Brier Hill Style
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by Ezzo Sausage Company, here in Columbus. It’s a custom recipe just for us.” As the pizza cooks, the little discs of pepperoni curl upward, cupping droplets of flavorful grease as their edges lightly char. It’s addicting and crave-worthy. If you move away, Massey’s will ship four partially baked pizzas, frozen and packed in dry ice, to most U.S. states including Alaska and Hawaii. — Lisa Sands Massey’s Pizza has 15 locations throughout central Ohio and one location on Pawley’s Island, South Carolina. For more information, visit masseyspizza.com.
Other places to find Columbus Style pizza: Rubino’s Pizza • Bexley This red-and-white-checkered pizza spot delightfully hangs on to another era and is still cash only. 2643 E. Main St., Bexley 43209, 614/235-1700, rubinosofbexley.com
Tommy’s Pizza • Various Locations Try the loaded All-The-Way pizza at this spot that has locations near The Ohio State University campus as well as in Upper Arlington and Dublin. tommyspizza.com
Terita’s Pizza • Columbus Pizza Connoisseurs of Columbus named this family-run spot Central Ohio’s Pizza of the Year in 2018 and 2019. 3905 Cleveland Ave., Columbus 44324, 614/475-2100, teritas.com 86
M A R C H / A P R I L 2022
St. Anthony of Padua
t. Anthony of Padua in Youngstown’s Brier Hill neighborhood had been serving its signature style of pizza for decades before the pandemic forced it to put its weekly Friday sale on hold. When the church brought back the sale on Saturdays in 2020, Ernie DiRenzo — a retiree who manages the volunteers who work the fundraiser — was concerned customers might not return. It turns out he had nothing to worry about. “The first week, we sold out in a couple hours,” he recalls. “The second week, it was an hour. The third week, it was half an hour.” St. Anthony of Padua’s Brier Hill style of pizzas — comparable to Philadelphia’s tomato pie — is deceptively simple: red sauce topped with red and green peppers and Romano cheese. DiRenzo says they’ll add hot peppers or sausage upon request, but that’s about it. The style of pizza has its roots in the Youngstown working-class neighborhood named for former Ohio Gov. David Tod’s estate, built on a hill festooned with brier plants. The area drew scores of immigrants, first the Welsh who mined the coal seam, and eventually the first Italians in Youngstown. Soon coke and blast furnaces — many operated by the Tod family’s companies — sprung up throughout Youngstown. And in Italian neighborhoods, communal brick ovens were built, stoked by the men before leaving for work
PIZZA RACK: BRIAN KAISER; PIZZA MAKING: ELAINE MANUSAKIS/EVERY ANGLE; BRIER HILL PIZZA: COURTESY OF ERNIE DIRENZO
This Catholic church in Youngstown has been selling its take on the region’s working-class-inspired pizza style as a fundraiser since the 1950s.