After Nearly 4 Decades, Frank & Son Remains a Parsippany Pizza Mainstay

The thing about pizzerias is that if they’ve been in business for a long time, their most salient attribute may be that they just don’t change.

That was the situation we found on our search for Parsippany’s best pizza when we stopped by one rainy Friday evening.

The guys who were picking up pies for the family that night were probably little boys when Frank & Son opened up 39 years ago.

Frank Palmieri, 55, is the "son" in this plainspoken pizzeria where the Formica looks much like it must have in the early days. Still there was no discounting what seemed to be a popular takeout place at 355 Parsippany Road.

Mothers and children ordered their pies and relaxed in the unfussy atmosphere, all the while holding out the promise of an ice cream from the relatively new ice cream case the Franks set up in their space. A slice of cheese pizza runs $1.85; toppings are 40 cents extra per slice and a Sicilian slice is $2.25.

Frank Sr., who started the business, has since retired, but his son carries on the family tradition. With an ever-so-slight Sicilian accent, Frank discusses in a follow-up telephone interview that even if the ingredients cost more money these days, he has to stick by the same sauce-and-cheese formula that his father established.

“We can’t cut the amount of cheese we use, the way you mix the dough has to be consistent. The reason people come back is because it tastes the same,” he explains of the loyalty he has enjoyed over the years from the customers who come back time and again.

Frank and his staff are pretty accommodating. Our order went in for a pie that was half-onion and half-mushrooms. But since we were starving and it takes a while for a whole pie, we ordered a slice of white pizza, which was the perfect “starter” to our meal.

Its thin crust nicely complemented the thick mozzarella topping, which was dressed up with expertly chopped broccoli and bits of basil. It was a good beginning on that rainy evening. Like many establishments where pizza is the prime motivator, paper plates were the “china” of choice. One unusual note: if you want red pepper, garlic powder or Parmesan cheese, that runs an extra $1 on top.

Next came the whole pie, which was good but disappointing in that the mushrooms were not fresh. Still, they were cooked thoroughly by the hot, dry oven so that somewhat made up for that drawback.

The tomato sauce that goes into the dinners is made every couple of days by Frank and his staff and is stored in the refrigerator until it’s needed. The dough, too, is made ahead of time so it’s ready for whenever a big rush occurs.

The tomato sauce has its base of crushed tomatoes, which are then modified to come up with their own proprietary sauce; the pizza sauce comes from a company that’s based in California, Palmieri said. The mozzarella comes from Wisconsin and is freshly cut as needed.

But if pizza has been a constant, what’s changed over the years is an expanding menu. In the early days, the menu was largely pizza, sandwiches and spaghetti, according to Palmieri. Now there’s veal and eggplant parmigiana, penne in vodka sauce with chicken, shrimp scampi and many other choices.

The town of Parsippany isn’t an easy one in which to run a pizzeria, Palmieri said.

“There’s too much competition in Parsippany. You can’t make money because every corner you turn there’s another pizzeria. I’m surrounded by seven of them,” he sighs. But he continues to do what he’s done for decades because, “we have loyal people who come to us.”

355 Parsippany Road
Phone: 973-887-2181
Fax: 973-887-8060
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday noon to 10 p.m.
Major credit cards accepted