After operating for seven months at a shared commissary kitchen in Rail Head Industrial Park, San Giuseppe Pizza recently relocated to a more traditional restaurant space in North Naples.
Formerly able to offer only takeout and delivery, San Giuseppe now has its own dining space at its new pizzeria 7 miles south in Olympia Park near the southwest corner of Airport-Pulling and Vanderbilt Beach roads. The unit at 2400 Vanderbilt Beach Road, behind Walgreens and near The Alamo indoor gun range, most recently was home to Rio Pizzeria and Pete’s Pizzeria.
The new San Giuseppe Pizza opened May 27, continuing a long family tradition for Chef Michael Buonsante, who co-owns the pizzeria with his wife, Raeann. Pizza has been the Buonsante family business for more than 50 years, originating in northeastern Pennsylvania in 1972. Buonsante’s parents immigrated to New York City from Mola di Bari in the Apulia region on the heel of Italy’s boot.
Buonsante was born in Brooklyn, but his family relocated to Pennsylvania, where his dad had the opportunity to build a restaurant chain. Michael and Raeann Buonsante moved to Ave Maria five years ago, following their daughter who attended Ave Maria University and graduated two years ago.
“I’ve been in this business my whole life,” Buonsante said. “My father and mom came from Italy. They went to Brooklyn. And then from Brooklyn, my dad got the recipe.”
Referring to the tried-and-true pizza recipe as old school, authentic New York, Buonsante still uses his dad’s ingredients and methodology that started more than a half-century ago. The name of his pizzeria is new, though. San Giuseppe is Italian for St. Joseph.
“I wanted to come up with a new name, so I picked my favorite saint, St. Joseph. Joseph was a good man. He was a good guy to Jesus. He’s a protector and he’s the worker, patron saint of the worker,” said Buonsante, whose surname means “good saint” in Italian.
San Giuseppe Pizza had a modest but successful start in its initial location on Rail Head Boulevard with just curbside pickup and delivery service. “Because it’s a new name, we wanted to build our brand first online. We were successful in a nonretail space, which is more challenging,” he said. “We did get our name out because of the quality. We wanted to find a good opportunity like this one.”
Last fall’s closing of Rio Pizzeria, a short-lived Brazilian pizza concept, opened the door for San Giuseppe to expand to a restaurant with dine-in options. For now, the business still has a lot of pizza deliveries and to-go orders rather than patrons dining in. “Most of it’s takeout until we build our name here in this neighborhood, once word gets around that we have eat-in,” Buonsante said.
The business offers pizza slice specials for lunch, 11-inch personal pizzas, 16-inch large pizzas, 14-inch stuffed pizzas, as well as square pizzas for the popular Grandma and Sicilian pies.
“Our most popular item is the Grandma Pizza. Very popular,” Buonsante said. “It’s a square kind of like a little bit fried in a pan with oil in the oven. Thin crust square. And then I put the mozzarella cheese and put heavier dabs of sauce on top, like a hardier sauce, and I drizzle pesto. It’s very crispy. So, we’re famous for that, Grandma Pizza.”
Rounding out the top five pizza favorites include the Margherita, Meat Lovers, Supreme and Buffalo Chicken specialty pies, he said.
Other scratch menu items include stromboli, calzones, salads and appetizers, such as Buffalo chicken bites, garlic knots, meatballs and pepperoni sticks. Desserts include cannoli and tiramisu. They also are going to add wine and beer.
“We wanted to keep the menu simple. I want to keep my focus. I wanted to focus on my strength,” Buonsante said. “I know I could do more things, more different things and more variety but I don’t want to lose focus on what I do best.”
The Buonsantes plan to grow their local concept, so don’t be surprised to see San Giuseppe eventually open additional locations in Collier County.
Hours are 11 a.m. to 7:45 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The business is closed Sundays. The pizzeria has an 8-mile delivery area.
