Rocco Pifferetti, owner of Rocco’s Pizzeria in Youngwood, Pennsylvania, has been “boxing pizzas since 2006.” At least, that’s the slogan on his restaurant’s website, complete with a pair of boxing gloves in the logo. But, like any prize fighter, Pifferetti likes a challenge. That’s why he started Rocco’s Slice House, which is redefining the term “slice shop.”
Pifferetti’s new customers aren’t necessarily shopping for fresh, hot pizza, but they’ll find it anyway—nestled between aisles 3 and 4 at a Shop ‘n Save grocery store in Greensburg.
Pifferetti sells both whole pies and takeaway slices, and Post-Gazette writer Hal B. Klein says it’s “some of the best New York-style pizza in Western Pennsylvania.”
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According to the Yelp page for Rocco’s Pizzeria, Pifferetti launched his brick-and-mortar restaurant in an old parts store and set out to “make a boyhood dream come true.” Since then, along with his pizzas, he’s become known for supporting local fire departments and schools with fundraisers. He also provides batches of coupons, redeemable for a free small one-topping pizza, that are awarded to students for acts of kindness, scholastic excellence or simply pushing themselves to excel.
Eye-catching menu items at Rocco’s Pizzeria include the Pickle Pie (white basil sauce, dill pickles and a mozzarella/provolone blend) and the Burger & Fry Pie (cheese sauce, Angus beef and fries smothered in three cheeses), plus Italian stuffed rolls, hero sandwiches, wings and desserts.
Locals can be spotted around Pittsburgh wearing Rocco’s Pizzeria T-shirts in signature green. And the super-fit and muscular Pifferetti easily stands out in a crowd himself. But, as he told the Post-Gazette, “After doing the same thing for 18 years, I felt like I needed to challenge myself.”
Rocco’s Pizzeria is still going strong, mind you, but instead of waiting for customers to come to him, its founder now goes where the customers are. Taking over a space in the Shop ‘n Save, he’s making unique pies—quite different from the ones he serves at Rocco’s Pizzeria—in a deck oven as shoppers roll their carts by on a quest for the usual beer, veggies and Van Camp’s Beanee Weenees.
“It was a no-brainer,” Pifferetti said. “We have a thousand people a day that are going to walk past our pizza shop just over the course of their grocery shopping. Think about how easy it would be to just pick up a slice while you’re in the middle of shopping.”
Pifferetti and his friend, Josh DeFelice, developed an entirely new recipe for the Shop ‘n Save operation. The pies are built on a 65% hydration dough that’s bulk-fermented for at least 24 hours, then refrigerated for two or three days longer to achieve the perfect combo of flavor, crispness and chew.
“The dough still has that clean, craveable white-bread flavor with just a hint of umami bolstered by a burnished bake on the bottom,” the Post-Gazette reports. “The edges of the crust are airy, yet so crisp the crunch is audible when you bite into it.”
