Help Rebuild Al Santillo's
El Presidente | Pizza Reviews
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00:00It's wild in there, right?
00:18Oh my god.
00:22Alright, so we're at Santillo's Brick Oven Pizza since 1918.
00:28We are in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
00:33This place, hole in the wall, frankly we've tried to go here, what, five times?
00:37Their hours are bananas.
00:39Like right on the thing, it says four days a week.
00:41I called it, he knew who we were, he says, oh, you're finally here.
00:44A bunch of people knew.
00:45He's like, you're lucky, I was going to close up.
00:47He's like, this guy just, he's a one man show.
00:48Get to 64 next time.
00:49I don't know what that means.
00:50They're telling me to get, they're telling me to get to 64.
00:51I have no idea what that means.
00:52It's like we just called in.
00:53We didn't have to menu.
00:5464.
00:55They go about a year.
00:561964 style.
00:57Yeah.
00:58Our standard pie.
00:59Yeah, but it has extra olive oil and parmesan.
01:00We just do standard cheese.
01:01Okay.
01:02I did get, they had some garlic bread thing.
01:03I'm going to try that.
01:04Great job.
01:05Thank you.
01:06I appreciate it.
01:07But this guy, he's like, you're catching up to some other pizza guy.
01:08He made me take a picture of it.
01:09It's like, I have it on my phone.
01:10He's like, you're catching up.
01:11I pay attention.
01:13Pete Genovese.
01:14He's like, you got to, you, you guys are now rivals.
01:15It's like, I don't even know who that guy is, but I guess I'm his rival.
01:16One bite, every nose rules.
01:17Big review.
01:18Frank, you'd like this guy.
01:19He knew all about it.
01:20You know what else I liked?
01:21Everybody who knows me, they're like, no, no Charles.
01:22I'm the most.
01:23I'm the most.
01:24I'm the most.
01:25I'm the one.
01:26I'm the one.
01:27I'm the one.
01:28I'm the one.
01:29I'm the one.
01:30I'm the one.
01:31I'm the one.
01:32I'm the one.
01:33I'm the one.
01:34I'm the one.
01:35I'm the one.
01:36I'm the one.
01:37I'm the one.
01:38about it. You know what else I liked? Everybody who knows me, they're like, no,
01:41no charge. This guy, 35 bucks for two pies, straight. I love it. One bite, everyone
01:46knows the rules. Santillo's, he said he just won an award recently. Cooked well.
01:52Cooked well. One bite, big review, Frankie. I'm expecting big things. I love the guy
01:58in there. He's just like this Italian guy, one-man shop. I was ready to leave. He's
02:01like, you're so lucky. I love him. One bite. Looks pretty good.
02:13Interesting.
02:22Good crisp. Very good crisp. One bite, everyone knows the rules.
02:28Wow.
02:33The crust was an electric bite.
02:41Sauce doesn't have a tongue and a tang.
02:45It's really cooked well. How I like it. Like, well done. I didn't ask for it well done. It's cooked perfectly.
02:58Yeah, I got it. I got it.
03:13The crust is so good. The crust is boosting it. I take the normal bite, I'm like, okay, I got
03:18where it is and I take the crust. I like the crust so much, it's changing my mind.
03:21I'm gonna eat three. Eat three. Solid, solid pizza.
03:28I think 8.3 is the right score. I think 8.3 is the right score. I'm proud of that
03:31story. I stick by it. You almost forget this guy on Camry. He's such a character.
03:35That's when he wants to be on there. But this guy, this guy's the real deal. If I
03:39was just voting on him, I'd give it like a 9.9. Like, I love the guy. 8.3, solid score.
03:43Very good pizza. And another big famous one off the list,
03:47St. Hilo's Elizabeth Jersey. It's a reveal. How long, how long you been doing it,
03:52one-man shop? Here's the deal. My grandfather started this business in
03:561918. My father started over here in 1957. I've been working here since I was
04:03old enough to stand up. I grew up in this house. Still living here. I'm 62. And
04:09what's your hour situation? Whenever you feel like closing, you just close? Right now I'm
04:12open Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 11 to 9. But I pretty stay faithful to
04:18those hours. But I built the business around my life. That's what my father
04:22said. The business is built around our life. So if I got to close for something,
04:27there's not another guy in the world that could come over here.
04:30Do you see what I do over here with this oven? There's not another guy in the world
04:35right now that could come and do what I do. Put these pies in here, turn them all
04:39around, twist them all around. Everything that you see here, go take a close-up in
04:47there. Everything that you see here is all done by eye. You gotta be taught by a
04:53master. The people that taught me were masters. See how you look at that?
04:57Yeah. You gotta know by eye how it's supposed to look. I'm glad that you stopped
05:02there and I'm proud to tell everybody, but I'm the last of a dying breed. If my
05:07father was supposed to be the last, and then I says he got sick when he was like
05:1257, he couldn't work no more, then it's like either I'm gonna take this thing,
05:17I know how hard it was, or else this good kind of pizza is gonna be extinct.
05:21Who else, what other pizza places do you respect in like New York, New Jersey area?
05:25There's not this, there's this pizza, and then there's everybody else, but who's
05:30got a good pizza like in this league? That's hard for me to say. I like it, keep it tight for your own.
05:36Because I'm telling you, no, I'm telling you the truth. You could bring me
05:40anybody's pizza and I can tell you what they're doing wrong. Yeah. Because this
05:44was handed down father to son for three generations by the guys that knew what
05:49they're really doing. You understand? This is a craft, this is a trade, this is not
05:54something that you're gonna grab a guy off the street and in five minutes they
05:57throw the guy in front of the oven. I'm sure everywhere you go, you see a lot
06:01of that. Yeah. Whoever they can get, and then the boss walks around, he's the boss.
06:05No, this is the real Italian way, how it was when they came here in 100 years.
06:11Like squeeze that. That's why I'm here. Love it. Because my father says, if you
06:16can't make a good loaf of bread, what the hell good are you? I'm gonna take this
06:20really good aged Pecorino Romano cheese that once you buy it, you can't use it
06:26the way they give it to you. You gotta buy the good stuff from Italy, but it's
06:30only aged so long. You gotta age it longer. The longer you age this, they
06:34can age this up to three years. This is, listen, I'm gonna tell you something, turn
06:39that off for a sec. Secrets Tracy. I'm gonna give you a line. When the real Italians come in here, I'm
06:45gonna teach you how to say it so you feel it. You walk in, you see the stuff
06:49that I'm making. This is the real fucking Guinea shit. Give it to me. I can say that?
06:55Yeah. I'm a Jewish guy, I can still say it? No. This is the real Guinea shit.
06:59Give it to me. This is the real fucking Guinea shit. This is the real fucking Guinea shit. Give it to me.
07:03That's how you say it. Alright, I'm doing that from now on. This is the real fucking
07:07Guinea shit. Give it to me. Done. I'm doing that from fucking now on. Everywhere I go, it's Italian.
07:12This is the real fucking Guinea shit. Give it to me. Alright, I like it. You can say it. You gotta authorize it.
07:20Alright, you hear that? I put your blood in it. As long as I, listen, everyone heard it. I just got blessed to say it.
07:26Give me the fucking Guinea shit. On my father's side, I'm 100% Italian and it's like he had a book. Old, old rules.
07:33Go through the book. Go through the book. If he could find something that was harder or longer, tougher way to do it,
07:39that's the way we're gonna do it. I love it. I love it. Give me the fucking Guinea shit.
07:45That's, no, I'll say it, but you gotta say it just like this. You got the real fucking Guinea shit.
07:52Give it to me. You got the real fucking Guinea shit. Give it to me.
07:56You don't believe this shit. When I was 13 years old, you see that bread? Yep. I used to put 163 loaves of bread in that oven.
08:07It was insane. And you know what? My father taught me and then he left me here by myself to practice
08:13and try, practice and try. And if I screwed it up, I had to make it over, explain it to the customer.
08:20That's, that's how you get the real deal. That's how you get the fucking Guinea shit.
08:23I was taught all the old Italian ways, the old like little Italian shopkeeper. It was great.
08:28He went to the, he went to Zatarra's, he went to Zintani's, he went to Calamusa's.
08:32It was wonderful when you went and saw all the happy Italian people that, you know, it's like,
08:36gave us like a little thrill. What do you think of the New Haven pizza? Been there? Like Sally's, Pepe's, Modern.
08:42The only one I had was Pepe's and I'm gonna tell you, he makes a good pie, but I got issues with it.
08:49It was like a discussion with you off the record.
08:53I mean, everyone has their opinions. Sally's I like more than Pepe's. Yeah, I never had Sally's.
08:58I think you'd like Sally's. Sally's is more like... All I could tell you is I never had Sally's,
09:02but I sent one of my intelligences up there and I got two videos I could show you
09:09of a guy that worked for my dad, that knows, that went up there and investigated.
09:15It's called, we do our, we're Italians, we do our own dirty work. Oh, I love it. How's that one?
09:22Perfect. You know, these guys, all these guys talk about pizza,
09:27and he doesn't even know anything about pizza. Well, I don't know, I know about eating it.
09:30That's what I want to say. That's pretty good for like the first time. I can't complain, you got the job done.
09:36So this is like... That's kind of hot to be eating, but you know. It's good for garlic bread,
09:42electric garlic bread. You want me to give you a demonstration how I clean the oven?
09:49This is like the most ancient thing you see over here. Now look, I figured out a way to do all this.
09:56Oh, my father taught me this. You see this, this right here? There's an old pair of pants tied
10:00onto the stick, but I have people here, I don't know how many times I tried to teach them how to
10:07do this, and they can't do it. Go like this.
10:15You must be like in good shape. Yeah. Like working out. Listen, this is like all the guys I had that
10:22worked for me, the gym rats, they used to love this because this is like, you know, a workout
10:30for like a lot of... Yeah. It's like a nice workout. Well, if you ever want to come down here for a couple
10:34of lessons, I'd recommend it because when you go out, then I know, I know like this guy's got
10:42intelligence that you've seen from me. A couple of pointers that you gotta be looking for.
10:47Well, yeah, you're already a ton today. I appreciate it. As I said, listen, I live and
10:51breathe this stuff. I appreciate it. You can tell. It'll come through. I'm glad we came. Thank you very much.
10:56And anytime you want to come back, you let me know. I'll work something out for you.
11:00All right. I appreciate it, man. That was great.
11:04I appreciate it.