Lucia Pizza has consistently ranked among the city’s best pizza spots. It’s slices are fan-favorite among locals and influencers alike, but for those on the Upper East Side, the journey to a freshly-baked pie is about to get a lot shorter.
What Now NY connected with Lucia Pizza’s owner Salvatore Carlino to get the latest updates on this new location.
“The plan for the Upper East Side location is to bring what we started on Avenue X to this area,” said Carlino. “We’re not looking to copy and paste what we have at our other locations, but we are bringing the same quality here. We are going to do what we do best– pizza. Something we’ve found difficult at our SoHo location is doing takeout in that size of space, so that’s the biggest challenge we look forward to getting past with this new location– making sure we can service residents across the Upper East Side.”
This will be the third location Lucia Pizza, joining the other two locations in Brooklyn and SoHo. The legacy of Lucia Pizza is entangled with Carlino’s family history. His family has owned Papa Leone Pizzeria in Sheepshead Bay for over four decades. The family’s Greek and Sicilian heritage found its way into the flavors on the menu. While Papa Leone Pizzeria has since closed, Carlino is continuing on with his family’s heritage by building a beloved pizza brand of his own.
Lucia Pizza of Avenue X is what Carlino considers to be “the mothership of the operation”. While all three of the locations as well as Carlino’s other venture, Lucia Alimentari, have similar designs harkening back to classic New York pizzerias, all of the restaurants honor the history of the buildings they occupy.
As far as the design goes, Carlino takes inspiration for the imposing oil trucks that used to deliver to homes in his neighborhood growing up. He also admires the look of old school Italian bakeries with hand-painted lettering that announces a business with a personalized kind of boldness.
“A pizzeria is always a good fit for the neighborhood,” said Carlino. “We try to do something that is a New York pizza in its purest form. We do it with a lot of patience and quality products aligned with that. We’re grateful to be adding to our footprint and connecting with this community with the same service we offer in Brooklyn and SoHo.”
This new location of Lucia Pizza aims to open early this winter before 2025 rolls around.
