Salvatore Carlino, chef-owner of Brooklyn’s Lucia Pizza, did not have to look any further than his own upbringing when deciding what he wants his pizza joint to look like. Carlino’s parents were the owners of legendary pizza joint Papa Leone’s: “It’s kind of like having professional athletes for parents, then you decide that you wanna play that sport.”
Pulling from his childhood in Papa Leone’s, an iconic element of the legendary shop that Carlino brought over to Lucia pizza is its clam pie. “There was no figuring out that recipe,” Carlino explains. “It hit the pan the same way I saw my dad do it.” Every Friday, the Lucia team sources fresh clams from Avenue Fish Market. The team shucks whole clams, chops them, saves the juice, and then sautés them with a white wine butter reduction. It’s a labor-intensive process, one that Carlino only has his team do once a week. “It’s as good as it is because of the labor of the prep that’s involved for that fucking pie.”
Every element of Carlino’s slice shop, from the type of mixer he uses for the dough to the pies he serves, is inspired by what he watched his parents do. He finds some of his pizza-making techniques hard to explain, as they just come to him second nature. “I just do shit that I’ve seen done by people that were a lot older than me for the majority of my life,” Carlino says of his processes. “It’s worked out so far.”
Watch the latest episode of Icons: Pizza to learn more about how second-generation pizzaiolo Salvatore Carlino carries on his family legacy.
