Michele's Italian, New Jersey Roots

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Who doesn’t love pizza? Pizza has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember; not just any pizza, though. Having grown up in New Jersey in a large Italian family, food was always the center of our home. It was how we loved those who meant the world to us. 

 

If we had a family celebration, the table was always full of lots of delicious food and a lot of happy, smiling faces. In fact, my father Anthony Salerno, who was a baker by trade, had an annual event where he would make pizza all day long for us seven kids. To this day, that is one of the best memories I have of my father who passed away in 1981 of cancer.  

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Recently, my sister found my Dad's two pizza pans stored away in my mom's kitchen cabinet that he actually used for our yearly family pizza party.  She happily gifted those two pans to me all the way from NJ so I could carry on my dad's legacy and love for making pizza.  From time to time, I treasure making a pan pizza in these pans, and it takes me back to that special time in my life every time.

 

So not only did I have the privilege of experiencing what I consider to be some of the best pizza on the planet, but I now have the privilege of sharing this pizza with a group of people who probably haven’t grown up around New York (New Jersey) style pizza.  

 

Let me go back in time just a bit in order to bring you to present day. At the age of 18, I moved to Oklahoma from New Jersey with my first husband; talk about an adjustment period. Finding New York style pizza was impossible when I moved there in 1980. I was devastated. 

 

I began making my own pizza dough and was determined that I was going to have pizza the way I liked it. Taking matters into my own hands did not produce the product I wanted at the time, but it was sure better than what was out there.

 

Then one day, I discovered Mario’s Pizza in Tulsa, Oklahoma. What a glorious day! Mario was a true Italian from the Bronx, New York. I will never forget that feeling of home all over again. All those memories of what family and good food was all about came back with just one bite. 

 

Louie's Pizza Today

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Fast forward to present day. I met my husband Louis online back in 2006 while I was living in Connecticut.  Louis is the inspiration for our name, Louie’s Pizza, and the reason we get to share this great pizza with you.

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Louis moved up to Connecticut from the Many, Louisiana area after we were married and was able to experience New York style pizza for the first time. He fell in love with it! I had been making pizza at home for about 25 years at that point and had been really working on improving it.

 

In 2013, Louis and I moved back to the Many area, and with us came the desire to bring the great taste of New York style pizza to our family and friends in Many. As we began to host pizza parties at our home, the desire to share this special pizza we love with you was birthed.

 

Our hope is that you too will begin to experience what we are talking about—-great-tasting pizza like you have never experienced before. Hopefully, you too will begin to share it with the people who mean the world to you and create your own memories gathered around the table.

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Thank you for letting me share our story and our love for pizza on behalf of Louis and I! We look forward to meeting each and every one of you very soon!

 

Michele Salerno-Smith