Don’t overlook this lesser-known treasure flanked by two heavyweights

(It’s a debate every Central New Yorker has had at some point: Who’s got the best pizza? This year, we’ll do our best to find out. I’m on a quest to find the best pizza shops in the Syracuse area. Throughout 2024, I’ll visit 50-plus pizzerias At each, I’ll sample their most popular pizza, or whatever they recommend, I’ll score each one, and tell readers a little bit about the shop itself. .)

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Liverpool, NY — Within a 1-mile stretch of Route 57 in Liverpool sit two pizzerias: Avicolli’s and Twin Trees. These warhorses have been considered among the most popular pizza shops in the Syracuse area for decades.

Often overlooked, though, is Antonio’s Italian Kitchen. The 1,200-square-foot restaurant in Bayberry Plaza is just 164 feet away from Twin Trees 57.

“We get snubbed a lot,” said owner Jason Nash. “I get it. Those places have been around a long time, but we are different.”

Jason and his wife Elaine bought the restaurant from Salvadore and Caterina Santaguida Failla in 2009. It was called Nino’s at the time, named after their son. The Nashes owned two Subway sandwich shops in North Syracuse then, and they’d stop into Nino’s occasionally for pizza slices. The Faillas mentioned one day they were looking to retire, so the Nashes bought it.

“Not only did they sell it to us, they stayed on for a year to teach us the ‘Italian Way,’” Jason said. “I’m as Irish as they come, so I needed help with their recipes. They taught us how to make the dough, the pizza sauce, the marinara, everything. They were so sweet.”

They’re still making the traditional pasta dishes, but they’ve added gourmet macaroni and cheese, Philly cheesesteaks and quesadillas. They also just put a food truck on the road.

But we’re here to talk pizza. Let’s strap on the feedbag…

Address: Bayberry Plaza, 7608 Oswego Road, Liverpool. (315) 622-0045

Do they deliver: Yes, and you can order online. The restaurant has a few tables inside and outside.

What I ate: An extra-large “Deluxe” from the specialty pizza menu. It’s pepperoni, sausage, onions and green peppers.

Why this pizza? The owners, Jason and Elaine Nash, thought this was the best way to showcase their homemade sauce and crust and their approach to toppings.

RATINGS (out of 5)

Crust: 4/5. The pizza dough recipe created by the Faillas is basic by design.

“It’s all about simplicity,” Jason said. “We don’t put much into it because we want to let the other ingredients stand out.”

The kitchen here makes three or four batches each day so they always have plenty of fresh balls of dough during the breakfast rush, the lunch rush, the dinner rush and any rushes in between.

Chelsea Quinell has been building pizzas here for 11 years. She calls herself the “starter” here because for each order, she grabs a ball of dough, presses it into a footlong disc before flipping and twirling it into the desired size. She’ll lay down the sauce, cheese and toppings before handing it off to the finisher.

Jason is a little too modest when describing his crust. Yes, it gets out of the way so you taste the toppings more than anything, but this crust holds its own while hopping all that meat, veggies and cheese.

The pizza’s edge is a slim ⅝-inch while base is ¼ inch, yet it’s strong and crispy enough to stay together. You should give it a few minutes to set after coming out of the oven. Otherwise, you’re going to make a mess if you don’t use two hands or at least a fork.

Toppings: 5/5. Jason and Elaine cover the dough with the same sauce the original owners used, made here from Italian tomatoes. They have, though, changed the toppings.

Antonio’s now uses a mozzarella-provolone blend shipped here from Michigan that gives the pizza a more robust taste. You still get the mild flavor from the mozzarella, but the provolone adds a sharpness while maintaining the creamy texture.

The cheese on this pizza wraps the sauce right up to about a half-inch to the edge. “We call that the cheese lock,” Jason said. “That keeps everything on the pizza.”

That includes the Fontanini all-pork mild Italian sausage chunks they grind into fine nuggets. For this pizza, most of the 55 slices of pepperoni winds up with a nugget of sausage on top or at least encroaching on its space.

The green peppers and white onions are sliced ​​roughly the same size, about an inch long. Oh, and thank you for using white onions. They stayed crunchy, even after 12 minutes in the oven.

Value: 5/5. An extra-large pizza here is supposed to be 18 inches. Mine measured 19¼ inches. The XL specialty pizzas are $21.99, or $2.75 per slice. I had trouble finishing one piece and an unsweetened iced tea, so that’s one cheap lunch. (OK, so I did eat a second slice on my way back to the office. Still an inexpensive meal.)

Charisma: 4/5. On the menu, this is a typical supreme pizza, just without mushrooms and olives. Somewhere along the way, this became more than just salty meats and sweet vegetables on top of velvety cheese and rich sauce. This pizza touched all my senses.

It also touched my car. Five days later, my jalopy smells better than it did before I visited Antonio’s. That’s a huge plus.

Total: 18/20. It’s no wonder why Antonio’s is oft-overlooked. For one thing, the place is just a baby compared to the old kids on the block. Twin Trees has sprouted multiple restaurants throughout Central New York over the past 70 years, and Avicolli’s just turned 40.

Antonio’s must be doing something right. Jason and Elaine had six employees when they took over 15 years ago; now they’re up to 27 who are scattering 1,000 pounds of cheese onto pizzas every week.

Charlie Miller finds the best in food, drinks and fun across Central New York. Contact him at (315) 382-1984, or by email at [email protected]. (AND he pays for what he and his guests eat and drink, just so you know.) You can also find him under @HoosierCuse on Twitter and we Instagram. Sign up for his free weekly Where Syracuse Eats newsletter here.

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