About

Pizza In The House brings homemade pizza into your home.  This website contains a blog, podcast, and videos that teach you how to make pizza.  We also have books, journals, and online courses that easily accessible to anyone who wants to learn more.  Pizza In the House is a subsidiary of Vista United LLC.

Intro Vittorio Anastasio – Creator

I created this website as a way to share pizza-making techniques with my friends and anyone interested.  I grew up in a family restaurant, and in my roots, I am a fourth-generation Pizza maker.   Please note I did, however, take a 32-year break in making pizza but never stopped being an avid connoisseur or

Creator Vittorio Anastasio making pizza in his home

connected to people in the industry.  In 2016 I started making pizza at home on a weekly basis and have enjoyed every minute of it.    I’ve been experimenting,  reading, researching, taking classes, collaborating, and learning a lot as well as learning the more I learn, the more I need to learn.  I consider myself more of a student who is sharing as I learn.  I’m sure that over time I will be re-writing and modifying a lot of my entries as I have already done so before even publishing my first batch of postings.  There is a lot to gain by making pizza at home, and it is a different art and skill set than making large quantities at a restaurant with industrial equipment.  Not only do you have the ability to create amazing quality food at a ridiculously cheap cost, but it is also something that is fun and builds community.  I hope this website inspires you and helps get you started making pizza in your own home.

Pizza in the House Inspiration

As I was researching pizza on the web, I noticed a lot of recipes and a lot of resources but I saw the need for one site that is dedicated to getting you started and lead you through the process.   I came up with the idea that I can pass along the skills on how to make pizza to my daughters just by making it at home once a week because that is the cycle that we would order take out and they don’t seem to ever tire from that.  In learning how to make pizza at home I first started working with my father on our restaurants’ recipe, I read up on the internet, purchased some books, talked to people in the industry, made some calls to friends and family, and I learned that there is a lot to learn.   I also learned how great of a social activity it is for your home.  I think it’s even more fun than Barbequing which I still love to do. You can do it indoors, and the kids enjoy getting involved.  Guests have fun watching, learning, and trying out the process too.  Everyone I know asks me to write down my recipes and methods, and so that is why I created Pizzainthehouse.com .

Why the name Pizza in the House?

I wanted something that was easy to remember, fun, explained what the goal of the site was, and that represented a community.   The goal is to help you learn how to make pizza in your own house.  I also like the meaning of the word House.  If you are into Harry Potter or Game of Thrones, you know how they have the different houses.  So house represents that small niche community that I want to build for the people who want to connect with the pizza-making process.  I have a couple of other house domains on different subjects that are being launched too.

Vittorio “Victor” Anastasio at Victor’s Pizza

Vittorio Anastasio’s Personal Pizza History

Vittorio Anastasio and his grandson Vittorio Anastasio at Victor’s Pizza approx 1969

In my childhood, I dreamed of running a family restaurant as I looked up to my grandfather, my father, and my other relatives who all made a name for themselves in the pizzaiolo world.   I was known as the kid who knew how to make pizza.  I was featured in the news on several occasions as the little kid who would make pizzas alongside my grandfather as a three-year-old or and on a couple of episodes on the local channel for kids programming when I was 6 through 8 years old.  Also, every

Vittorio making pizzas as a toddler

time someone made pizza at our family restaurant you literally stepped on stage because we had our pizza counter in a window on a busy pedestrian street. The pizza was still a relatively new food on the west coast so people would stand around in awe to watch the pizza-making process.   Being a pizza maker was the next best thing to being a rock star because you were well known and you produced something that brought pleasure to people.

There is a unique community that is built around a restaurant and having a steady flow of customers who keep returning and become your extended family as there is a bond formed over time.  Watching kids grow up on your food and sharing laughs with people over time is a unique experience.   A restaurant can become the center of a neighborhood.   We had a colorful mix of customers including local tv newscasters from KRON/NBC which was located near our restaurant, famous actors and musicians, director Francis Ford Coppola, journalists (Herb Cain was a regular), politicians, police officers, Patty Hearst and her parents, and many more.  Everyone was pretty much treated the same too as the restaurant inadvertently served as a comfortable cross juncture of city culture.  There is something special when a restaurant is being run by parents, children, and grandchildren, and customers come in and feel like they are part of your family.   Over time they do become part of your extended family.  My aunt ended up marrying a police officer that was a regular customer. My grandfather was the backbone of the restaurant and after he passed away in 1975 the business slowly began to erode from its’ peak.   In this day and age of chains and franchises, you just don’t find this kind of atmosphere very often.

Challenges in the Restaurant World

There was a rough side to the business, but there was one major issue that pushed me away from the industry.   Some of the common known challenges were concerns for me but nothing I felt, at a naive young age, that I couldn’t overcome.  It’s a job that never ends, and the level of work required to run a quality restaurant is never-ending.   Neighborhoods change and Polk street in the 1980s was going through a rough transition as the AIDS epidemic wiped out many of the owners and drugs, prostitution and violent crime was at an all-time high.   In 1984, my father offered to give me the restaurant for free.  It was a dream come true, but I just had graduated from High School, and I wanted to continue wrestling at the collegiate level.  I thought about trying to do both but there was one issue that I had, and it was the deal-breaker.  Smoking.  At the time smoking was still allowed in restaurants and my grandmother who had never smoked had just died of lung cancer from second-hand smoke.   I had asthma too so coming home smelling like an ashtray and always coughing was no way that I wanted to live the rest of my life.  But, I thought it is something that I could get into after I retire as the thought of having a restaurant community as part of my life was always appealing but it was something I able to closely replicate as an educator connected to a school community.

Family History Ischia Roots in the Bay of Naples

Vittorio Anastasio in Ischia early 1950’s in front of his father’s hotel

Pizza all dates back to my great grandfather Stanislao Anastasio who was born and raised on the island of Ischia which is located in the Bay of Naples.   He had experience working in different restaurants and in hospitality.  He opened the first and largest hotel on the Island of Ischia.  Unfortunately, the government decided to make a road through the center of the oldest and largest hotel on the Island, and he died of a heart attack while watching the demolition begin.   My grandfather, Vittorio Anastasio,  took what he had learned from his father and opened and flipped a variety of food stands and small restaurants on the Island.  His specialty was Ice Cream, but he also dabbled in the pizza business.  The last place on Ischia that he opened, owned and operated was called the Dolce Solsta, which means the sweat nap, and it is still in existence today.

Post War and on Moving to the USA

After the war, the Italian economy was shattered, and after watching his father die during the government’s ruthless treatment of his business, he wanted a better life for his family.   His wife Yolanda Anastasio (Di Scala maiden name) was born in Brooklyn, New York after her parents immigrated to the USA from Ischia but her mother died during the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, and so she returned to Ischia at the age of 3 to be raised by her aunts.   She was a US citizen, and she went to the US on her own to scout it out to see if it would be the right place for her family.  She went first to New York and visited with her father.  He was remarried and started a new life, so she wasn’t comfortable living there.  Her brother was in San Francisco, and he invited her out to visit.  Once she arrived at the California city, she fell in love with the place.  San Francisco is three-fourths surrounded by water so to her felt like being on an Island and the saltwater air seemed to be a prerequisite for any future living destinations.

La Dolce Sosta opened in 1953 by Vittorio Anastasio in Ischia

My grandfather immigrated to the US in 1953 and worked at Toto’s pizza which used to have a shop on Broadway.   Toto was great at helping employ new Italian immigrants.   Vittorio and Yolanda Anastasio were living in a small one-bedroom apartment while their kids were back in Italy.  He was saving money while working for Toto’s Pizza and learning about the business.  Toto explained to my grandfather that he had to forget about everything he learned about making pizza in Italy and instead do it this American way because the New York transplants were their biggest customers and this is how they liked it. Toto originally learned how to make pizza in New York.   The pizza was not a main staple in the American diet at the time, if anything it was relatively unknown to most people excluding Italians, war vets who served in Italy, and New Yorkers.

Starting-up Victor’s Pizza

Vittorio Anastasio (also known as Victor) opened the family pizzeria “Victor’s Pizza” on San Francisco’s Polk Street in 1954.  He was able to bring over his children one at a time starting from the oldest, my father Stanley Anastasio, and then it was George, Bill, Maurice, and Candy.  In Italian, it was Stanislao, Giorgio, Guglielmo, Maurizio, and Candida.  At the time the Italians were Americanizing their names to better fit in.  Such as Dino Martini to Dean Martin.  Things started out slow at Victor’s, but by the 1960s to the 1970’s it became a well-known restaurant that often had a line out the door and down the block.

Victor’s Pizza in 1954 with Vittorio, Yolanda, Stanley, and Candida Anastasio

Giorgio’s Pizza 1 & 2 Spin-Off in San Francisco and Healdsburg

My Uncle George opened his own place in San Francisco on Clement Street and 3rd Avenue.   It was an instant hit and continues to do well to this day, although it is no longer owned or operated by our family.   George sold it to his best friend in high school and for many years was able to mentor him and coach him through the operating process.  George went on to open another Giorgio’s in the sleepy town, Healdsburg, which is a little over an hour north of San Francisco.   George was tired of city life and wanted to run a destination business as the wine country of California hadn’t exploded yet, but he had correctly predicted it would take off.   He took an old Victorian home and converted it into a restaurant and bar.  It was a great business, and it did very well.  He passed away at an early age of a heart attack while visiting Ischia at the young age of 49.   His brother Bill and niece Yolanda took over the restaurant until both of them passed and now it is being run and run by Bill’s daughter Marina Anastasio and son Angelo Anastasio.

Anastasio’s, Bills, Candy’s Spin-Offs

A short-lived restaurant opened by Stanley and Yolanda Anastasio about 2 blocks away from Victor’s was supposed to be the new Victor’s Pizza as they wanted to eventually phase out Victor’s and move the business to a property they owned.   Quickly they found out that customers preferred the smaller, cozier, and more historical Victor’s over the new restaurant.   Also, by renting out the property, they were able to make a decent profit while having a considerable reduction of stress.   Stanley got out of the restaurant business to do real estate full time.   William Anastasio opened and operated a short-lived restaurant in San Bruno on El Camino Avenue.   He closed it to pursue other entrepreneurial endeavors before taking over Giorgio’s in Healdsburg.  Candy Anastasio ran and operated Victor’s for a few years and then opened and operated a restaurant in Marin County before going into the antique business.  She helps her husband Ed Buck run Trader Bucks in Sebastopol.

New Jersey Pizza

My mother’s side of his family is also a part of the pizza-making industry. My great uncle Louis Lucullo took over his father-in-law’s restaurant “Conte’s” in Princeton, New Jersey. His Sister’s family now operates the restaurant.   Although I only worked in my family’s California restaurants, I enjoy visiting Conte’s when I am back east.  It’s the closest experience for me that is reminiscent of grandfather’s Victor’s Pizza at its peak.  It captures a family-run atmosphere that is well connected with their community while making exceptional pizzas.

Pizza in the House

Pizza in the House is a website, a video channel, social media channels, this book, a catering company, and a school both in-person and online.