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A UMass Boston grad has revived Italian-style pizza on Dot. Ave., the Dorchester Reporter notes. Antonio's Pizzeria opened at the end of June at 1508 Dorchester Ave.
The space formerly housed Hi-Fi Pizza (unrelated to the defunct Cambridge pizzeria of the same name) until the 50-year-old shop shuttered last spring after not paying taxes for a while.
Brian Chavez; his father, Hannibal; and cousin, pizza chef Hilson Guerrero, opened the shop. "All of the pizza around here is Greek, pan-style pizza. Hi-Fi was the only place in the immediate radius that served Italian, thin-crust, hand-tossed pizza. That’s why a lot of people appreciated their food. So I saw that the demand was there for that type of product," Brian Chavez told Dot News.
The name, Antonio's, is in honor of Brian's late uncle. It's not to be confused with Antonio's Pizza, a small chain based in Amherst that is especially popular among the UMass crowd in Western Mass and the Providence College community around its Rhode Island branch. It also has locations in Easthampton, Belchertown, College Station, TX; and Champaign, IL.
That company announced last year that it has plans to come to Boston, Worcester, and Lowell, but there has been no movement on those fronts. Antonio's Pizza has promised to keep fans up-to-date with news on Facebook, but despite near constant inquiries on the page, no further information has been announced.
An employee reached today at the Amherst Antonio's said, "We have definite plans to move to Boston. We just don't have a good location. That's why it's taking us so long." The manager said the company has a site in Worcester, but he wasn't ready to divulge details yet. "Worcester will be the first; that one's getting close. Boston and Lowell will be after Worcester gets settled," he said.
In Fields Corner, Antonio's pies are a hybrid of a personal recipe from Guerrero, a Same Old Place alum, and the Hi-Fi pizza. An employee reached at the new shop today said all the pizzas have been popular, especially plain cheese and pepperoni. Steak and cheese subs have been a go-to for customers in these first weeks, too.
Antonio's Pizzeria is open daily at 11 a.m., and it closes between midnight and 2 a.m. depending on traffic.
