Episode Details

Jimmy Fantin started washing dishes at Frank Pepe's in New Haven when he was 15. More than 30 years later, he made his first pizza in his own place in Stuart, threw out the first batch of dough, and has not thrown one away since.

Kerri sits down with the owner of Fantini's New Haven Style Apizza in Stuart and the newly opened Fantini's Fusion Kitchen in Palm City to hear how a mortgage broker who planned to run a four-table pizzeria for a year or two ended up with two restaurants and 69 employees. He opened in February 2020, three weeks before COVID hit. When capacity limits arrived, his four tables became two, with a line out the door.

Jimmy breaks down the difference between New Haven, New York, Chicago and Florida pizza, and explains why nobody at Fantini's says the B word. He shares what happened to the guests who did, along with the story of a New Yorker in a Yankees hat who learned that "white pizza" means something different in New Haven. Then there's the day Dave Portnoy walked in for a One Bite review, the pie that was already in the oven, and the six weeks that followed.

Kerri also gets the story behind Slice of America: Charred in the Florida Sun, the documentary that premiered at the Lyric Theatre, and Jimmy's first-place waltz at a charity dance competition at the Kravis Center. They talk restaurant margins, why marketing budgets shouldn't get cut in summer, and why Jimmy slips his dishwashers a $20 bill on busy nights. The rapid-fire round includes the pizza he'd serve Portnoy tomorrow.

Listen if you're:

• A restaurant owner thinking about opening a second concept close to your first

• Curious what separates New Haven pizza from New York pizza

• Wondering what a Dave Portnoy One Bite review does to a small restaurant

• An operator weighing marketing spend against tight margins

• A Treasure Coast diner looking for your next pizza night in Stuart or Palm City

Connect with Jimmy Fantin:

Fantini's: https://www.fantinisapizza.com

IG: https://www.instagram.com/fantinisitalianrestaurant

Forking Around with Flavor South Florida Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forkingaroundpodcast

Flavor South Florida Website: https://www.flavorsouthflorida.com/

Flavor South Florida Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/FlavorSouthFlorida

Kerri Paizzi Website: https://www.kerripaizzi.com/

Kerri Paizzi Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/KerriP316

This episode is sponsored by Altima Caviar. Visit https://altimacaviar.com

Forking Around with Flavor South Florida is recorded at PodPlus Studios in Jupiter, Florida and produced by Hype Boss. To learn more visit https://podplusstudios.com