FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM JANUARY 2, 2020 • BUZZ • THE QUEENS COURIER 43
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Novelist plans to reopen his grandfather’s Forest Hills pizzeria
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
Th e 24-year-old wants to make
it exactly the way him and the
Anthony Sciarratta grew up
community remember the pizzeria
smelling tomato sauce and
— which opened its doors
watching dough kneaded at his
in 1969 and closed them in 2001
grandfather’s iconic pizza place,
— even if he might not be able to
Tony’s Pizzeria, in Forest Hills.
open it in the original location at
Seems like a kid’s dream, right?
100-05 Metropolitan Ave.
Well, Sciarratta admitted that he
“My grandfather still owns the
actually wasn’t all that fond of
building, but right now it’s a
pizza as a kid.
Middle Eastern restaurant,” he
“At that time, I didn’t even eat
said.
pizza,” he laughed. “I don’t know
It all began with his recently
why, when I was a kid it didn’t
published novel, “Finding
sit with me well. I started eating
Forever: A 1970s Love Story.”
pizza aft er it closed and I had to
Th e novel tells the story of a neurotic
pay for it.”
Italian-American young
But now, Sciarratta, who was
man who meets and falls in love
born and bred in Middle Village,
with a quirky Broadway actress
dreams of opening up Tony’s
and becomes inspired by her to
Pizzeria once again.
pursue his lifelong dream, all set
in 1970s New York City.
He calls it the “Italian version
of ‘When Harry Met Sally.’”
Sciarratta was heavily infl uenced
by his traditional Italian
and Catholic upbringing in
Queens when writing “Finding
Forever.” Aft er his manuscript
was complete, he even made it
a point to book a fl ight to Italy
and visit some of the towns he
mentioned in his story, including
Tuscany, Rome and Positano.
“My heritage plays a big role in
my work,” Sciarratta said.
Th e book was originally written
as a screenplay that he outlined
while attending New York
Institute of Technology, where
he got a masters for communication
arts. He self-published the
book on Amazon Kindle Direct
Publishing, and later landed a
book deal with Post Hill Press.
Th en, during the promotion
for his book, Sciarratta came
across hundreds of people that
thought he was his grandfather,
Tony.
“It’s amazing to me because the
following was huge,” Sciarratta
said. “All these people still want
my grandfather’s pizzeria to be
around, they were talking about
the memories that they made
there, the memories that they
made there with their mom and
dad and how they now want to
bring their kids there.”
Tony, who eventually closed
the pizzeria in order to spend
more time with his grandchildren,
said, “It feels good to be
a staple of the community, and
Forest Hills defi nitely contributed
to my success.”
Inspired by the community’s
overwhelming response,
Sciarratta wants to bring back
Tony’s Pizzeria in about two
years.
“It’s been my dream ever since
I was a little kid to own an Italian
restaurant,” he said.
But his grandfather, who
turned 80 years old in June,
told Sciarratta that it won’t be
easy. “He tells me that I better be
ready to work hard ‘cause a pizzeria
is no joke,” he said.
Photos courtesy of Anthony Sciarratta
Tony added that while he
wishes his grandson “good luck,”
he wants him to understand that
“it’s a very tough business, especially
today.”
Sciarratta doesn’t seem worried,
though. He’s confi dent he’ll
be able to make this a reality, just
as he made writing a book a reality.
Funnily enough, he wasn’t
always into English class or reading,
but recording experiences
in a journal was always a part
of his life.
“I love to look back on things,”
he said. “I actually found my
fi ft h-grade journal they made us
do in Our Lady of Hope, and we
had a question, ‘What do you
want to do when you’re older?’
and I wrote, ‘Star in a sequel to
“Grease” and write a book.’”
He can check off one out of
those two things, for now.
In the meantime, Sciarratta is
currently looking for an adjunct
professor position and will soon
begin promoting his next two
novels, “Th e Letter” and “Faith
in the Unknown.”
Tony Sciarratta and Anthony Sciarratta pose together.
/WWW.QNS.COM
