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New York flavor has made its way to North Port!
On Episode 39 of the Hustle & Heat Podcast, we sit down with the team behind Piesano’s Pizza Cucina to talk about bringing authentic New York style pizza to North Port, building their restaurant, and what they’re bringing to the local food scene.
If you love pizza and supporting local businesses, this is an episode you’ll want to check out. 🎙️🔥
Automatic transcript from Buzzsprout. It may contain errors.
0:00 What’s up guys and welcome back to another episode of Hustle and Heat Podcast. My name is George, and this is episode 39. For episode 39, we got a special guest. This guy has been raving all over social media, taking Northport, Florida by storm. Without further ado, I’d like to welcome John Taylor from Paisano’s Pizza. John Taylor. What’s up, everybody? How are you? Welcome to the podcast. Tell us a little bit about yourself, what you do, and why you do it.
0:24 I’ve been doing this business a very long time since I was a kid, 12 years old, you know, had an opportunity to get into a pizzeria that my grandfather knew, the guy back in the day. 10 cents a box, you know. Just wanted to do something, make some money, you know, being a little hustler as a kid, like I was. And then I just worked my way up the ladder. Dishwasher called out, so I washed dishes. Prep guy was doing stuff, and I was watching all the time and there all the time anyway. So I started learning, seeing what they were doing, and then little by little I just kept going up the ladder. Um, and then of course, with some unfortunate events in my childhood and growing up, I was a little uh less fortunate, if you will. F*** that. I was poor as s***. So um the restaurant business was like a solitude or a way of release to get out of or away from some of the s*** that I was going through. So I always consumed all my time with being there. I mean, going into eighth grade back in the day, like if you didn’t have the fancy clothes or the nice stuff, you was the poor kid and always got made fun of or whatever. So I remember just grinding all summer before eighth grade, working every day, saving money uh in the kitchen. And I worked with a great group of people, Italian guys that were from Sicily, and uh, you know, they all knew each other. My family, my grandfather, they all had like the pizza business. My uncle was always in the business, but at that time I was trying to find my own way and didn’t really know if that was what I wanted to do, but it’s what I love doing. It’s what I ended up loving to do every day because I was good at it. I saw the passion behind it, and uh I just kept going from there. And then eventually I moved around a little bit to different areas in upstate New York, like between Pine Bush, Ellenville, Middletown, and I was back and forth through the city, and no matter what you do, you know, the the restaurant business is is always quick money. It’s always it’s always gonna be there. Like if you bartend or if you cook or serve, you’re always gonna make money, right? So you the more you put into it, the more you get out of it, let’s say. So I realized at some point around like 22 years old, if you don’t work, you don’t get paid. So I had to find another option. And so I was working for my uncle at his place and I got hurt and I had to miss a couple weeks of work. So I had an opportunity to get into the union and start at the bottom there, and I jumped in. And of course, the benefits and all the easy money, and you know, you’re working every day. Everybody doubted me because again, comfortability of what I was from and what what I was doing. Um, I don’t know. It’s just uh something always brought me back. So I opened up a couple restaurants throughout the year, or I took over restaurants throughout the year, helping people out that just whatever the drug scene or the problem was that they were going through, I ended up falling in my lap. And uh, I’m a firm believer that if you see the vision and the passion, you can make something out of nothing. Lipstick on a pig, if you will. You know, if you if you if you believe in it and you build it, they’ll come. Good food, good quality, good personality, it’s all a part of the picture, it’s all a part of the presence of of what you do, you know. And um, like 27 years old, I have my first kid, I opened up another restaurant in Middletown, and uh it was great. But you know, being young, dumb, making some crazy mis decisions and mistakes along the way, not really knowing both aspects of the business, if you will. Um, I’m a good people person. I’m a good executioner putting out great food and a vision of selling that food, if you will. But sometimes in the back end I wasn’t always so good. I really didn’t know what it meant to balance a checkbook or make sure I paid his bill before that bill and keep the lights on. So, you know, I’ve been through a lot of it. I went through all the mistakes that I think, you know, a person could make being in this business. And that’s why when I’ve come this far to come here, I vowed to not make any of those mistakes as best as I can, because again, I’m only human. Put my efforts and my all into this because I have children that I want to be able to leave something to, show them that their dad’s worth something.
4:15 How hard is it to keep the lights on in this business?
4:20 To struggle every day. You never know because there’s no crystal ball that’s gonna tell you if you’re gonna make a dollar or you’re gonna be sitting on your hands.
4:27 Yeah.
4:27 You know, and that’s the reality of it. It could be so busy one day, and the next day you’re hearing crickets wondering where the f*** people are. I mean, and that’s the reality. You could be the only person on the block, or it could be ten of you in the same row. What’s gonna separate you from all them? Why are people gonna come to you? So as we are evolving in in life and in generation to generation, all this social media s*** from when I was a kid doing all this, if some of my restaurants that I had the social media exposure back then, I wouldn’t even be here today, because why would I? The social media and the way that things evolve today with so many people having so many options at their fingertips to be able to see what they want, see what other people are doing, it’s crazy. Like it it is it’s mind-blowing to me. You know what I mean? I’m it’s a good tool.
5:15 It’s a great tool.
5:16 It’s a great tool. I’m still stuck in the middle of being old school and new school. I still type like this, but at the but you know what I’m saying? But I still I still can text and post some good videos and food. That’s why you don’t see me on none of the on none of the post. You don’t see me like, oh my god, look at my pizza. Nah, look at the pizza, focus on what’s important, right? Yeah. I mean, I not that I’m not a showman because I’m very like eccentric and I’m very like, you know, loud and you know, whatever, but that’s not what I want. On my social media platforms, you see food, you see my kids. Every once in a blue, you see me, right? This is not about me, right? So um, I just not that person. Like being in the presence of out and about, you’re gonna know I’m in the room. Hands down. I’m gonna walk in there, you’re gonna see me, you’re gonna know that I’m in the room. But out, you know, so I don’t know. I came I came to Florida, I’ve always wanted to come here. There’s always been an opportunity to come here, but I I’m like, I ain’t leaving New York. And I mean, and I’m a I’m a city boy, like I love being in the streets, the subway, the smells, the dumb s***, the bums on the trains.
6:18 New York is my favorite place in the world, man.
6:20 It’s it’s a melting pot of dumb s***. Like it’s so much fun no matter where you go. You can either get in trouble, you can make a dollar, or you could lose a dollar. That’s it. Like, and there’s so much exposure to everything. It’s a city that never sleeps, right? And so coming from that lifestyle and the hustle mentality, Florida’s a little bit slower. Especially here.
6:38 You didn’t move to Orlando, Tampa, Miami.
6:40 I wouldn’t do that because to me, I feel like why I didn’t open in New York. I could open up another place, but why be a dam a dozen? Why be like the same guy on the end of the block? Because back home, there’s a pizza shop on every corner. There’s a barber shop on every corner. Just like there’s a public going up every 10 feet. Why be what then what’s really gonna separate you apart to make money? You gotta go to a place where they need something, where they’re craving for something different, and it could be good or bad, and not everybody’s gonna like you. It’s hate or lover type situation.
7:09 No one, not everyone’s gonna like you. Some people are gonna hate you, someone. And that’s okay.
7:12 I love that because it fuels the fire.
7:14 Everyone, my my philosophy is like everyone has their own custom customers because everyone cooks different. You know what I mean? Some people are looking for that true like traditional pizza, some people are looking for something different. Some people are looking for that traditional barbecue, or some people are looking for something different, you know. So, I mean, to me it’s food. I don’t care what general you’re in, you know. Food is food, food is an art, just like you were telling me earlier. It’s like a paintbrush on a pizza, right? Painting a canvas. So everyone’s taste is different, you know? And um, even McDonald’s got regulars, and that’s fine. Yeah, so that’s just how I view it, you know. And some people like get offended, like, oh, his pizza’s not as good, or this guy’s food is not as good, but to somebody else, it might be amazing, right? You know what I mean? Right. Just because you got you grew up eating different types of food, different taste buds, you know what I mean?
7:58 And it’s all different areas, like you said, like everybody has experience or or or or love or love for whatever food. And it doesn’t matter. Like a lot of people always say, Oh my god, you make New York pizza. Well, I guess, but I just make pizza. Like, that’s what I love to do. Yeah, I’m from New York, so I’m not making Chicago deep dish or you know, any of these other like bar pies. Like, I can, but I’m not gonna claim to be that kind of person. Just like I I make New York style, I guess. I make New York, you know what really it is? It’s the display, it’s the options. It’s being able to walk into the place and seeing a variety. I have never seen that in a place in Florida in this area, and that was another reason why I chose to do it. I went to a pizza place and asked for a slice. Yeah, what do you want? I don’t know, what do you got? I got plain. Oh, okay, and they gotta go in the back of the kitchen to get it. What you mean? I want to see what you have on display, the options, the chicken, the vegetables, the sicilians. I want to pick out my own slice. I want that one with the bubble. Like you can’t do that in a lot of places. Majority of all places down here, and I’m not a corporate person. Not that I have anything against it, but if it’s a bag in a box or it it if it’s proportioned, you know, scientifically, that everything is precise, that’s cool. And and listen, I get it for the money, the cost effect. I totally understand that. I’d love to learn some of that, but to me it’s it’s quality over quantity. Like it’s the flavor, it’s the flair, it’s it’s it’s what you do to create your artwork, right? And what you what you put into it. One slice may have seven pieces of pepperoni, one slice may have five, right? Because maybe it fell off the piece on the side. Nothing is no two pieces are gonna be exactly alike, right? And and and that’s okay, right? Just like no two people’s taste buds are gonna be exactly alike. And so I just feel when you’re creating something with passion and it exudes when you tell people how it is, we could talk about food all day, all night. I think about it, I sleep about it. I’ll walk through the farmer’s market and envision different things because that’s where my passion is. And I’m creative, not just in this food. I could do Spanish food, I could do Asian food, I could do Thai food, I can do French bistro food. Man, I I’ve worked at all types of places. I’ve even worked in an avenue pea in Eastern in Brooklyn with Hasidic Jews. The only thing different from their food is that uh a rabbi comes in and blesses the food to make sure it’s clean. You know what I’m saying? Like they use mustard cheese instead of mozzarella cheese. They still use lettuce and some s*** out of a can, but they have their own way, but it’s it’s plain. There’s no extra seasoning, there’s no other chemicals, there’s no other byproducts in it that you know that are unhealthy, if you will, whatever. But everybody has a palate, everybody has appreciation for food.
10:37 Yeah, 100%.
10:37 So I just felt like Northport, because again, I searched around. Coming down here, I was initially gonna buy a place uh in the Port Charlotte area that fell through. But um, so I searched and I looked and I went different places and I met with different people and seen what they had to offer. I wanted something with volume of foot traffic. My last place was a destination place, basically. It wasn’t on a main road, it wasn’t in a plaza, it was off the beaten path. So it meant that you had to go there because you wanted to go there. Not that you just happened to stumble upon it when you went into the shopping center of the of the shopwriter publics. Like you drove to this mine. I had a nice dining room, a pool table, a bar. It got way too big too fast for me. Because again, you never know what to expect. And being young, 30 years old, 32 years old, you know, you make mistakes. So I knew coming here, I didn’t want the desolate place out in the middle of nowhere. I didn’t want the place that had a pet store or a mortuary or something that brought no other foot traffic because I wanted to do the display. My last place didn’t have this, it was a restaurant with pizza and food. So it’s sort of like I gotta go in the back. I didn’t even sell slices. I knew I wanted to do this because the footprint that I want to start here in Florida is having three places because I have three children. So I wanted to get my foot in the door by having a pizza shop with food. Pizza’s the focus, food is the option. Because I know I’m a wizard in the kitchen. I can create something out of nothing. Again, I was poor as s***. So I can create dishes out of leftovers that you’d never even imagine. Um but pizzas is like at the forefront, it brings people in. And so I figured with the foot traffic to get people in the door with the specials, the smells, and the visual, once they start trying my food, then I’m gonna open up another restaurant where food is the focus and pizza’s the backdrop. And then this way I’ll start shrinking down the menu on pies, be creative on specials, but the options of food will be predominant and focused first. And then maybe down the road open up another one. So my daughter loves desserts: some gelatos, some desserts, some pastries, some cakes, some espresso, a coffee bar, and that’s kind of what I want, like a coffee bar. So I have like little niche tapas plates, focus on desserts, and uh, you know, so we’ll see.
12:47 That’s a good vision, man. Yeah, man. That’s a good vision. So do you do you plan on bringing your kids down here one day?
12:53 I would love to. I mean, you know, I’m divorced, so they they live with their mom, and um, and they’re and it’s great. Like it takes a village to raise a family, you know what I’m saying? And so the support that I have from their stepdad, we communicate all the time, and they’re very supportive and understanding of what I’m doing. You know, initially it was like a what the f*** moment. Like, how why would you move so far? And again, I’m very active in my kids’ lives. Um, when I was a structural engineer in the city and traveling around doing all different work, I was traveling around the globe and the state and the country. So I wasn’t home a lot. Um, but I would red eye to make sure that I was at a game. I would drive through the night hours on end to make sure I was at my daughter’s dance recital. I don’t miss stuff from my kids. It’s the most important. Again, my parents passed away when I was little. So I didn’t have that upbringing of the nurturing of the mother or the showing how to shave and catch a ball with your father. I didn’t have that. Um my grandparents, that’s what raised me. As you know, my grandfather’s old school Sicilian, and it was a battle. You know, you you you kind of think he was like kind of bipolar. One day he’s really cool, and the next day you look at him wrong and you slap them down the head. You know, so uh, but it’s okay. You know, and he still instilled the family values. You know, nowadays I’m emphasizing no phones at the table while we eat dinner. On Sundays, we still get together and we sit down at the table, right? And anybody in the neighborhood or anybody, there’s always a plate for somebody. And that’s why I tell everybody, like on the Simon Gioquat are familiar. When you eat here, we’re all family. So my thing is I want to bring back that family aspect that a lot of people miss down here. A lot of people come down here by themselves, or they’re seasoned, they’re older. Their family’s elsewhere, so majority of the time by themselves. So I want to be able to bring back the family dynamic on a Sunday, most likely for the next place that I open that offers a big table and everybody sits and eats.
14:41 That’s a good vision, man. You know what I mean? I think people would love that.
14:44 Because it doesn’t matter who you are, at the end of the day, food doesn’t look at color or character. Food doesn’t judge you. Right? We all put our shoes on the same way. So when you share a plate of food and we both enjoy it, we smile, we laugh, there’s no better feeling. Right? And to me, that’s what I want. That’s that’s the vision I see. Bringing back an old school value in today’s world where everybody’s so caught up in the phone, everybody’s so busy running here, there, and everywhere. Florida gets to chill and relax a little bit. The sun makes you f****** hot. It’s hot as it falls down here, bro. It’s hot. It’s getting to the best time of year. You just wait. Yeah, everybody says it gets cold. My god, I work outside in the middle of the night, it’s 17 negative degrees.
15:24 I’m not talking about the cold, but these next few months is the like perfect weather. Yeah, I hope so. Some of you October, November, December, you’ll enjoy. Yeah, so you know, there’s many pizzarias around, you know, many pizzarias in Northport and Port Charlotte, Venice, Sarasota. I’m not talking about the chain pizzarias. What separates you from those pizzarias other than the display? I understand you’re very adamant about the display, and I like the display concept as well. But what is it about your food, your pizza, your passion that has made you such a sensation in such a short period of time in this area?
15:59 It’s the delivery. Because I feel people don’t just eat the food, they see the food. And then people don’t see the food unless you tell them about the food. When you exude the passion of what you create, I could put s*** on a piece of cardboard, but if I sell it to you and tell you that this is the best s*** you ever gonna have because it’s made with this or it’s made with that, and because I love it, and I’m explaining with a passion, it sets the tone. So whether it’s a cheese pizza or a clan’s casino or a pinwheel or a stuffed pizza or a barclay lob or an eggplant sandwich or a chicken palm hero, I don’t just say here’s a piece of chicken. I don’t just say, here, here’s a slice. It’s being creative. It’s showing the passion in the food that you exude day in and day out, and I’m here. I’m not absentee like a lot of the owners might be. And again, maybe down the road I’ll be here, there, and in between, but I’ll always be present. I make sure that, well, I’m going to try to make sure, let me revise that, that anybody that makes a product that comes out of my place is as if I made it myself. And I know that’s gonna be very hard because a lot of people really don’t have that experience. Some do, some don’t, some don’t, you know. I haven’t come across any people yet, maybe one or two that I have, thankfully. Um, but it’s okay, you always train the right person. What separates me from everybody else? Nothing. It’s a pizzeria business. Anyone can do it. But you can’t do it if you don’t believe in it. You can’t do it if you don’t have the passion to do it. Anybody could take something out of a bag or a box or throw some sauce and cheese on a piece of bread and throw it in the oven. Cool. It’s the consistency, it’s the working of the dough, it’s how you how you finish the product and you paint your canvas. The the proportion of toppings, that first bite with the flavors and the savory and the sweet and the salty, everything has to blend together properly. Now I have no culinary background. I have nothing that I didn’t go to culinary school, but I have a hard-knocked life of culinary experience. I’ve worked in the world.
17:57 I feel like experience is more important than school.
17:59 Yeah, hands-on. I’ve worked with some of the best and some of the worst. I’ve walked in s******* of places and was like, ooh. But that chef could do what he gotta do and makes great food. And that’s the thing. Growing up in the way that I grew up, I just adapted to the restaurant business. I just, I didn’t jump, but I experienced, I shadowed, I watched, I listened, I shut the f*** up, and I learned. There’s a lot of times, you know, being young, dumb, you got a box, and you know, yo, kid, I’m gonna slap the s*** out of you, keep talking. And it’s okay. That’s a part of the experience. That’s the memories that you go through. I mean, I’ve had scrapers thrown at my head, I had my face pushed in a dirty dishwasher.
18:35 I’ve seen uh one time when in my old job, I seen a Guatemalan guy throw a knife at a white dude, just f****** just went.
18:44 You the history lessons that we go through in this s***, like the and I’ve come across all ethnicities. I speak both Spanish and Italian, so I I’ve come across all ethnicities. So I love it because the melting pot between the drama of who’s sleeping with who, who’s a drug addict, who’s here, who’s gone. Listen, everybody comes together for the money and the job. But I love the dynamic of putting it all together. Because again, you’re in this business day in and day out, eight days a week, 25 hours a day. It’s your baby when you’re the owner. So you have to be here, right? Everybody else can walk out tomorrow and you’re stuck and you gotta do what you gotta do. What am I supposed to shut the door because you didn’t want to show up? No. Put your big boy pants on if I gotta be the dishwasher, if I gotta be the cook, if I gotta be the pizza guy, so what? If I gotta clean the grease trap, so what? I’ll do all of it. I don’t care. Now, do I delegate people to do those things and you try to have other because I would never tell you to do something that I wouldn’t do myself, right? And that’s just as simple as that. But this this this restaurant business, I tell everybody, the money will come. If I’m paying you a dollar today, show me that you’re worth a dollar more tomorrow. You prove that. And I don’t want the executive that cooked for the president in some fine dining place in Indonesia. Cool, I’m not paying you $100,000 a year when you can come here and you you can’t manage a line of ten orders at the same time.
20:02 I I’ve learned that like chefs whose work in those positions, this is not their cup of tea.
20:09 This is not their cup of tea because they have a team doing all their work for them and they can sit and fancy put the things together at the end. But if you’re a dishwasher and you want to come up through the ranks and you learn how to prep and you learn how to put things together, and you learn the both ends of the business just like I did, and probably just like you did, that’s what values to me. I’ll train anybody, I’ll teach anybody, I’ll give anybody a chance, a second chance, a third chance. But you gotta want it. This is what you gotta want to do. Because this is what I want to do, and I have a purpose and an intention, right, for passing it on. I’ve showed my kids, and I tell my kids too, I’m here, I’m doing this. It doesn’t mean you have to do it, because you have to have a backup plan. Be a barber, my son’s an operating engineer. Well, he’s going through the classes at Bosey so that ultimately he can become one. My daughter, she’s young, she may want to do other stuff. My little guy wants to go to the military. Cool. I’ll be here paving the way. So when you’re ready, you’ll always have something to come home to. That’s awesome, man. You know what I mean?
21:06 Well, we got a couple minutes left. Is there anything that you want to talk about? Anything you want to emphasize about your place? You want to show off the pizza?
21:14 I did make you a pie. You want to come over here? You could cut it. You want me to cut it?
21:18 Yeah, I’ve cut pizza.
21:22 You gotta work the pizza.
21:24 Alright, there we go.
21:25 Now the other way, the other way something is what we’re talking about. Here we go, folks. Nice little cut.
21:36 Put the new cameras in, the new pizza oven. Hey. I can even take the whole thing with you. Like three or four bottles. I give them a lot of time like for lunch, just so I can get out and do something different. Uh so now you just break it. You want to eat it cold or you want to throw it in the oven?
22:01 I’ll throw it in the oven. Chris, you want it in the oven? Oven, please, thank you.
22:05 Take another one.
22:07 You want one? Yeah, yeah. No, I’ll eat.
22:13 That’d be that minute a half second.
22:15 Alright.
22:15 Alright.
22:16 Here we go.
22:17 I’ve been doing a lot of work here. I’ve been doing renovation after renovation. I gotta finish building all this. No, no, no. This I put all this up to put more boxes because we keep running out. I put the granite tops this weekend. I built the whole cabinet area so I can put a wrap. More you know, you gotta finish it. Put all the finish touch like the black pieces. Yeah. Listen, coming in here, I knew that I had to fix it up and build it. You did the wall, the white pants? Everything. Everything. The wall there, the wall here, painted everything, put the display case for the waitress station, all the equipment, all little by little. Rome wasn’t built in the day. So you know, you gotta work with what you got. Listen, at the end of the day, you know, it doesn’t happen overnight, but uh vision will come together. I got a I got a glass display case coming. So it’s an eight-foot display case, three levels, and it’s gonna be filled every day.
23:08 Oh, you’re gonna get the three levels? Yeah, the top is gonna be orangey. When’s that coming? Uh 14 days. Fun fact, I’ve never had a pinwheel though. Never? I change them up and make them every day. I don’t think so.
23:22 So, Matt, you know what a stromboli is, right? Yeah, yeah. So you take the stromboli and you cut it in like a surf small, you cook it, so that’s top and bottom. You’re like a rapid or again, pizza to me is like a vessel. I can put breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert. I’ll be my s’mores pizza. You ever have a s’mores pizza? It’s been I’ve won multiple awards back in New York. Graham crackers, marshmallow, and Nutella. I’ve done cheesecake pizza, I’ve done s’mores pizza, it’s a dessert pie. I advertise it on my table with my son. He’s like, Yeah, we should do the s’mores pizza. It’s a lot of work. But it’s f****** phenomenal. It’s a vessel. Like you can put anything you want on pizza. I mean, I’ve had the Andori chicken pizza, Greek salad pizza, chicken season salad pizza, chicken franchise pizza. The pinwheels are the same way because now you’re just wrapping it up in a dough. I make all types of it. I make gyro pinwheels, cheesesteak pinwheels. You make gyro to meat. Of course. Of course. Meat lovers pin. Oh, I have a gyro stick machine that I want to sell in the riddle, brand new. I don’t want to use it because it’s not worth it for me. The whole stick you put all the meat on it.
24:20 You’re in your barbecue spot. Yeah, no.
24:21 I want some burnt ends.
24:24 Alright. There’s one right here. That’s for you, Chris.
24:32 Alright, man. Is this or what? Nah, you can see for yourself. That’s fine. Give me a second.
24:41 Oh, and by the way, this wasn’t cooked on a screen. I don’t cook on screens unless I have to teach somebody to cook on screens. I watched him cook it. He did this. I have an influx of pizza. There’s 30, 40 pies. I’m one person. So in order to get the pies out faster, I have to rock them on screens to get them out the door. But 90% of all my pizzas are cooked directly on the stove. Did she really p*** you up? So look at the no-flop jalop. And look, no screen marks. Nothing, my guy. I don’t see any screens here. Oh, they’re right there. Because you gotta train people.
25:21 That’s good. Guys, if you haven’t been here yet, it’s in the plaza with the Goodwill right behind the McDonald’s in Northport, Florida. Come by, check it out. Corner of 41 Sumter. You got anything to say? Appreciate you, my guy. I appreciate it.
25:40 I’ve never done a podcast, so you know it’s a little bit.
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