A-list Miami nightclub impresario Tommy Pooch—a native Brooklynite—founded his Pucci’s Pizza in 1992, sold the company, then recently reestablished it with biz partners Alan Roth and DJ Irie. The “Brooklyn-style” restaurant has two locations: smack dab in South Beach and downtown Miami, which opened in February and has quickly taken off.
Pucci’s pizzas are named for Brooklyn neighborhoods: the Canarsie, the Coney Island, the Prospect Park and… the Brooklyn Heights. The smash menu item comprises a white pizza made with four types of cheese—Romano, mozzarella, parmigiana and ricotta—then brushed with olive oil and topped with fresh garlic.
And the others, according to The Miami Herald: The Canarsie is topped with pepperoni, bacon and red and green bell peppers; the Coney Island has BBQ chicken and sweet red onions; and Prospect Park is for meat lovers, with meatballs, ham and sausage.
Pucci’s manager Johny Calella, who hails from Pooch’s neighborhood of Borough Park, says all pizzas are cooked in a brick oven and use only homemade sauce with plum tomatoes. Two: “It’s the love we put in it. You gotta have love when you cook. If not, it shows,” he tells the Herald.
