Remembering The Don of Dough: How Restaurateur Matthew Katakis Is Honoring the Legacy of Andrew Bellucci

When we craft a Leisurely experience, it’s our job to get to know our partners on a personal level so that we can learn what drives them to share their expertise. When we launched our pizza making classes with Andrew Bellucci this past Spring, we were excited to open a new chapter in a pizza legend’s life. Our team was excited to introduce our community to Andrew’s outgoing personality, but his untimely passing shortly after our first class together left us needing time to reflect on the loss of a new friend.

With time and with the blessing of Andrew’s business partner and friend Matthew Katakis , we knew we could honor Andrew’s legacy the right way by sharing his love of pizza making, which we’ll be doing starting Saturday October 14. In advance, we sat down with restaurateur Matthew Katakis to learn more about the power of a classic New York pizza and what to look for when seeking out a decent slice.

You are leading a hands-on experience with Leisurely that will showcase how to make classic NYC pizza, as well as honor the legacy of the late Andrew Bellucci. Why do you think it’s important for New Yorkers to learn about the history of pizza as well as get to know Andrew’s story?

Pizza is the quintessential food of NYC. Pizza and NYC are one and the same. All New Yorkers love pizza and so many would love to know the true history of pizza.  Andrew Bellucci was a pizza OG. When I met him, I became infatuated with him immediately because he was a pizza encyclopedia, some others called him a pizza nerd.  We had similar ubringings and our love for pizza bonded us together.

Tell us more about your background in the world of hospitality and your passion for food and restaurants. I know throughout your career you’ve started a variety of hospitality concepts that range from barbecue to pizza, so I’m curious to know more about your process for starting a restaurant business.

My passion for food stems back to quintessential family moments, where family members would get together for holidays and other special events and food was the center of it all.  My parents were immigrants from Greece and were blue collar workers that worked six days a week and really didn’t go out to eat other than 1-2 times a year.  They focused on home prepared family events in which they would prep food after work for the Sunday dinner or bigger family holiday events.  

When we ended up eating at a restaurant it was always a very special occasion so dining at restaurants became a mecca of sorts, since we had limited experience with them.  My parents would argue during the prep and stress when they were making big meals but when the meal was finally served, they basked in the glory of their friends for the wonderful food items they prepared.  

My favorite food my whole life was pizza but my parents would send me to Greece in the summers because they both worked and that’s where I got to experience authentic gyros.  Freshly stacked Pork Shoulders that were transformed into Gyros that I sampled every summer in Greece and fell in love with.  Realizing that there was nothing in NYC like that I decided to  open my very own first restaurant, Pita Pan in 2006, that served the most authentic gyros ever.

My career in restaurants started at 14 when I worked as a delivery boy at a Butcher Shop as my very first job.  Then I worked at a Pizzeria and a deli and eventually got into management.  Although I went to NYU to study Law, I quickly realized I was in the wrong career path and opted to go back into hospitality. 

The process for starting a restaurant is simple.  I fall in love with a food type and decide to replicate it to my tastes and flavors.  Once I feel I have a great offering, I then ask my family and friends to taste it.  Finally, when I decide I can share it with them, they are the ones that tell me I should open a restaurant and sell that item.  Passion for my products is the reason for my successes.

I feel blessed to have created restaurants around my favorite foods: greek gyros, bbq, Latin food and my all-time favorite, pizza.

What should a great slice of NYC pizza look and taste like?  

First all remember that NYC pizza is not like other pizza types… It’s not Neapolitan or Roman, that’s cooked in a 900-degree wood burning oven for 90 seconds or Chicago or Detroit that’s cooked in a pan- it’s NYC style!  It’s cooked in a gas oven, at approximately 550-650 degrees for approximately 6-8 minutes.  Other people call it NY Pizza but I’m proud to be the first to title it NYC Pizza for the fact that it was invented in Manhattan, NYC and not Albany, NY. It’s NYC Style not NY style, lol.

It all starts with the crust. The crust must be crispy and have a chew, not just crispy like a cracker.  I crowned Andrew, the Don of Dough because he had a compulsion to create a dough that was the best!  He was always chasing the Pizza Dragon.  He wanted to replicate a slice he tasted when he was young.  Almost like a drug addict chasing his first hit.  When its baked, it must have some char… char is flavor.  It must have a leopard spotting of char on the under carriage, and crisp up nicely.  When folded it should not flop.  The ratios of cheese and sauce are important to get the perfect slice!

Then the sauce must be perfectly balanced.  Not too sweet, not too salty but balanced.  Beautiful, canned tomatoes that will help elevate the crust into a perfect bite. Finally, the cheese must be Aged Mozzerella… not Fresh Mozzarella that’s used in Neapolitan style or Margheritas!  The right cheese will give the pizza the perfect balance and taste great!

Do you have any tips to help Leisurely members prepare for your upcoming class?

Come Hungry for both pizza and information because we will look into the history of pizza and learn how to make exceptional pizzas at home!

I know you’ll be honoring Andrew with several stories during your upcoming Leisurely experience, so while I won’t ask you to spoil anything, I would like to know, how do you think Andrew contributed to New York’s rich history of pizza making?

Andrew love for Pizza led him to help bring back and reopen Lombardi’s Pizzeria.  One of the first Pizzeria a in NYC.  It had closed in the late eighties, and he became obsessed with reopening it since he had a family connection to it going back to his early relatives!  He went on to work at almost every famous Pizzeria and Italian restaurants as a chef and consulted on restaurants world wide including Singapore and Malaysia.  He was a true OG!

To reserve a spot in one of Leisurely’s upcoming Learn to Make Classic NYC Pizza, head on over to our event page here.

To enjoy a celebration of Andrew Bellucci along with a five course dinner on either November 9th or 30th, you can reserve a seat at our Dining with the Don of Dough event page here.