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Brick-oven pizza on the sidewalk
Sal Scampitelli and Vito Liguori had a pizza oven shipped from Naples to New York. Every day, they haul it to the corner of Steinway Street and 19th Avenue in Astoria.
NEW YORK - Sal Scampitelli and Vito Liguori begin their day by hauling a 4,500-pound wood-fired pizza oven up to the curb. Then, they put up a tent and fire up the heat to 1,000 degrees.
Some people would call it dedication, but for these long time pizza makers, it's just part of the job.
"Everything is fresh, every single day, for you guys, for the community," Liguori says.
Sal and Vito ordered the impressive brick oven from Naples, Italy, and got it shipped to New York for private parties. However, the pandemic canceled their plans and nearly crushed their small business altogether.
"From the virus, we lost our job and we were working for a long time. We had no choice," Scampitelli adds.
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Things got a lot better after the dynamic duo decided to set up shop on the corner of Steinway Street and 19th Avenue in Astoria, Queens. They call their new business venture una pizzeria portatile, or in English, a portable pizzeria.
Sal and Vito start selling fresh homemade pies at around 11 a.m. but customers line up a lot earlier than that. Some of them even stop by two times a day.
You can go with a traditional Neapolitan Margherita or mix it up for just $10 a pie.
"I usually get the sausage with the spinach," one customer told FOX 5 NY.