Sicilian Love: A Chat With Regulars Avia and Joe DeMaio

by Joe Bonadio

Like all great neighborhoods, North Beach is a place made up of a million stories, and none too few myths and misconceptions. As I head into my nineteenth year here in the ‘hood, at this point I’ve heard them all: Stinking Rose is a good restaurant. There is a huge network of tunnels, built by bootleggers a century ago, that run beneath North Beach and Chinatown. And perhaps my favorite: Tony’s Pizza Napoletana is a tourist trap. 

Of course, locals who have actually clocked some time in the neighborhood know that last couldn’t be further from the truth. Locals dominate Tony’s place, especially on weekdays, and the restaurant’s bar is particularly North Beach-centric. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked in at lunchtime and known every face at that bar. 

And that brings up another oft-repeated canard: Tony’s Pizza is impossible to get into. I’ve heard it a thousand times if I’ve heard it once, and my response is always the same. Sit at the bar! It’s always first come, first served, so even if there are no stools available you just have to wait a few minutes. Just get the bartender’s attention, and ask if anyone’s settling up. Order a drink, and in no time you’ll be sipping a drink and perusing the menu. And as any frequent diner will tell you, service is always better at the bar.

It’s also way more sociable. The Tony’s bar is a great place to meet people—the vibe is just so positive. Everyone is having terrific drinks, and some of the best pizza you can find anywhere. Why wouldn’t it be? 

I’ve met dozens of great people at that bar, and two of them—Avia and Joe DeMaio—are the subject of this week’s article. The DeMaios are uber-regulars at Tony’s, and we met there just a few weeks ago. Unsurprisingly, we immediately talked pizza, and I enjoyed our chat so much I decided to bring it to the blog. Lightly edited for length and clarity, our conversation is below.

All right, so guys, thanks for doing this with me. I had the good fortune to meet you at the Tony’s bar the other night while you were having dinner. Tell me what you were eating. 

Avia DeMaio (AD): We were having a Big Kahuna the other night, the 20-inch.

Joe DeMaio (JD): Right, the Big Kahuna. 

Now, is that something you guys normally get? 

AD: No, but we get it occasionally. 

JD: We get it like once a year, probably. 

AD: But I can say that up until having the Big Kahuna at Tony’s, I was 100% against Hawaiian pizza. 

JD: Correct. 

I think a lot of people were. You know, Tony does it in a very different way. 

JD: Absolutely. 

AD: He doesn’t just whip the canned pineapple on there. 

JD: No, no, no. It’s the shaved fresh pineapple…

AD: I like to call it pineapple carpaccio.

Yeah, that’s perfect. Pineapple on pizza is pretty divisive, and in a neighborhood like this, how many people are going to rail against pineapple pizza? We have a lot of purists out here. 

AD: I know! And we are, too.

And everyone’s got something to say. So okay, let me ask you this. What is your all-time favorite pie?

JD: Ooh, a lot depends on the mood. Depends on the mood, and depends on the weather. 

AD: I really like the La Regina, Sicilian style. 

You mentioned that to me the other night. 

AD: Yeah, but that pie’s a commitment for two people. But I mean, so is the Big Kahuna. 

Well, you guys aren’t shy of commitment (Laughter). I mean, all we’re talking about is a little leftovers here. 

JD: Right. 

AD: You know, we’ve learned that if you let it cool down, and wrap it in single slices in foil and you have a good pizza stone, it heats back up from frozen quite lovely.

Oh, from frozen? 

AD: It’s way better than DiGiorno…

JD: Yeah, slightly better than DiGiorno. (Laughter)

It never makes it to the freezer in my house. But I think the Sicilian always cooks up nice. 

AD: It does. 

My way to heat it up is to bring it to room temperature, and then just put it in a dry pan. 

AD: Yes. 

It does kind of mess up the pan a little bit, but you end up with a perfect piece of pizza. The crust is nice and crisp.

JD: Oh no, I agree. We’ve done slices in a dry pan before. Absolutely. 

Especially a thin slice. So Avia, your favorite is the La Regina. I love that one too, it’s one of Laura’s award-winners. Joe, what’s yours? 

JD: See mine, it varies. 

AD: Whatever I’m in the mood for––he always says that!

JD: Yeah. Because like I said, a lot depends on what I did that day, the weather. 

AD: I feel like you really like the coal-fired. What’s the one with the meatballs and the spinach? The coal-fired one? 

JD: The Grandma?

AD: No, it’s the New Haven Lou. The New Haven Lou, but we get it with sauce and balls. 

JD: Yeah. 

Nice!

JD: New Haven Lou, sauce and balls. 

Oh right, because it’s a white pie. 

AD: Yeah.

I’ve never had that. There’s no limit to what you can do with that menu. 

AD: That’s like Stephanie always says: I like it with sauce. And I’m always afraid to not get sauce. 

Well, Steph’s been eating there for a long time, so you’ve got to change it up! It’s always good to ask the servers, but you’ve got to ask the right way. If I’m in a new place, I’ll ask: If I never have the chance to come back here again, what should I not miss? 

AD: If somebody asked me that about Tony’s, I’d probably tell them the New Yorker. Unless they’re from New York! (Laughter) 

JD: See, I would say the Sicilian has evolved into my favorite style as of right now. Like if you told me, we’re going on Thursday night. And this is the last time you’re going to get to go for sixty days…

AD: Yeah. 

See, the question worked on him! I had to beat it out of him. (Laughter)

AD: And then the Burratina…

JD: Which one is that?

AD: That’s the one with tomato sauce, like regular shredded mozzarella, fresh mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, and the balsamic drizzle. And that’s a Sicilian too. 

Yeah you’re right, that’s a great one. And have you had the green one, the one with the burrata and artichoke cream? The Burrata Queen!

AD: Yes, yes. 

That thing is absurd. All of those pies are Sicilian pies. 

AD: I think their Sicilian is easily the best I’ve had on this coast. 

JD: The crust, it’s so much lighter than the Sicilian crust I’m used to in New York. 

Totally. It’s not as oily, it doesn’t have as much oil on the bottom. Yeah, the stuff is just delicious. Although I’ve always been a coal-fired guy, the Sicilian and the Detroit are also high on my list.

AD: Well, we never get the Detroit at Tony’s. If we’re getting Detroit, that’s usually when we’re at Capo’s. Either that, or the cracker thin. 

JB: Yeah, that’s so good. 

AD: That cracker crust….and I have to say, I feel a lot better after eating the cracker crust than the Detroit. It’s that cheese crust. 

Yeah, it takes a while to process…

AD: I love it though, don’t get me wrong. 

Alright, we’re doing this backwards, so my last question is going to be my first question. How did you guys first come upon Tony’s? 

AD: Well, a friend of mine, a guy she was dating at the time turned us on to the place. We went together, and we got the New Yorker, and the spicy bucatini—he loved the bucatini, that was his favorite thing.

And one of the secrets back then—I don’t know if it still is—was to go right when the place opens, and get the first seating for lunch. And that’s how I found out about it. Shortly after we moved here, probably within a year. And Joe was skeptical because I told him it was a good slice of pizza.

JD: And to be honest, the first one wasn’t that impressive. It fell apart a bit, which I’m okay with. But that first one just didn’t have that zip we’ve come to expect.

Guys, thanks again for taking the time to talk with me.

––––

Shortly after my conversation with the DeMaios, I met with Tony and spoke with him about their favorites.

Joe Bonadio (JB): So the DeMaios really like your Sicilian pies, Tony—especially that Big Kahuna and the La Regina.

Tony Gemignani (TG): Well, the Big Kahuna is not your regular ham and pineapple pizza. Because you know, most pineapple pizzas use pineapple tidbits out of a can, Dole. We use fresh pineapple.

Back in the day I used tidbits—33 years ago. When I opened up Tony’s, there were a lot of things I didn’t start out with. I didn’t start out with pineapple pizza, and I didn’t have your combos, chicken ranch pizza, I didn’t have wings.

I didn’t have a lot of things that I used to do back in the day. Then after we opened, and we got our clientele, customers would ask me––and I remember one in particular during Covid: Hey, do you ever make a ham and pineapple pizza?

And I said yeah, man, I was doing that 30 years ago! And he said: I love it.

JB: Popular demand wins out.

TG: I remember talking to the guy; it was dark outside, and we both had masks on. And I said Yeah, I’ll add one to the menu. I do it at Pizza Rock in Vegas, and I do it at other places—but when you’re in San Francisco, sometimes you’ll have a food critic come in and kind of cut you down.

In the early days of Tony’s, we always had a side of ranch, we always had certain things. But the ham and pineapple pizza we never had.

So I elevated it with fresh pineapple, some local honey, applewood smoked bacon. A lot of people say that ours is a lot different, and it is. We thinly slice the pineapple, so it chars a little bit. It just has a nice fresh flavor that doesn’t taste like its out of a can.

JB: It’s a modern take on the thing. It’s not a pizza you would have made 30 years ago.

TG: We do a pineapple reduction over it, so if the pineapple isn’t as sweet at different times of the year we can adjust it, because it fluctuates.

And the La Regina is Laura’s pizza, and I don’t want to talk about it. (Laughter)

No, that’s a great pizza. It’s a Sicilian pizza, and it’s the one that Laura won with in Italy. You know, that was the pizza that we made the dough in the hotel’s garbage can (Laughter). That we had to sanitize and scrub out.

We walked in, and she said: What do we make the dough in? I didn’t bring bowls. And I pointed at the garbage can and said: I got this. Went in the shower with the garbage can and started scrubbing away.

JB: Because you know, the restaurant business is very glamorous.

TG: Yeah, she won with that pizza.

JB: The DeMaios reserved special praise for your Sicilians across the board.

TG: That’s great. You know, I changed the bake. We improved them a lot.

JB: Recently?

TG: Yes. Oscar did the new technique at Pizza Expo in Vegas, and he won in Vegas.

JB: Tony, thanks again for taking the time.