MIDDLEBURG – You don’t have to fly 960 miles for an authentic New York-style slice of pizza. That’s because Tony and Sicily Zori’s family brought New York to the Silo Shoppes of Middleburg. …
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MIDDLEBURG – You don’t have to fly 960 miles for an authentic New York-style slice of pizza. That’s because Tony and Sicily Zori’s family brought New York to the Silo Shoppes of Middleburg.
The walls are adorned with all things New York, like photos of the skyline, Yankees and military memorabilia, posters memorializing the Rat Pack. And the sounds of Frank Sinatra gently play in the background.
The real New York are Tony and Sicily. Despite running Tony’s Pizza for 20 years – 14 at a previous restaurant on Fleming Island and the last six years at 2219 County Road 220 – the couple hasn’t lost their accent, attitude or ability to serve homemade Italian classics.
Even the store’s logo incorporates the name Tony into the Yankees’ symbol.
“We do everything fresh here every day – the dough, the sauce. We use fresh ingredients and we make everything from scratch. Nothing is frozen,” Tony said. “We brought our recipe from New York. That’s why we’re so popular. We don’t promote our property. We don’t even post anything on social media. We rely on word of mouth.”
It’s been a recipe for success. The majority of the customer base are regulars. Even when the bridge on CR 220 was closed for 22 months during a road-widening project, many went around the construction by battling heavy traffic on Blanding Boulevard and working their way back to CR 220 to feed their craving for New York-style food.
Their top sellers are the Supreme Pizza and calzones, and both feature hand-stretched dough. The pizza comes loaded with cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, green peppers and beef sausage. Calzones are filled with a variety of ingredients, like ham, pepperoni, chicken, steak and onion, meat deluxe (Canadian bacon, beef sausage, homemade meatballs and pepperoni). Tony’s can also serve a vegetarian calzone.
Tony’s Pizza also offers gluten-free pizza.
Other dishes include handmade garlic knots, fresh poppers, stromboli, ravioli, lasagna, manicotti, eggplant and chicken parmigiana, spaghetti, ziti, stuffed shells, gyros, subs and chicken broccoli Alfredo. And the Zoris serves cannoli, tiramisu, cheesecake and toasted almond tiramisu.
Tony’s Pizza is open Tuesday through Saturday. While a majority of their business is takeout, the restaurant has a cozy dining room with televisions – one that plays videos from the Rat Pack.
“When we came down from New York, we brought our family recipes with us,” Tony said. “Our customers have kept us in business for 20 years. Everything we do is authentic.”
Including their New York state of mind.