Tony Pizza Napolitano: A Pop-Up Worth Popping By

How’s this for a hidden gem pizza pop-up?

You follow Tony Pizza Napolitano on Facebook. You wait for a post with a schedule and menu—it usually posts by midday on Monday. Days and times typically reads something like, “Silverman’s Farm on Wednesdays, the Norfield Grange in Weston on Thursdays and Fridays, 4 – 7 p.m. for all three days.”

Meatball + dollops of creamy ricotta

But that’s not written in stone. It’s wise to check the weekly posts to make sure. If pizza strikes your fancy on Silverman’s days, just show up. If you’re a Thursday or Friday pizza person—meaning at the Norfield Grange—you have to direct message the Facebook account to work out and confirm a time slot. Walk-ins? Ehhh. Sometimes. It’s best to reserve. Don’t chance it. No advance orders necessary, you can do that when you arrive. Cash is preferred but Venmo is OK, too.

There it is. All laid out for you. Easy-peasy, right?

Good.

But now that that’s out of the way…

Who is this “Tony,” anyway?

The “Tony” in question is Anthony Kesselmark. He has been a Weston resident for a decade and counting, and he previously owned a few restaurants in Dutchess County, a burger joint in Poughkeepsie and a few pizzerias in that area, one of which was Pizza & Stuff in Beacon.

Now, he’ll tell you, this is his business. “Thirty, maybe 20-25 years later, here I am,” Kesselmark says. “I started three years ago as a side gig to make a couple extra bucks simultaneously while I ran my restaurants. The response was good, people liked the pizza. It’s not a side gig anymore.”

If you stop by The Grange—where Kesselmark will tell you it’s busier because he lives close by and gets lots of support from locals—you’ll see that this is a full-time job. He still makes time to make small talk his customer between the stretching of dough, the rapid (but meticulous) assemblage of pies, before each is shoveled into an almost 800° wood burning mobile oven for 2 ½ minutes or so where they’re spun halfway through to achieve an even char.

Kesselmark’s semi-secret recipe, he revealed, is the same as it has been since 1995, but with better quality ingredients than were available back then. “I use 00 flour for my dough like most Neapolitan styles and I let it sit for a couple days, two-day cold ferment,” he says. More or less warm water or yeast one way or another and it affects the chemistry.”

Larger than your usual Neapolitan

There was even a day when Tony Pizza was at Silverman’s and Kesselmark scrapped it completely because he was unhappy with his dough. “I’m glad you saw that,” he says. “A few people gave me credit for it, a couple gave me flak for it.”

It’s not a stretch to say, after he cancelled that one particular night at Silveman’s, that Kesselmark is obsessive over what he’s putting out—he was set to give me a mistake pizza with a small tear in it, to which he immediately reneged on. “I can’t give you that meatball pie; I’ll make you another one,” he says. “I can’t do it. I’ll be thinking about it all night. I won’t sleep.”

Kesselmark isn’t a one man show! He needs someone to help take orders, cash, and expedite. Notice the high tech torn paper ordering system. “Sometimes my son and daughter help out, but I usually hire a few local kids and teach ‘em how to work,” he says.

All pizza OCD aside, he takes his pizzaiolo craft seriously, touching every single order himself.  His dough is light, and for a larger Neapolitan pie, it wouldn’t be tough to take down a whole one solo. There’s an adequate amount of sauce on the red pies, a perfect amount of gooey mozzarella, and toppings aren’t skimped.

Some of what he offers ranges from plain cheese pies, pepperoni (with roni cups that curl and well up with pork oil), and a classic Margherita made with a combo of hand crushed tomatoes and a little dollop of sauce, fresh but dry mozzarella, a drizzle of Partanna Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and a generous amount of fresh basil. “I don’t drop one leaf of basil on there; I want you to taste it,” Kesselmark says. And taste those pops of basil, you will.

Margherita getting toasty

Meatball and ricotta, “everything bagel” with eggs and sausage, Brussels sprouts with pancetta and honey, eggplant with cherry peppers and vodka sauce, and even a bunch of smoked meat BBQ pizzas have made the list as specials.

Soon, Kesselmark hopes to get a brand-new mobile oven out there. “I have it in my driveway now, but I want to build it out so I can cook inside rather than under a tent,” he says. “A few windy nights, a couple of us had to hold it up in place!”

Half and half? No problem! One half pepperoni and meatball, the other was a white pie special with Brussels, pancetta, and drizzled honey.

And there’s hope for a little more socializing when the pandemic improves. Whenever Kesselmark slung pies pre-COVID, he said people would hang out at The Grange BYOB style.

For now, secure a spot and get a few pies boxed up to-go, although that “boxed up” part drives Kesselmark nuts. “It sucks that it has to go into a box (insinuating he’d rather slice it up and serve it straight out of the oven),” he says. “It’s seriously the worst part for me.”

He might hate that part. His customers seem totally fine with it.

Follow Tony Pizza Napolitano on Facebook

Update: Now, all pizza orders require reserving a time slot like explained in the article. Starting Tuesdays in May, Tony Pizza will add service at Wakeman Town Farm in Westport. He’s also working on a gluten-free crust recipe that should debut soon.