The Search for Tony Pizza Napolitano’s Elusive Square Pie

The elusiveness of certain limited foods only makes me want THAT particular thing even more.

That’s exactly how I felt trying to track down Anthony Kesselmark’s square pizzas, aka, the grandma pie.

The first time I met Kesselmark back on a ridiculously cold, windy night in 2021, squares weren’t even in his repertoire. In the past three years since then, I’ve been a customer, and thankfully he and I kept in touch. That keeping in touch part, I’ll admit, was clutch. I read that guy’s menu every single week, plotting my next pizza, and then I saw it…

SQUARES!

You’ll usually catch Tony in Weston, behind the Weston Public Library or at the Norfield Grange, and at Wakeman Town Farm in Westport. It is always best, though, to check his Facebook or Instagram for the schedule.

But every time he had these rectangular, beautiful cheese first, chunky red sauce dolloped on top, heavy on the fresh basil pies, I wasn’t free to scoop one up. I’d then wait for the next square drop. And I’d wait. And I’d wait some more. Tony offered them so rarely that it made it tough to plan for. Then even when he was going to rock out squares, not enough people claimed a time slot, so he scrapped the entire service.

What it all comes down to for Tony and the reason why his “grandma” is so damn scarce has to do with it being a process—especially considering he’s doing this in a tiny mobile kitchen-trailer that houses his wood burning Forza Forni.

While the parbaking of the dough is done in a pan, Tony lets the topped pizzas sit in the wood oven, on the stone. It’s not a Detroit with the cheesy, buttery edges, this is more of a true grandma style.

“It’s more work because I don’t have deck ovens like most pizza places,” he explains. “They’ll put like 20 in there in the metal pans because they have more space. I can do like three. I can’t put them in a deck oven and let them rise a little bit. I can put them in for a second or seconds and have to pull them right out. It’s 800 degrees in there. People always wanna know why I don’t do them every week. There’s no way I can do this every week!”

Just to prep 40 doughs, Tony said it took him three hours before he showed up in the Weston Library’s parking lot to take customers. And on the wrong weather day, meaning cold, windy, rainy, snowy, hot or some combination of those factors, he may even have some dough struggles, and his loyal following probably remembers him abruptly cancelling an appearance because he refuses to serve something not up to his standards.

Those who haven’t had the squares are certainly in for something different than his larger, rough Neapolitan inspired pies, though.

“It’s a different dough,” Tony says. “Squares are a 00 and full wheat blend, 50-50, and a little darker dough. The other dough tastes good, but I wanted it to be a little bit different, in a different form, and a different flavor.”

The sauce is different, too. On the squares is a vibrant red slow-simmered marinara with cloves of garlic that get soft after sitting in the sauce, and there are still tiny chunks of tomatoes present on the final product even though Tony hits the vat of sauce with a wand for some smoothness.

Toppings for the squares are usually reminiscent of a classic grandma or for a few bucks more, spicy Ezzo Pepperoni is a worthy add-on.

“I used to use Hormel, but when the distributor ran out of it, I used Ezzo,” Tony says. “The people said I can’t go back to Hormel. The Ezzo crisps up, they cup up and hold the oil.”

While I was there grabbing my Ezzo Pepperoni square (FINALLY!), a few parents rolled up at their allotted time and had a request for a reverse grandma, sauce first, mozzarella after, because kids don’t want leaves (basil) and sauce on top.

Normally, when Tony is doing his usual round pies, he will take walk-ins unless otherwise specified, but when it’s a square service, he doesn’t since squares have to be parbaked ahead of time, and these take a little longer to fully cook.

And lastly, for the rookies to Tony Pizza, it’s pretty easy on how to go about getting a pizza. He’ll post the days, times, locations, and menu at the beginning of the week on Facebook and Instagram. While walk-ins are SOMETIMES allowed, it’s best to send him a DM on Facebook to snag a time slot. Ordering happens when you show up at the agreed upon time and make sure to bring cash or you can Venmo him.

With any luck, one day you might get your hands on a square.

 
For days, times, locations, + menu, follow Tony Pizza Napolitano on Facebook + Instagram