Looking for authentic New York-style pizza? New pizzeria bringing a taste to Jacksonville
The search for authentic New York-style pizza in Jacksonville, for many, is a mission similar in passion to the hunt for the Holy Grail.
A family-owned pizzeria launched 45 years ago in Rochester, N.Y., hopes to become that long-sought destination in Northeast Florida.
Known for its traditional New York-style specialty pizzas, huge slices and giant sheet pan pies, Salvatore's Old Fashioned Pizzeria plans to open Tuesday at 4820 Deer Lake Drive W., Suite D-11, in Tapestry Park off Southside Boulevard.
The pizzeria is Salvatore's first location outside of New York. The Tapestry Park restaurant is next door to Tikka Bowls And Tacos and an easy walk to III Forks Steakhouse and Another Broken Egg.
Tapestry Park is the first of multiple locations planned in Florida in the next few years as the pizzeria expands nationwide. Franchise owner Ferdinand Formoso and his wife, Elisa, have the restaurant's statewide franchise rights, said Formoso, a Jacksonville physician and president of the Duval County Medical Society.
On the menu at Salvatore's
In addition to its freshly made pizzas, Salvatore's Old Fashioned Pizzeria is known for its calzones, wings, pasta dinners, sandwiches, salads and more.
Formoso said in keeping with the company's expansion plans, the Tapestry Park pizzeria will have "a greatly limited menu" and a smaller seating area, making it more conducive to being a take-out establishment.
For now,, pasta dishes aren't available.
"It will be a much more streamlined pizza-centric menu," said Formoso, explaining the full-service New York locations have a much broader menu.
"We are going to have calzones available, have wings available and our plan is to keep them in baked wings going forward. We will have salads available," he said of the Tapestry Park restaurant.
Although there will be fewer menu offerings, they're not skimping on quality, he emphasized.
"Our goal is to deliver high-quality, fresh, all-real ingredients … Our absolute guarantee is that all of our ingredients are real ingredients. Real tomato sauce, real cheese, real meats that we use on the pizza and fresh produce that is going to be sourced locally, he said.
Formoso also said "we're going to be importing all of the dough product. All of the real key ingredients that form the base of the pizza are being imported from New York."
"So, it will be an authentic New York product," he said.
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Specialty pizza menu
Eleven specialty pizzas include:
Salvatore’s Supreme Pizza: A tomato sauce base with mozzarella, pepperoni, mushrooms, giant Italian sausage, green peppers, onions and olives
Chicken Charlie Pizza: A Blue cheese base with a choice of wing sauce with diced chicken fingers plus mozzarella
Fred's Meat Market (Meathead) Pizza: A tomato sauce base with mozzarella, pepperoni, giant Italian sausage, meatballs and bacon
Linda Da’ Veggie Pizza: A tomato sauce base, with lots of mozzarella, diced onions, green peppers, fresh mushrooms and black olives
The Taco Pizza: A salsa sauce base with Cheddar cheese, diced onions, seasoned beef, lettuce, tomato and sour cream
Love Holly Pizza: A garlic olive oil base, mozzarella, artichokes, roasted red peppers and banana peppers. (The pizza is named after Holly Anderson, the longtime executive director of The Breast Cancer Coalition of Rochester.)
Formoso said they will do a 12-inch pizza which is offered in a "thin-thin," gluten-free or a cauliflower crust version. The 16-inch pizza can be ordered "Manhattan-style, which is a more thin crust" pie. The large isn't available in the thin-thin, gluten-free or cauliflower crust, he said.
Then there is Salvatore's huge sheet pizza, which he says is the equivalent of "two-plus large pizzas. It will have a slice count in square-cut of 32 slices."
"That's going to change the landscape down here because sheet pizzas don't exist here. … You could basically feed a soccer team with one of those guys," he said.
Salvatore's will offer chicken wings with a choice of five wing sauces.
'A big part of my life'
The pizzeria will offer a taste and a sense of home for Formoso.
"Salvatore's has been a big part of my life when I was growing up," said Formoso, who was born and raised in Rochester and has lived in Jacksonville for about 16 years. He's been a longtime customer of the pizzeria.
His aunt and uncle, Chuck and Joann Formoso, who have a successful high-end Italian restaurant in Rochester, are longtime friends of Sam Fantauzzo, founder and CEO of Salvatore’s Old Fashioned Pizzeria.
After building two medical practices in Jacksonville, Formoso, who is a dual board-certified interventional pain physician, said he wanted to fulfill his longtime interest in having a restaurant. Inspired by his aunt and uncle, he decided to begin with a pizzeria.
Formoso intends to continue his medical practice. His wife, Elisa, will oversee the pizzeria's day-to-day operations, he said.
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Expanding footprint
Jacksonville and Northeast Florida are on the forefront of Salvatore's plans to expand its footprint beyond its Western New York home.
As the Formosos focus on Florida, other master franchisees are working to open restaurants in the Carolinas as well as potentially the Chicago area, he said.
"We hope that the demand that is in New York is equivalent down here. If it is, we hope to have probably as many stores as there are in New York here in Florida at some point in the future. Maybe within the next five to 10 years," he said.
The company currently lists 32 "full menu" locations plus two outlets including Jacksonville either already open or coming soon. All are owner-operated.
The roughly 1,109 square-foot Tapestry Park pizzeria, with about a dozen seats, will be open initially from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Formoso said.
Teresa Stepzinski is the dining reporter for the Times-Union. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, @TeresaStepz or reach her via email at tstepzinski@jacksonville.com.
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This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Salvatore's Old Fashioned Pizzeria opens in Jacksonville
