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She can’t answer the question.

She can tell you the story about how the business was started 70 years ago, and she can recite the long listing of tasks she tackles on a daily basis, but Toni DiCarlo cannot explain why Original DiCarlo’s Pizza has reached cult status in the Upper Ohio Valley.

If you reside between Steubenville and Moundsville, it’s likely you’ve consumed it hundreds, if not thousands, of times. If you are visiting the region, you are urged to try it. At first, the squared-slices appear uncooked to newcomers, but that impression quickly passes with the first bite.

“It’s always been delicious. It’s always been like a party in your mouth with every bite, but why it’s become so iconic, I’m not sure,” she admitted. “But I can tell you that it’s not something we take for granted even for a minute. That’s not how my father went about it, and it’s not how we go about it either.

“We all work very hard every single day to make sure that everything we serve the people is the best it can be with every single order we take,” DiCarlo continued. “If we receive a complaint, we find out why someone needed to complain, and we fix the problem. That’s how we’ve always gone about it and how we will always go about it.”

This sign hung for years in downtown Wheeling at a few other locations. Today, it hangs inside the office of the downtown Wheeling store.

This sign hung for years in downtown Wheeling at a few other locations. Today, it hangs inside the office of the downtown Wheeling store.

The first Original DiCarlo’s Pizza shop opened in Steubenville in 1945 with every piece selling for a nickel, and this second-generation owner beams when speaking of her uncle and father.

“Right after World War II, my father’s brother, Primo, opened the first store in Steubenville, where they started selling what he had discovered in Italy during his service. It was a crispy bread product covered with sauce and cheese and was being sold in a lot of the Italian cafes, and he brought it to America,” DiCarlo said. “And then four years later, my father Galdo opened his store in Wheeling on the corner of 14th and Main streets, where Wesbanco Bank is today.

“In the mid-1970s, the shop moved up Main Street to another building that’s no longer there, and then in 2000 we moved the store to Market Street across the street from the McLure Hotel,” she continued. “And then in 2009, we moved to our current location back on Main Street.”

Today there are DiCarlo’s shops in many corners of the Upper Ohio Valley thanks to franchise agreements and private ownership, and many bars have single slices on the menu. Two of those shops are located in the Warwood and Elm Grove areas of Wheeling, and there are privately owned stores in Sherrard, Wellsburg, Pittsburgh, York, Parkersburg, and Richmond, Va. DiCarlo said another store likely will be opening in Myrtle Beach this year.

Mike Minder serves as the director of operations for the three stores owned by Toni DiCarlo.

Mike Minder serves as the director of operations for the three stores owned by Toni DiCarlo.

“When independent owners started opening their shops, it was nothing like franchising is today. Instead, it was employees who thought a new shop would work well in other areas so my father and uncle worked out deals with those people, and new shops opened,” DiCarlo said. “That’s how the Elm Grove store opened, in fact. But today, it’s different, and that’s the side of the business my sister, Anna, and her son work on, and now there are DiCarlo’s Pizza shops in a lot of different areas.”

Toni DiCarlo operates three stores in downtown Wheeling, in Glen Dale, and in Dallas Pike near the Travel Center of America truck stop, and the menus at those shops travel beyond the original pizza product. For example, the stores in Glen Dale and downtown Wheeling offer baked sandwiches, calzones, and fresh salads daily.

But when Toni first told her father she wanted to be involved in what would become a tradition, he said no. Galdo was old school.

“At first my father did not want his daughters involved with the business because that’s not what women were supposed to do in his mind at that time,” DiCarlo explained. “In his mind, he always thought women were supposed to get married and have lot of babies. That was how people thought in those days.

“But I was persistent because I knew I loved it even as a child,” she said. “I didn’t really fit in with my peers when I was in grade school and high school because as soon as school was over, I was going to the shop. Eventually, my mother started giving me tasks to do, and that’s really how I learned everything involved with running the business.”

Employee Jeff Alderman slices "whole tray" orders in the downtown Wheeling store.

Employee Jeff Alderman slices “whole-tray” orders in the downtown Wheeling store.

And these days DiCarlo’s stays true to the family’s original pizza recipe – almost.

“The crust is so simplistic that it can’t be duplicated,” she insisted. “The sauce is a family recipe, and we grate our cheese ourselves just like they did because if you order it already grated it changes everything about it because of the preservatives that are in the pre-grated product. The way we do it each day makes it as fresh and delicious as it can be.

“The only thing we do differently today concerns the pepperoni. My father was slicing it himself every day, but we now buy it sliced because it doesn’t change the product at all. It’s still a very high-quality pepperoni just like they use when all this began,” she continued. “Our mentality is if it’s not broke, why try to fix anything about it. People love it this way, so that’s the way it’s going to stay.”

Another family tradition has continued, too, and that is the fact the customers can observe the process. We watch as the employees stretch the dough on the rectangular trays; we see the sauce being applied; our anticipation grows each time a new tray goes into the oven and when a nearly finished tray comes out; and then it’s sliced and placed in what we pray is our box; of course, there’s the downpour of provolone cheese; and then finally, the careful placement of the circular pepperoni.

The finished product - the Original DiCarlo's Pizza.

The finished product – the Original DiCarlo’s Pizza.

“When my uncle and my father opened the first two shops in Steubenville and then in Wheeling, the shops were really small, and that meant they were making the pizza right in front of their customers. They didn’t have a back kitchen or anything like that,” she said. “And if you think about it, that’s really how the shops appear today. Most of them are still small places, and the people still get to see their pizza being made.

“It’s become part of the experience. It’s because part of what DiCarlo’s means to the people of this valley and now to people in a lot of other areas,” DiCarlo said. “The whole product is unlike anything else most people experience, and that’s something we appreciate very much as a family.”

Toni DiCarlo works each day with her son, 28-year-old Christopher, and her daughter, Lauren, is currently looking to move back into the area so she, too, can become more involved with the daily operations. She has long loved opening new Original DiCarlo’s Pizza shops, but she is not sure if and when her side of the family will expand.

“My son, daughter and I are looking to the future to see what’s possible, but right now we’re happy with the three stores that we have,” she said. “I do love opening new stores. I enjoy that very, very much, but you live and learn from your mistakes so we’re taking our time with that and concentrating on getting the three stores that we own now to the level where we would like to see them.

Toni DiCarlo's downtown Wheeling store is located at 1311 Main Street. The new location opened in December 2009.

Toni DiCarlo’s downtown Wheeling store is located at 1311 Main Street. The new location opened in December 2009. (Photo by Michael Novotney)

“Once we get to the point where we are comfortable enough to expand, I can see that happening again, but when is the question. Right now, we’ll proceed with caution to make sure we’re taking care of what we need to take care of,” she continued. “This isn’t a job, though; this is my life. It’s what I know and how I’ve lived since I was a kid growing up in Steubenville.”

She still works the front counter when needed, and she’s quick to answer a shop’s phone if it rings too many times. On this Thursday, DiCarlo is working in her office located inside her downtown Wheeling store, and she’s kept close watch over the lunch rush that has already produced 72 orders by 12:30 p.m.

“I am very proud of my family, and I love it,” DiCarlo said. “People who know me can easily recognize the passion I have for this business. I just have this unending love for our family business. I always have. There’s nothing else I would have rather done with my life; I know that for sure.

“I do think my father would be proud of us today, but at one time I think he felt bad because it’s not an easy job. You definitely have to have a certain mentality to survive in it. This job is not for everyone, and I don’t say that because I think I’m special or anything like that. I’m saying that because you just have to be cut from a certain cloth,” she said. “You just have to be able to take everything that comes and goes – the good and the bad – and if you can’t do that, the business won’t survive.”

 

 

photos by Steve Novotney

10 Responses

  1. Donald Attinger

    The Elm Grove Dicarlo’s pizza A.K.A. PATSYS WAS THE WORSE DICARLOS PIZZA EVER
    WILL NEVER GO BACK UNDER COOKED ”fake cheese” The one in Myrtle Beach was the way it’s suppose to be

  2. Christine

    I have a question. There is no mention of a DeCarlos being in the Cleveland area only southern Ohio and West Virginia. This was probably in the early 60’s. I know I’m not wrong because many other family members remember this also. The pizza I remember had a generous layer of pepperoni shaved paper thin with grated cheese sprinkled on top, maybe Romano. I remember going with an adult family member to pick up this delicious pizza and there was a sign on the wall that read that melted cheese was available for an additional charge, which was the way all other pizza places made their pizza. I thought to myself who would ever change this delicious pizza. I went to Mountaineer with my dad quite a few years ago and we saw a DeCarlos with the exact same sign that I remembered from so long ago. I immediately stopped the car and pulled in. I was so excited to walk in and see the square slices of pizza even though there was melted cheese on them and only a few pieces of pepperoni on them. I bought quite a bit because I couldn’t wait for my children to taste this pizza that I had talked about for years. I told the young girl working there my story and she said Carlos was never in Cleveland, but she was very young so I doubt if she really knew or cared. Sadly it was nothing like I remembered, not the crust, the pepperoni or the cheese. I’ve been so tempted to drive to one of your locations even though it’s quite a trip from the Cleveland area. Maybe another family member like an uncle could have started one in Cleveland and then moved South? Please tell me possibly and it would be worth the trip and which one of the locations is the most original? This has been on my bucket list and would love to taste it once again. Does this sound like it could have been made this way in the beginning? I can see that times have changed and melted cheese took over and all that shaved pepperoni would be changed to keep the cost down, but the crust was amazing. Thanks for your time and I hope to hear from someone soon.

    • Margaret

      Hi I may have sent a message like this but not sure it went through. I know there was a Dicarlos in Cleveland because my father Joesph Wade ran it.
      We too remember the piles of pepperoni and grated cheese. We tried to contact the DiCarlo family to see if they remembered my dad but didn’t hear anything back. My father passed in 1968 and I wish I would have contacted one of the DiCarlo brothers before they passed as I would have liked to hear anything they knew about my dad. If you visit any of the dicarlos my fathers picture is in the wall making pizza.

  3. Bob Gildea

    I picked up 12 cuts 1/2 pepperoni, 1/2 mushroom at the Washington location last week and it was fantastic. It brought back memories. Friendly, fast service!

  4. Rita

    Won’t be eating pepperoni rolls there again. I always purchase them to take to my family in Las Vegas when I go. My last trip was the same only 1dozen cost me fifty (50) some dollars. Upon arrival the kids dug in. Where’s the pepperoni gramma??? We cut them all open and wella four (4) slices of the thinnest pepperoni slices you could read through adorned a, what 6 inch roll? They were placed two on one side and two on the other so when the roll closed they were in a line. 55 or 56 dollars for dough? I don’t think so!!!!!

    I know times have changed but come on!!!!! I used to pay 10 cents a slice on 14th street back in the day too but they will no longer get my money for my kids in Las Vegas or here at home in Wheeling ever again. DONE!!!

  5. Dale Evans

    The best DiCarlos ever was Edgington Lane and that closed down for some reason. Right now, the best is Elm Grove. Glen Dale is awesome if it’s fresh out of the oven and if not it’s disgusting, like eating crackers with tomato sauce. I’ve had every DiCarlos around and Elm Grove is the best. The only thing I’ve noticed that they do differently is liberally spray olive oil on the crust while making it, and in the case of Edgington Lane they would squirt olive oil on top of the pizza after it was complete. Glen Dale has been a little dry lately. I wish they would adopt this procedure.

  7. J.T.

    There are a ton of us down here in the Myrtle Beach area who are transplants from the Pittsburgh, Wheeling, Weirton & Steubenville area. Every time someone we know heads back up North we always beg them to bring back some DiCarlo’s pizza. We’re pretty excited that there will be a DiCarlo’s Pizza opening up down here. It’s Definately gonna be a huge deal, especially in close proximity to the Family Campground at the end, of 544 & bus.17. You guys will make “bank” at this location!!!

  8. Bob Dorris

    Don’t take me wrong I LOVE DeCarlo’s PIZZA but and there is a BUT in my opinion there is only one location that comes closest to the taste like the original and the DeCarlo’s Pizza in Elm Grove.

    For many years I thought the location with the closest original could be found at the Glen Dale location. In fact I would drive out of my way to get it. During those years Joe ‎Tweedlie was the owner. After he retired it changed.

    In fact that’s the only problem with DeCarlo’s is INCONSISTENCY.
    Every location tastes different than the other.
    The one in St. Clairsville is different than the one in Wheeling an dthe one in Wheeling has a different taste than the one in Elm Grove.

    That is not true of all other food places. Go to one McDonalds and it’s the exact the same as any other. DeFelice Pizza In Moundsville is the exact the same as the one in St. Clairsville.

    I’m a senior citizen now and have eaten well over a thousand slices in my life time, but I will never forget DeCarlo’s in Downtown Wheeling back in the 1950’s when it was 10 cents a slice.

    That was THE ORIGINAL DeCAROL’S PIZZA !!!

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