Santarpio's Pizza

Santarpio's Pizza is a well-known restaurant in the neighborhood of East Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was originally established in 1903 as a bakery. Frank Santarpio began selling pizza there three decades later. A landmark to locals and a destination for visitors, the eatery is primarily known for its New York-style pizza, which it has served at its Chelsea Street location since 1933. One Boston Globe reporter said of the establishment that "he average New Englander's only knowledge of East Boston is the sign for Santarpio's Pizza that can be seen from the highway on the way to the airport."HistoryStill owned and operated by the Santarpio family, the restaurant was one of the original pizzerias that opened to cater to Italian Americans who had emigrated to East Boston and the surrounding neighborhoods. Besides several varieties of pizza, Santarpio's menu offers only three other items: barbecued lamb, steak tips and sausage.For a long time, part of the restaurant's charm was the unadorned atmosphere plastered with walls of boxing memorabilia and posters, and waiters who were not particularly helpful. That has moderated to a degree in recent years, and even the baby-food jars that once held crushed red pepper have been replaced by conventional containers.