Everybody loves a slice of good old fashioned New York-style pizza. The kind with the right amount of grease-to-flop ratio and a hearty serving of ooey, gooey cheese that stretches to infinite lengths as you take a bite. Perhaps none felt as passionately about the superiority of New York City’s pizza as jazz icon Frank Sinatra, who was a regular patron at a little pizzeria in East Harlem named Patsy’s Pizzeria.
Sinatra loved Patsy’s pizza, often ordering half a dozen pies at once to share with friends and family because he was so outspoken about the exceptional quality. There’s even a recording from a concert in 1976 where Sinatra calls it “the greatest in the world … there ain’t nothing like [it],” via New York Originals on YouTube In case there was any debate about which Patsy’s he meant, Sinatra plainly listed the address on 117th Street. This isn’t to be confused with Sinatra’s love for Patsy’s Italian Restaurant, because although the two share a similar name and menu, it’s an entirely separate entity from Patsy’s Pizzeria.
More On Patsy’s Pizzeria And Frank Sinatra’s Obsession
Patsy’s Pizzeria was opened in 1933 by Pasquale “Patsy” Lancieri in East Harlem, a neighborhood which, at the time, was known to host a large Italian-American population. Patsy ran the restaurant alongside his wife, Carmella, until he passed away in the early 1970s, when she took over operations completely. The beloved pizzeria was purchased by Frank Brija in 1991, who worked alongside Carmella for many years before he took over operations, and he still runs the restaurant today. Patsy’s Pizzeria is widely credited with being the first to sell pizza slices in the city, but even though that fact is still debated, we ranked Patsy’s Pizzeria as one of the 15 best slice shops in Manhattan.
The pizza joint never forgot Frank Sinatra’s support, though it was also a favorite of other celebrities like Dean Martin and Joe DiMaggio. It was even a favorite spot for the cast of “The Godfather,” who frequented the pizzeria around the time that the movie was filmed. Patsy’s Pizzeria eventually grew into a franchise with locations across the country, but the original storefront in East Harlem still stands. Much of the equipment is still original from the 1930s, such as the dough machine and the coal-fired oven, though it’s of a dying breed, as the city began cracking down on emission laws. While it may not have been Sinatra’s choice for his final meal, his adoration of the pizzeria turned it into a mecca for pizza fans of all ages…