John's of Bleecker Street, simply known as John's Pizzeria, is a historic
pizzeria
A pizzeria is a restaurant focusing on pizza. As well as pizza, dishes at pizzerias can include kebab, salads and pasta.
Many pizzerias offer take-away, where the customer orders their food either in advance or at the restaurant and then take ...
on
Bleecker Street
Bleecker Street is an east–west street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is most famous today as a Greenwich Village nightclub district. The street connects a neighborhood today popular for music venues and comedy, but which was ...
in the
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
neighborhood of
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Founded in 1929, the pizzeria serves
coal fired
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when de ...
brick oven
A masonry oven, colloquially known as a brick oven or stone oven, is an oven consisting of a baking chamber made of fireproof brick, concrete, stone, clay (clay oven), or cob (cob oven). Though traditionally wood-fired, coal-fired ovens were c ...
pizza prepared in the style of a
tomato pie.
In 2015, it was ranked the 10th best pizzeria in the United States by
TripAdvisor.
John's is known for its graffiti-carved wooden booths where any patron can carve their name.
The pizzeria does not serve slices, only whole pies cooked in an 850°F oven, along with
calzone
A calzone (, , ; "stocking" or "trouser") is an Italian oven-baked folded pizza, often described as a turnover, made with leavened dough. It originated in Naples in the 18th century. A typical calzone is made from salted bread dough, baked in ...
s, and accepted cash only until May 2016, when it began accepting credit cards.
History
John's was founded in 1929 by John Sasso, originally located on Sullivan Street in
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
.
After losing his lease in 1934, he moved the pizzeria to Bleecker Street.
The restaurant was later purchased by the Vesce brothers in 1954.
In the 1960s, Augustine (Chubby) Vesce purchased John's Pizzeria from his brother Joe. He and his wife Rose became the owners of John's until 1980-81. Augustine suffered from health issues and offered 40% of the restaurant's shares to current manager at the time, Pete Castellotti Sr, if he continued to manage the business, allowing Augustine to retire. A year or two later, Castellotti opened up John's on 64th St, moved to
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
and opened John's of New York in
Port Charlotte, letting his two children Pete Castellotti Jr. and Lisa Free run John's of Bleecker Street together with his longtime co-worker Robert "Bob" Vittoria.
Castellotti's ex-wife Madeline left her job as a personnel director of
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP (known as Cadwalader) is a white-shoe law firm, and is New York City's oldest law firm and one of the oldest continuously operating legal practices in the United States. Attorney John Wells founded the practice ...
, a Manhattan law firm, to open a John's Pizzeria in the eighties on the Upper West Side. She opened John's Pizzeria on
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...
in 1994. In 1993, Bob Vittoria became the majority partner of John's Pizzeria on Bleecker. He is a nephew of the Vesce family.
Documents show the pizzeria actually opened in 1915 by Filippo Milone. John Sasso was related by marriage took over in 1925.
Ratings
John's has been highly rated throughout its operation.
Adam Kuban of
Serious Eats
Serious Eats is a website and blog focused on food enthusiasts, created by food critic and author Ed Levine. A Serious Eats book was published by Levine in 2011. Serious Eats was acquired by Fexy Media in 2015 and then by Dotdash in late 2020.
...
considers it an NYC Quintessential pizza for connoisseurs.
See also
*
List of Italian restaurants
This is a list of notable Italian restaurants, which specialize in the preparation and purveyance of Italian cuisine:
* Amato's
* Bella Italia
* Beppi's Restaurant
* Buca di Beppo
* Carrabba's Italian Grill
* Cibo Espresso
* Drago resta ...
*
List of restaurants in New York City
This is a list of notable restaurants in New York City. A restaurant is a business which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money, either paid before the meal, after the meal, or with an open account. New York City is ...
References
External links
*
{{Restaurants in Manhattan
1929 establishments in New York City
Greenwich Village
Italian restaurants in Manhattan
Pizzerias in New York City
Restaurants established in 1929