway.
Posted on 11/24/24 at 3:48 pm to t00f
Pizza Inn on vets and severn was a staple of my childhood. My family loved that place.
Brooklyn was excellent when the owner was around.
Brooklyn was excellent when the owner was around.
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