Mom's lessons baked in flavor of Naples at Villa Teresa 2
Jun. 13—SHAMOKIN DAM — Larry Mancino is bringing a taste of old world Italian cuisine with a contemporary twist, made to appeal to today's diners at his new restaurant, Villa Teresa 2, in Shamokin Dam.
There is also a Villa Teresa at the Susquehanna Valley Mall.
"Running two Villa Teresa restaurants," Mancino said, "keeps me busy. Always. You need a lot of energy."
The recipe Mancino uses to make pizza is one that had been passed on to him for generations.
"I learned to make pizza and breads by watching how my mother baked, back in Naples, Italy, where we had a delicatessen," Mancino said. "My mom, Teresa, made homemade bread, two loaves a day."
At the end of the day his mother would make pizza.
"But no one could afford cheese. On the dough we'd squeeze tomatoes, put some olive oil and garlic and there was the pizza. It was like a focaccia, because people couldn't afford cheese. This was right after World War II."
In the 1970s the family moved to the United States. "This was the boom of pizza shops era," Mancino said, the 1970s-90s."
Members of his family, including his brother, already lived in the states — in Scranton and in Brooklyn, N.Y.
"But where I really learned to make dough was by watching my mother."
Mancino says the key to making a good pizza begins with a warm environment in which the pizza is made: the water, the moisture in the working area. You need a good tomato sauce. Mancino's restaurants makes their own sauce.
He then held up his hands wide open.
"It's about the hands. You have a lot of oil in your hands. Good olive oil is a must, and mozzarella cheese.
"In a warm environment you work the dough. If the dough is too rigid you won't make a good pizza."
Back in the day, the 1970s, the pizzas of choice were pepperoni, mushroom, and extra cheese. Now, Mancino has changed with the times and his menu overflows with pizza of several varieties. At one time, he had 50 different kinds of pizzas available to customers.
Chicken and pizza, he said, is the most requested pizzas these days. "We give this generation of pizza eaters what they want," he said. Some pizzas have lettuce, tomato and onions...a garden pizza, that is very popular.
Popular to sit down customers at Teresa 2 on Thursday lunchtime diners Richie Abbott, of Sunbury and a friend, Tara Cruz, also of Sunbury.
"Great pizza," Abbot said between bites. "I like the plain cheese pizza, sometimes with mushrooms." But today, he and Cruz stuck with the basic cheese.
Meanwhile, asked what his old world mother would have said about all the varieties of pizza today, Mancino laughed and said, "She'd say, 'Oh, you're crazy.' But you gotta adjust to the times."
The new restaurant, at 2264 N. Susquehanna Trail, Shamokin Dam, has been open for about two weeks, and it does take-out, or delivery, as well as providing space for dining in. Villa Teresa 2 is open seven days at week, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
