Not long ago, someone said, “The only pizza North Port’s got is from chains.”
This columnist gasped audibly. Words like “Are you kidding me right now?” might even have escaped her lips.
Oh, North Port’s got chains alright, from Domino’s, Jet’s and Marco’s to that little “Pizza! Pizza!” guy’s place. You might go so far as to count among them family-run chains like Il Primo Pizza & Wings and Bocca Lupo Coal Fired Pizza.
But North Port’s also a place where indies have been thriving lately.
“In 2024, more independent pizza shops opened than closed,” said Loren Padelford, chief revenue officer at Slice, the tech firm that provides ordering software and services to more than 20,000 independent pizzerias.
“As economies get harder and people lose their jobs, people often start their own businesses, and pizzerias are an interesting business to start. … It’s an on-ramp.”
INDIE PIZZA IN NORTH PORT
Look around North Port, and you’ll find four distinctly different indie on-ramps, three of them already reviewed, from A to Z, in this column:
Antolino’s Pizza (941-300-2300), 14291 Tamiami Trail, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, offers Columbus, Ohio-style tavern pizza.
Pink Fire Pizza (941-564-6151), 13001 Tamiami Trail, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, has Dominique Morris’ unique swirlie pizza, reportedly fire.
Zio’s Twelve 21 (941-426-9800), 1221 S. Sumter Boulevard, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday, to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 3 to 10 p.m. Sunday, serves award-winning, OG New York-style pizza.
It’s time to add another, in the spot once held by Long Island Brothers Pizza and, most recently, Go Go Pizza.
PIESANO’S BRINGS PIES WITH PASSION
John Taylor first visited North Port scarcely five months ago and moved there June 1. His Piesano’s Pizza Cucina has been open barely a month.
The Piesano’s name, clever as it is, isn’t unique, but its story is.
Yelp already lists it number one among North Port pizzerias, independent and otherwise. Punta Gorda foodies like The Celtic Ray’s Max Doyle and Linda Trapani-Beni from Carmelo’s already endorse it.
Such explosive success calls for some explaining.
Taylor is an outsize Sicilian personality, always the guy with the most tats in the room, mad laser-blue eyes, sculpted black beard and eyebrows the same. He left a New York union job and what he calls the city rat race to return to the restaurant business that he’d known since he was 12.
Raised by Sicilian grandparents with old-school family values, Taylor prizes family above all.
“I want to leave legacies and memories, create something that I can pass on,” he said. “So the goal is to one day do three places, for three kids: North Port, Venice and Wellen Park.”
Taylor makes everything fresh at the 36-seat Piesano’s, the only frozen exceptions being fries and chicken fingers. He goes food shopping in the Bronx, at the 50-year-old Calabria Pork Store. The guy clearly takes quality seriously.
If people complain about the wait, he says, “Papa John’s is right there. 10 minutes, $10.”
“I didn’t know we’d be as busy as we were so fast,” he said with a shrug.
That’s apparently what happens when local pizza lovers are hungry for a taste of real New York pizza and Italian specialties.
“The passion and the food speak for themselves,” Taylor says.
Every day, he plays with creative pizza and pinwheel combinations for a window-shoppers’ slice case with as many as 10 offerings at a time, including garlic-knot sliders. If a customer wants something that isn’t on the menu, and he can make it, he will. Cold subs might not appear on the menu, but he can certainly make them.
Italian specialties, topped with a dollop of mozz and sprigs of fresh basil, range from meatballs made fresh all the time, in a “gravy” full of whole tomatoes; thinly pounded, barely breaded eggplant rollatini; and homemade pastas and parms that come with a side salad.
The family-size calzone is the size of a grown man’s forearm.
“The way it should be,” Taylor said. “Feed the whole family!”
And the area’s biggest craze since birria — the chopped cheese, here aptly named The Bodega (IYKYK) — is available here, at only the second location where this columnist has found one.
It’s only a ground beef version of the Philly cheesesteak, with sazon seasoning, but the Bronx bodega-born hoagie has taken off around here like a Hail Mary pass.
“I mean, every deli back home, every corner store, they know what it is,” Taylor said.
Piesano’s Pizza Cucina ($$), 941-423-4999, 14919 Tamiami Trail, North Port, is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.
MORE FAMIGLIA COMES TO ENGLEWOOD
You could once have made the claim that Englewood, too, lacked indie pizzerias, ever since Bobarino’s used to be the only one. Not anymore.
When self-styled “Pizza Daddy” Anthony Altadonna moved off to Englewood last year, one fan posted: “Bro, the pie ain’t been the same since you left.”
Consider yourselves introduced to Altadonna by way of his best friend, John Taylor.
Their families hail from the same town in Sicily, they call each other “bro,” and Altadonna is building out a brand-new, semi-eponymous Englewood pizzeria for late September.
Alta Pizzeria & Restaurant promises to be every bit as New York as these two Sicilian bros themselves.
“For the last 25 years,” Taylor said, “our families have had restaurants at the same time, and even next to each other. I grew up in his business, and so did my son, Nico. We all worked for each other.”
Alta Pizzeria & Restaurant ($$), 941-474-8781, 1951 S. McCall Road (Palm Plaza in former Reid’s Nutrition, near Aldi), Englewood, is expected to open by the end of September.
Dining and Cooking