Newsday (Nassau Edition) du lieu suivant : Hempstead, New York • 113

a i a jt a-i i't- ka a a m- i B33 DINING FOOD The Great-Grandfather of Pizza PIZZA from Page B29 torio Amato of Bensonhurst and his two sons Victor and Vinny to repair the oven their company card lists all kinds of contracting work including ovens The Amatos work on ovens at Bakery on Bleecker Street under the Brooklyn Bridge at Bakery on this same block of Spring Street The Amatos had to remove deep layers of sand and brick to get to a hole that needed repairing then they replaced the sand and brick They ripped out the old baking floor and put in a new one much of the time lying on their backs It took six days And it was Vittorio Amato who explained to Bel-lucd that the restored oven had to be for 10 days to two weeks to get all the dampness out The 4- Bresdo and Bellucd sampled it they broke into re- lieved smiles just the exulted Brea- da He shook hand can finally face my ancestors on judgment Lombardi said with a grin that belied how seriously he takes his pizza He analyzed the crust It was mar-bleized on the toasty brown bottom and it sag in the center sagging would mean the crust was not properly done Lombardi said fella eating Lombardi declared as he handed a slice to Shane Harmon who with Claudia Bogen was cleaning the brick walls and putting old-fashioned booths in place Gennaro Lombardi worries some about the fine-tuning has to be a meaty dry pepperoni I have to have it made up for and he said he will punch holes with an ice pick and drain the pepperoni of extra fat for a week The pizza needs a speck of blade pepper he add a pinch more salt in the dough But it will come right he said In his day that quality brought opera stars at midnight One was Enrico Caruso Once when Caruso was expected Grandpa Lombardi set a fancy table with a linen doth fine china and silverware you could see your face in Caruso pulled the doth off the table shattering the dishes and said compare please I come to eat with you and your family not to be a dandy and Christmas after too many wines I heard that grandson Lombardi said first from his grandfather and then from his father Now he tells it It is as inevitable that Gennaro Lombardi tell the story as that he make pizza It is his destiny not too proud to do said Lombardi how my grandpa Lombardi and Bellucd and Bresdo will keep it simple: No more ristorante no more no more French service no expense accounts and charge cards (cash only at the new no more chefs who are cultivated and then hired away Just red-and-white-checked tablecloths and pizza no pasta Lombardi and Belluccd and Bresdo will do it the old way and they will do it themselves They are family now The Lombardis are back St Manhattan aa the legendary pizza maker in Coney 1 Island This though is the Lombardi story It is the story of a dream that got lost somewhere in the expansive mood of the when Lombardi was a Gourmet- reviewed restaurant instead of a humble pizzeria Seven years ago it closed It took something on the order of a miracle to convince Lombardi to open a pizza parlor and do it his way About a year and a half ago a young man who was crazy about pizza went to look at the old Lombardi's The young name was Andrew Bellucd and he was hoping the old pizza oven would still be there It but something better happened Through the Realtor Bellucd now 80 met grandson Lombardi knew my said Lombardi 51 told me the story of my Bellucd who was making pizza at Three of Cups in the East Village had a scrapbook filled with dippings about pizza and the Lombardis never met anybody so passionate about said Lombardi was out of the business and he inspired me We would talk about mozzarella and smoking mozzarella he knew about curing the dough about how it takes two or three days to make the dough I hung out with him for about a year and a half I saw what he could At age 15 Bellucd had started making one pie a day at the place where he swept up (The owner would say want customers seeing this" and would throw it away) Lombardi was carried away by the younger enthusiasm and became so caught up in it that he persuaded his childhood friend Bresdo 46 who used to join him in tossing flour into Grandpa dough bowl to sell his game-machine business and go into the pizza venture too Only the three of them would know the secret of the dough owe this to my Lombardi said There were obstacles The 125-seat that Lombardi walked away after Wall expense accounts dried up was too big for the simple place they imagined Anyway the 60-year-old brick oven the team unearthed was down the block and across the street from the original And it needed work The pizza trio found another trio Vit Andrew Bellucd puts 1 the very first pizza into the newly cured coal-fired oven at 32 Spring foot-thick layer of sand that insulates the oven takes that long to warm dear through At last 10 days after the oven had first been fired up Bellucd worked the first piece of dough into a perfect circle spread it with a sauce made from San Marzano tomatoes added slices of homemade mozzarella sprinkled on dry grated cheese and drizzled the pie with a bit of olive oil Then it went into the hottest part of the oven so the bottom would begin to get crusty right away A few times he opened the oven door and moved the pie around It stick a good sign When Bellucd slid the first trial pizza out of the oven and scattered it with fresh basil Amato sons and grandchildren in tow was there to taste it As I I i i I I i i I Pizza: A Long Island Tradition grandmother Unlike typical Sicilian pizza which has a thick crust homey Grandma Sicilian pizza has a thinner crust but not as thin as Neapolitan ft is covered with just the right amount of tomato sauce creamy mozzarella cheese and bite of fresh basiL Definitely a winner go back to the said Corteo don't use any new techniques I like to make pizza the old-fashioned And very soon probably within the next month dream oven will be turning out pizza seven days a week Unlike the two wood-burning brick ovens he now uses this bride oven will burn coaL Just the way they did it in the old days On occasion Corteo still gets behind the counter and makes pizza quality he said smiling love to make Marie Bianco i IZZA ON Long Island not go back to 1905 butit does have its own history and traditions During the 29 years that Umberto Corteo has owned The Original of New Hyde Park 25 of the workers he trained have left and gone out on their own as pizza -makers they thought I was said Corteo I taught them the right Corteo readily admits stubborn and a fanatic about pizza' also ambitious independent and very charming He knows and greets by name many who come to the restaurant Corteo bought the American dream He arrived from Italy in 1962 at age 19 His first job was as dishwasher for (50 a week at Little Venice restaurant in Brooklyn Every other week he received a (5 But pizza is how it all began and the Huntington took first place as the best pizza in Suffolk County in pizza from Brooklyn to contest four years ago Pizza is made from simple ingredients bread dough tomatoes and cheese but producing a pie that tastes good and looks good is not easy said Corteo takes several years to learn how to make good pizza and you mpst have the right oven the right temperature and good Phis he said the little tricks he's learned over the years His newest pizza is called Grandma Sicilian even though he was born in Monde di Prodda outside Naples and never had a Sicilian raise and when they were busy he would pitch in and try his hand at teachers was a woman Frances Spezio a rarity in the pizza business After watching him work Tony Puglisi the owner told Corteo that one day he would be the number one pizza maker in New York The Original is a family business Only the Corteo brothers Umberto and Carlo know the recipe for the pizza dough Daughters Ida and Theresa work in the front three nephews work behind the pizza counter and son Gdy makes pizza at the Huntington store one of two other-restaurants The other is in Hickzville Si i I i i i a k' Vi 'I 'Vs il 1 iik i SVs-VV'-! r- i i i.