When you can’t grab a slice of New York City pizza, go for the next best thing: Saratoga pizza made by a former Manhattanite.
In 2018, after 20 some years working in restaurants in the City, Alex Rodriguez (no, not that Alex Rodriguez) was visiting a friend in Saratoga. “He looked at me and was like, ‘The best pizzeria in town is for sale, and you need to buy it,’” Rodriguez says. The next morning, the friends just so happened to be having coffee at Kru, and swung by the neighboring pizza shop to check it out. Rodriguez talked to the owner for two hours, then to his accountant for an hour, then called his wife, Carina.
Six short weeks later, the Rodriguez family were Saratogians—and the proud owners of Gennaro’s Pizza Parlor. “Once I took over, I didn’t want to make any crazy changes, because I didn’t want to mess with our already steady clientele,” Rodriguez says. “So over time, I just tweaked all the ingredients and kind of elevated things. But now I want to add a different aspect to the business.”
Thanks to interior renovations that made the restaurant’s dining area smaller and its kitchen larger (like at most pizzerias, much of the business is takeout anyway), Rodriguez was ready to roll out a brand-new menu that dropped in late November. The highlight? High-end Italian specialty sandwiches—think prosciutto, mortadella, salami Toscano, burrata and homemade spreads—served on fresh-baked focaccia.
“I’ve always been a sandwich guy, and, not to take away from any of the places here in Saratoga, but personally I find it hard to find a really good sandwich,” Rodriguez says. “So I’m trying to fill my own void. I want to add another little dimension to Saratoga’s food options.”