What Is Grandma Pizza? Erica Marcus Explains Once More

Posted by Adam Kuban, September 12, 2008 at 4:00 PM

This story on grandma pizza is a bit of a reheat, both on Newsday's part and on Slice's. This story ran in 2003, and I think we linked to it at some point, but it looks like people have been asking more and more about this style of pie. And so Erica Marcus, who wrote the article almost five years ago, trots it out again. It's definitely worth it, as in the last five years the grandma pie has exploded onto the scene. It used to be hard to find outside of Long Island, but now it's all over Brooklyn and in several Manhattan pizzerias, too. Marcus defines it as thus:

Variations abound, but the basic outlines are as follows: a thin layer of dough is stretched into an oiled, square "Sicilian" pan, topped sparingly with shredded mozzarella, crushed uncooked canned tomatoes, chopped garlic and olive oil, and baked until the top bubbles and the bottom is crisp.
[Michele] Scicolone [Manhattan resident, Italian food expert, and co-author of Pizza: Any Way You Slice It] observed that grandma pie sounded a lot like "pizza alla casalinga" (housewife-style pizza), "the kind of pizzas you'd get in Italy if you were invited to someone’s home."

Funny to take that trip back in time. Now almost everyone in the city here knows what grandma pizza is.

8 Comments

Tags: grandma pizza, Reheat

8 Comments:

Bleecker Street Pizza (7th and Bleecker or online at http://bleeckerstreetpizza.com/) has a pie they call Grandma's pizza as well.

I think it is very similar, but I was eating a slice there once and I heard a tour guide mention that the dough has seasoned breadcrumbs worked in for more flavor. Is that a common variation?

OneEyedMan at 4:31PM on 09/12/08

I've eaten plenty of Sicilian slices going back to the early 1970's in New York, and have never tried a Grandma's pizza.
What's the difference in taste and texture between the two, assuming I were trying a version of the Grandma's pizza described above by Adam Kuban?

pizcajj at 3:23PM on 09/13/08

@pizcajj: Grandma slices are not nearly as thick as Sicilian slices.

Daniel Zemans at 5:35PM on 09/13/08

That sounds EXACTLY like what Jerry Petrongolo's grandma use'ta make for us in DC when they'd come down form Jersey! To the TEE! Man is that stuff GOOD! It'll make ya wonder what the H you been eatin' all your life!
Vegas

SputnikHQ at 10:13PM on 09/13/08

I love Grandma Pizza...looks delicious

HenryGoldman at 10:15AM on 09/14/08

Kind of remind me of Ellio's pizza back in the 70's when Ellio's was good? I guess when your young all pizza is good.

burgerboy at 5:03PM on 09/15/08

@burgerboy, yep, before microwaves, when you HAD to use the oven or one of those little toaster-ovens to crisp it up real nice.

iamon02 at 9:08PM on 09/15/08

Can I ask a question?

Does grandmas ever come with toppings? Seems regular, just sauce and grated cheese, maybe broccoli rape, and MAYBE roni.....in other words, more than one or two toppings would be to much?

Thanks.

gabagool at 11:01AM on 10/30/08

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