Did you know that April 17 is National Ellis Island Family History Day? Ellis Island, which operated between 1892 and 1954, saw its busiest day on April 17, 1907, when officials recorded 11,747 names. Over the 62 years Ellis Island was open, 12 million immigrants passed through into New York. Many of those immigrants were Italian and they brought something very important with them: pizza. Pizza spread from New York throughout the northeastern United States and across the rest of the country. It changed as each region put its own spin on it, but here at Alley Cat, we think that the classic NY style is best. So if you’re searching for local pizza shops that make NY-style pizza, your search is over! Come to Alley Cat Pizza and give ours a try.

Let’s take a look at the history of pizza shops in the US and what exactly makes NY-style pizza special.

Pizza Comes to America

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, New York was full of Italian immigrants who came through Ellis Island and settled in New York City. they brought their love of their traditional foods with them, including pizza. In 1905 an immigrant pizzaiolo (pizza maker) from Naples named Gennaro Lombardi opened the first pizzeria in New York City’s Little Italy. The shop sold pizzas for five cents a pie. Some customers could not afford a whole pie and would offer what they could in exchange for a slice. Pizza spread throughout the city over the following decades and made its way into New Jersey and Connecticut.

Cooking with Tradition

The feature of NY-style pizza that people usually think of is the crust. Italian immigrants made their pizza as close to the way they made it in Italy, especially in Naples. High-gluten bread flour gives NY pizza its distinctive crust. It is traditionally hand-tossed and very thin and stretched to a large size of 18 to 24 inches. The pizzas are typically cut into eight slices, which diners usually fold in half, both to make it possible to eat one-handed and to channel the grease from the melted cheese in one direction. The thin crust makes the slices easy to fold and eat on the go.

Manchester Pizza Shops Serve Up NY-Style Pizza

Different regions of the US have their own take on pizza, but our favorite is still NY-style. And with a trip to Alley Cat, you can have a taste of New York without going far from home.

Contact us at 603-669-4533 or order online!