UNA PIZZA NAPOLETANA

Anthony Mangieri opened his first pizzeria in 1996 in New Jersey, his home state. Back then, Neapolitan pizza was unknown to American customers, and Anthony was the first to introduce this style of pizza. 

The leavening process of the dough which lasts two days is never refrigerated and sourdough is essential in this preparation. For Anthony, it is all about the dough. It is different every single day because it is influenced by different variables, like the weather for example.

At first, there were only 4 pizzas on the menu, because the importance has always been the quality of the dough, its taste and texture. When the pizzeria was moved to San Francisco in 2010, Anthony decided to introduce two other pizzas: Ilaria, with smoked mozzarella, fresh cherry tomatoes, arugula, dedicated to his wife and Apollonia, with bufala mozzarella, Parmigiano, egg, salame, black pepper, garlic, basil, inspired by his daughter. Back to NYC in 2018, Anthony added another pizza, Concetta, inspired by his cousin, with San Marzano tomatoes, Piennolo, Corbarino, home made tomato sauce and a sprinkle of pecorino just out of the oven.

“It has always been all about the dough” says Anthony, “ the perfect pizza for me has a deep rich aroma of bread and an airy crust. It needs to be naturally leavened and digestible.” 

For this reason, Anthony focuses on the ingredients. They are top quality, truly Italian, starting from the flour. “Petra flour is fresh, delicate and nutritious. It performs exceptionally well during the creation of the starter.” A mixture of Unica, Special, stoneground Petra 3 and 1330 sprouted wheat flours are used. But Anthony is always experimenting. “The next fun experiment will be with Allegra, and Panettone for the motherdough.”

Tomatoes are all sourced from Italian producers, who are also Anthony’s friends, because the link with Italy is strong and the result is a simple yet authentic pizza. Every little detail is taken into account, even the choice of olive oil is the result of a long quest: “It is very difficult to find an extra virgin olive oil that will not become heavy while cooking in such high temperatures. I discovered that the best oil to use on pizza is from taggiasche olives from Liguria, and I also discovered an extra virgin olive oil from Sicily, which I am using right now”.

“Una Pizza Napoletana is not only my job, it is my life. My parents are from Naples, I started making pizzas when I was 15 years-old. I have made every single pizza by myself since 1996.”

"The most popular pizzas are Margherita and Marinara, the tradition. “I think the best is Marinara, because it allows the dough to shine. You can clearly taste the dough, which is not altered by the taste of cheese.”