Patsy Grimaldi, an iconic determine in NYC’s pizza scene who most just lately owned the Dumbo pizzeria Juliana’s, died of pure causes on Thursday, February 13, the New York Submit stories. He was 93.
Grimaldi is a legend within the obsessive world of NYC pizza-making. A New York native, Grimaldi labored in his household’s pizza restaurant, Patsy’s Pizzeria in East Harlem, earlier than branching out and opening his personal model of Patsy’s Pizzeria (finally known as Grimaldi’s), together with his spouse Carol in Brooklyn in 1990, in response to the Submit. He commissioned the primary coal oven in-built NYC in over 50 years for his pizzeria.
“It’s additionally vital to do not forget that Patsy modified the New York Metropolis pizza panorama ceaselessly when he opened his eponymous pizza emporium in 1990 and made it ‘cool’ to return to Brooklyn!” Juliana’s wrote in an Instagram publish asserting Grimaldi’s loss of life. “Though he’s now not a ‘dwelling’ legend, he’ll ceaselessly maintain his rightful place within the pantheon of pizza icons.”
Within the ‘90s, Grimaldi’s coal-fired, brick oven pizza modified the native pizza-making sport. He’s largely credited with sparking the overarching wave of recent pizza outlets that are actually a basic a part of NYC’s pizza scene. “He was actually an artist and paved the trail for all of the elevated pizza outlets of at this time,” Anthony Mangieri, the proprietor of celebrated Decrease East Facet wood-fired pizzeria Una Pizza Napoletana, wrote in a publish on Instagram.
The pizza legend was additionally concerned in various old-school NYC pizza showdowns. Grimaldi needed to rename Patsy’s Pizzeria to Grimaldi’s in 1995 following a lawsuit over the identify, the Submit stories. A couple of years later, Grimaldi acquired out of the sport and offered the pizzeria, plus naming rights, to Frank Ciolli in 1999, who moved the pizza store subsequent door following a landlord dispute. However Grimaldi’s retirement was non permanent: 13 years later, he debuted his new pizzeria Juliana’s (named after his mom) on the web site of the unique Grimaldi’s — which was proper subsequent to the present, Ciolli-owned Grimaldi’s. Each pizzerias are nonetheless going robust at this time.
“We’re deeply saddened by the passing of Patsy Grimaldi, a real icon within the pizza world,” Grimaldi’s Pizzeria posted on Instagram. “Patsy’s ardour for coal-fired, brick-oven pizza and his dedication to high quality set a regular that continues to encourage us daily.”
Since his loss of life, Juliana’s has been conserving Grimaldi’s desk empty “to start to honor his legacy,” the restaurant wrote in its Instagram publish. The pizza store may also be closed on Wednesday, February 19, to honor the late pizzaiolo’s reminiscence.
