(guitar strumming)
- [Serena] The Grandma Pie, a staple
when it comes to New York pizza.
And there's one spot on Long Island
that claims to have invented it.
Their fans don't disagree and have brought
their obsession nation-wide over the years.
- This is the Grandma's Pizza.
Wow, oh yeah. Mmmm.
Wow, wow this is great. Oh yeah.
Mmmmmm mmmm.
That was good.
- Umberto's had a police escort to bring their pizzas
to the airport to get on a flight to Indianapolis.
- [Reporter] Chopper 4 was overhead while a car carrying
the Giants favorite pizza from a shop
in New Hyde Park headed to LaGuardia airport.
- [Serena] Now it has a ton of imitators,
but Umberto's still boasts title of first,
and some say it is still the best.
I've brought along Melissa McCart
who loves Grandma Pie and also used
to be a food critic here on Long Island.
- This is an old-school pizza parlor with beer and wine,
it's almost as if everybody knows each other,
but they don't and they're sort of talking across tables,
and there's opera playing or Frank Sinatra.
- That is Park Slope, 1964.
Me on the left, my brother and the guy
that sold me the pizza place.
- That was your first pizza place,
in Park Slope? - My first pizza place, yeah.
- And how old were you there?
- I was 'bout 21.
We sent the pizzas to the Giants in Indianapolis.
- Was that the Super Bowl?
- Yeah.
- [Melissa] How many pies did you have
to send to feed the Giants?
- About 35.
- I heard that this is where the Grandma Pie was even born.
- You bet.
- Is that true?
- You bet, and whoever says 'no' (mumbles).
- [Serena] Umberto's opened in 1965.
The restaurant first started making
the Grandmas early as the 70's for the staff,
but they didn't start selling it until later.
A Grandma Pie is a pizza with a thin layer of dough
in a square Sicilian-style pan.
The bottom is crisp and the top
only has shredded mozzarella,
crushed tomatoes, garlic and olive oil.
It's called Grandma because it's like
what grandma used to make back in Naples.
- This is a Grandma pizza we scratch about an hour ago.
And we put this bit on the top,
this way it doesn't get dried out,
and fix a little like this, very thin take the air out,
we'll put the cheese on, and now we put the sauce on.
And we're gonna put a little more oil
on the corner, it'll be nice and crispy.
(electronic music)
- [Serena] How long you been comin' to Umberto's here?
You a regular?
- I've been here when this was
a one-window establishment with three stools.
- [Serena] How often do you come in?
- Sometimes four times a week.
- I've been coming here 40 years.
- [Serena] Why, did you grow up in the neighborhood?
- No, I used to play softball near here.
And the only reason I played softball
was because after the game we came here.
- This is the kind of restaurant
that has a tons of really obsessive fans,
and you were like 'yeah, totally.'
- I am certainly obsessive about it.
Not only the food, but the people
that serve the food are really nice.
- You've gotten to know them a little bit?
- Oh come on! They're like family.
- [Serena] So what is your order?
What do you gotta get?
- You know I love the Grandma pizza, it's the best.
- It's the Grandma's pizza though
that brings me back to this place.
That's my favorite.
- Oh, this looks amazing.
- It looks so good.
- See even eyeing this slice there's like
the burnt cheese on the edge--
- [Melissa] I know.
- [Serena] It looks amazing.
- So I'm psyched for these little crispy bits here,
I like the fact that the mozzarella is made every day,
but I also want like a varying texture
so you have like the softer cheese in the middle,
and then these like almost black sections.
- I know you got it right, super crispy.
Nice and brown.
- The combination of the toppings and the olive oil
is really what brings it together
and also what makes it messier and crispier
is that olive oil ends up being a seasoning of sorts,
and it shapes the texture of the pizza and how it tastes.
- This really feels like a party pizza,
like you order a ton of these for your family
and just go at it cause they're not super heavy,
so you can really eat a bunch of 'em and just kinda relax.
- Definitely, there aren't that many places
that make the Grandma slices well as they do here,
and that's probably because they invented it here.
(rock music)
- [Umberto] Homemade sausage and broccoli rabe.
- I saw it and honestly, how can we not eat this.
- I know.
- It looks amazing.
- You can see the fennel, and the sausage,
and you can see the pork in there,
and you can definitely tell that it's homemade
and this is not an industrial product.
- [Serena] You should go for it!
- [Melissa] I'm doin' it.
So good, between the broccoli rabe,
and then the irregular-shaped sausage,
it's like, it's awesome.
- The broccoli rabe just has the right amount
of bitterness to it that adds to the flavor,
which is really fun.
What do you think makes Umberto's so special,
why do people like it?
- The owner is amazing and he's a total character,
and I think that people like to feel
like they're taken care of and it's allowed them to grow.
So it used to be a little pizzeria,
and now it's like this vast restaurant
that has multiple rooms because they have
to accommodate all these regulars.
(electronic music)
- If you liked this episode of Cult Following
click here to watch more.
The first location in North America
and it does seem like a lot of people
are coming here as a destination
to try out this new thing.
From Japan, there's so so many--
(guitar chord)