Joseph Pisano & Anthony Cardinale of Culo Grosso Pizza: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became a Restaurateur
An Interview With Martita Mestey
Always make sure you have back up. OF EVERYTHING. You never know when you’re going to need that little extra something.
As part of our series about “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Became a Restaurateur”, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Joseph Pisano & Anthony Cardinale of CG Pizza.
Founded by second generation Italians who want the world to know the importance of good, quality food — Joseph Pisano & Anthony Cardinale launched their on-the-go mobile pizzeria: Culo Grosso. Serving the truest Neapolitan Pizza NY/NJ can get, CG offers not only exceptional food, but an unforgettable authentic experience.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to ‘get to know’ you a bit. Can you share with our readers a story about what inspired you to become a restaurateur?
Being a restaurateur is a goal we always had in mind. We both own a few other businesses in the entertainment/event industry (Koi Event Group) and Anthony also has a career being an international DJ/Producer (Avision). When the pandemic hit, we lost a lot of business and we were closed for over a year. It was time for us to transition into something that has always been a long-time goal — the food industry. This all started as an annual birthday party for Ant where we would make pizza all day for everyone and have fun. We came up with a mock menu and had a lot of fun creating names and menu items our friends/family would get a kick out of. Hints our brand name “Culo Grosso Pizza”. It was then where a friend asked us if we would make pizza for her sisters Bridal Party, we both looked at each other and said sure why not. For a few months we practiced making dough, gathering the finest ingredients, and structuring the logistics. Long story short, we nailed the Bridal Shower and people started contacting us as we started teasing the idea of doing mobile wood fired pizza and catering. We have always appreciated an amazing restaurant with great food and experience, being that we are completely mobile we try to bring both to our customers with recipes from our family along with elevating our product. The biggest reward in all of this is seeing someone eat our food with a smile on their face, it is the same satisfaction of making someone dance and having an amazing time at event we perform at. I truly believe that is the reason we take a huge liking to this business, and we are honored to bring our skills to the forefront.
Do you have a specific type of food that you focus on? What was it that first drew you to cooking that type of food? Can you share a story about that with us?
We specialize in Neapolitan style pizza along with Sicilian specialties. We tried to find that balance of flavors that can cater to a little bit of everyone. I mean how could pass up on a hot pie out of the oven and Arancini right out of the fryer?! Our families and heritage are definitely the reasons why we first started to get into food. Anthony’s family is Sicilian while mine is half Ecuadorian and Sicilian. We both come from big families and food is always what brings us together. A story that always transcends to us is when Ant went to Carini, Sicily (his Nonno’s hometown)
and had Arancini, he said it was the best he’s ever had. His Nonno explained to him how his Nonna’s Arancini was almost identical to the one he had. So, sure enough, he came home and just had to keep trying until we finally got it down. He told me he asked the trattoria in Sicily question after question about Arancini lol.
Can you share the funniest or most interesting story that happened to you since you became a restaurateur? What was the lesson or take away you took out of that story?
A funny story that we can share is when we first started to think about doing mobile pizza, we bought a 14-foot trailer, 700-pound Neapolitan style wood oven, and we put a hitch on a small SUV. Not having experience, we thought that this was the most convenient route to go. So, one day we were going to get the floors done in the trailer so Anthony had to get an early start at 5AM to pick up the trailer and drive it down to my house where the floor was going to be installed.
On the way to my house, Anthony was riding in the right lane the whole time doing about 50 MPH and he hit one bump and the trailer un hitched from the vehicle because the heavy oven snapped the ratchet straps in trailer causing the trailer to rock around.
Anthony said it was one of the scariest moments of his driving career. He called me and said “Bro, we’re selling this thing, I don’t care what we do, I am scarred from driving this thing.” Luckily, the trailer was fine, and made it to my house, but we always laugh at how we thought this was all a good idea lol. The lesson was go big and maybe don’t come home lol. All honesty we were probably chewing off more than we can swallow.
Can you tell us a story about the hard times that you faced when you first started your journey? How did you overcome this obstacle?
A few battles we encountered was when learning how to have consistent dough in different weather, especially because we’re always making pizza outside. We fixed this by just playing around more with our hydration and trying different methods to proof our dough. Another hard time we faced and it’s not so much of hard time it’s more of figuring things out. This summer was the first summer all of our businesses came alive together and it was amazing to see. We didn’t have much sleep and worked nearly every day in the summer. So now we’re focusing on getting things A little bit more streamlined. Which I believe every entrepreneur goes through this process when all ends are busy.
In your experience, what is the key to creating a dish that customers are crazy about?
Keep it simple and use fresh quality ingredients. A Margherita (The Staple of all staples) pie is probably one the most simplistic pies we offer. It consists of Pomodoro (tomato sauce), Fresh Mozzarella, Evoo, grated Pecorino Romano, and fresh Basil. Trust us when we tell you though the difference of using just any olive oil compared to a premium Sicilian extra virgin olive oil is night and day. Balance is also key. With each bite you should be able to taste a bit of everything without one taking over the show! Picture ingredients like a group of musicians they all come together to create a beautiful song.
Personally, what is the ‘perfect meal for you’?
I think my partner and I have a mutual agreement on this. For us the perfect meal is simple, fresh, flavorful, and most important digest well. No one likes to feel like they need a wheelchair when they leave a restaurant.
Where does your inspiration for creating come from? Is there something that you turn to for a daily creativity boost?
I think being creative is something you can’t teach it’s something that comes over time with experience, and growth as an individual. Some people have it and some people are good at other things. Something we both turn to is music, and going out to try different restaurants. Being Anthony travels a lot he also gets to see what else is going on around the world, and that inspires a lot for the both of us. We both tend to feed off each other one of us will come up with something and add on top of it. We recently added Anthony’s sister Amanda to our team to help us grow on the catering side. She has a degree in culinary/ hospitality and also is very creative behind the kitchen. The three of us truly have a great time throwing ideas on the wall and seeing what sticks.
Are you working on any new or exciting projects now? What impact do you think this will have?
So as I mentioned previously, we are expanding our catering menu to come up with dishes that everyone can enjoy all year round. We will have a menu for each season selecting hand-picked ingredients to match the time of the year, and also catering towards the Italian holiday favorites. We’re also excited to announce we just bought our first food truck to help expand our vision and cater to all of our needs on the front and back end. The food truck will be going to backyards, festivals, pop-ups and wherever you want us aha! We’re so excited for these projects as they will continue to help us expand, and also take a seasonal business into an all year-round business.
What advice would you give to other restaurateurs to thrive and avoid burnout?
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Talk to the people in your industry. I don’t know if this is a universal thing or not, but our other industry was pretty competitive & for the lack of better words pretty cut throat. We found the food industry is supportive and likes to share their creativity! We’ve been invited to come in the back of so many kitchens! Another piece of advice is let things take their course, and challenge yourself to always be better.
Thank you for all that. Now we are ready for the main question of the interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I First Started as a Restaurateur” and why? Please share a story or an example for each.
1.) Don’t forget to bring an extra T-shirt in the hot summer cooking by a 900-degree wood oven. I think this one explains itself.
2.) Always make sure you have back up. OF EVERYTHING. You never know when you’re going to need that little extra something.
3.) Kiss every weekend goodbye. It’s very rare we get a weekend off, and we sacrifice time with family and friends to cater which we are always grateful for. This is something we’ve been accustomed too due to our Entertainment company.
4.) Balance. Balance is an important thing to learn in life in-general. When it comes to being a restaurateur balance is something that you need to know from your working with your food and even your life. Without balance there is no room for you to enjoy your work, and or life. Loving what you do is the most important part of all of this.
5.) Clean as you work. A clean kitchen or pizza oven is the best kind. Take time and take care of your tools, because that is your life line. It will only make your life harder if you don’t care of those necessities
What’s the one dish people have to try if they visit your establishment?
That is the toughest question of this whole interview. I will say our number one pie this summer was our “How Da Fig Ya Doin” Pie. It consists of our home made Calabrian Chilli infused Fig Jam with our locally sourced smoked mozzarella, whipped ricotta, and pecorino Romano. A must try when you see us! Although we truly pride ourselves in our Sicilian specialties.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
If we could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of goods to the most amount of people, I think we would tie in everything we do as a collective to make a bigger impact on supporting a few different charities. We would eventually love to collaborate with a variety rather than one specific charity so we can make a bigger impact. It would be cool to host a charity event once every season, to give back to everyone who deserves it.
Thank you so much for these insights. This was very inspirational!
Joseph Pisano & Anthony Cardinale of Culo Grosso Pizza: 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.