The Original Vodka Pizza that Became a National Trend

Back in 1993 at the Original Goodfella"s Brick Oven Pizza on Hylan Boulevard in Staten Island New York we created the "VODKA PIE" by a stroke of luck one night. My little brother Scot was enjoying some Penne Pasta with Vodka sauce and dipping some Italian bread in it when he asked " I wonder how a pizza would be with this sauce?" So off to the pizza station we went and began the test. Fantastic we thought but our customers-predominantly Italian did not agree at first. '' What is this orange stuff on the pizza?" "That doesn't look good". "What the hell is that?" and other choice phrases were used to question not only the pizza but our mental soundness. As usual we persisted with sampling and taste tests and it started catching on but once Rudy Giuliani, who was the Mayoral candidate at the time, tried it and started talking about the Vodka Pie at Goodfella's on the TV and radio it went wild! Not only that but it won the best pizza in the East and ultimately the coveted "Best Pizza in America" Wow! Then more TV from around the country and as the saying goes- the rest was history. Back in the early 90's before the internet if you can imagine, gourmet pizza cooked in a wood burning brick oven was a completly unknown animal and the term fast casual was not even coined but pizza is life and word got around so that everyone can enjoy it.