Buzz
Little Italy’s Lombardi’s finds customer influx
thanks to frozen ‘Sangarita’ during pandemic
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
A New York City staple
is balancing new menu
items without giving
up on their traditions amid the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Lombardi’s originally opened
in 1897 as an Italian grocery store
in Little Italy. The owner, Gennaro
Lombardi, became known for
the pizzas that he made that by
1905 the store shifted gears and
became the fi rst pizzeria in the
United States.
“At the time, a lot of Italians
lived in Little Italy and would
work in factories in SoHo,” said
John Brescio, former owner of
Lombardi’s. “Back then, Lombardi’s
was open 23 hours a day.
Workers would come in a get
pizza wrapped in brown paper
bag and then heat it up at work.”
Lombardi’s quickly became a
staple in Little Italy. Brescio says
that soldiers who had spent time
in Italy during the war would
come home and want pizza. Lombardi
would feed these soldiers
and also give them a place to
sleep if needed. Eventually, with
the invention of mixing machines,
pizza then boomed in popularity
across the country.
Lombardi’s is currently coowned
by Michael Gianmarino
and Gilbert Soto and now operates
two locations, one in Little
Italy and the other in Chelsea.
They still pride themselves on
using the best ingredients, but
found themselves expanding
PHOTO COURTESY OF ANTHONY SCIARRATTA
SummerStage Anywhere rounds out June
programming with unique streamable performances
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
An one-of-a-kind performances is streaming online
this week as a part of Capital One City Parks Foundation
SummerStage’s SummerStage Anywhere.
On June 26, Grammy Award-winning Beninese singersongwriter
and SummerStage alumna Angélique Kidjo
will give an electrifying performance at 7 p.m. EST. Her
exclusive performance will bring her unique Afropop world
fusion front and center. Both performances will premiere
on the SummerStage YouTube channel.
In addition to this upcoming performance, Summerstage
Anywhere recently launched “The People Speak,” a new
crowdsourcing campaign made in collaboration with
VOICES, a nonprofi t arts, education and social justice
organization. Summerstage Anywhere invites audiences to
share their stories on social media #PeopleSpeakSundays
and #SummerStageAnywhere when posting. SummerStage
Anywhere will feature a selection of those posts each Sunday
throughout the summer, highlighted as part of the “The
People Speak” campaign.
But that’s not all – starting in July, Summerstage Anywhere
will host a unique digital festival that will highlight
their menu is the wake of the
COVID-19 pandemic. One thing
that has particularly taken off for
Lombardi’s is their new drink
selection.
Lombardi’s has started serving
frozen sangria and frozen
margaritas, the recipes for both,
Brescio says, was perfected by
Soto.
“Gilbert has a knack for making
cocktails,” said Brescio. “It
helped bring an infl ux of younger
customers. They love the pizza,
but sometimes, before the pandemic,
they’d sit for 5 or 6 hours
just to hang out and drink!”
Another unique addition to the
menu is the Sangrarita, which is
the frozen margarita and frozen
sangria mixed together in the
same glass. During the pandemic,
online orders with these new
drinks were popular add-ons for
Lombardi’s.
Throughout the past couple of
art and music genres that were born in or represent New
York, such as hip hop, salsa, jazz, global, indie, contemporary
dance. The series will include interviews and
performances from iconic artists, neighborhood tours,
months, though Lombardi’s was
keeping busy with their online orders,
the restaurant started to feed
frontline workers. After sending
pizza to New York University
(NYU) Langone medical center,
Lombardi’s sent 50 pizza pies to
the U.S.N.S. Comfort.
Now that New York City is in
Phase 2, like many restaurants
Lombardi’s can now begin seating
people outside with proper social
distancing protocols. Brescio is
excited for the customers to come
back to serve them pizza unlike
anywhere else.
“I used to come to Lombardi’s
when I was fi ve years old and I
could never fi nd a pizza quite like
that,” said Brescio. “That’s what
really made me want to concentrate
on making great pizza.”
Lombardi’s is located at 32
Spring Street (Little Italy) and
290 8th Avenue (Chelsea) and
is open daily from 12 to 11 p.m.
Hours are subject to change due
to the pandemic. For more information
or to order online, visit
fi rstpizza.com.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF SUMMERSTAGE ANYWHERE
and arts engagement for the youth.
For updates or a full schedule of SummerStage
Anywhere events, visit cityparksfoundation.org/
summerstage-anywhere.
22 June 25, 2020 Schneps Media
/rstpizza.com
/cityparksfoundation.org
