Tag: A Mano

Born in Avellino, Italy in 1988, it was in Lioni, a small town outside of Naples, where D’Amelio was raised, and his fascination with pizza-making blossomed. At a young age, each week D’Amelio played with dough his mother used to bake bread in the family’s wood-burning oven. He quickly learned to make pizza for the family, and years later at age 19, began working at a local pizzeria. In 2010 his passion for pizza pinnacled in the opening of a family-run pizzeria, Chest’é Pizza, in Lioni.After honing his craft, D’Amelio’s competitive spirit kicked in and he entered several prestigious pizza competitions.

In 2010 he took the second place title in the Regina Margherita Association’s Margherita STG competition in Naples, Italy. Next, in 2013 he traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada with the Caputo/Orlando Foods’ team of master pizzaioli and was crowned first place champion in the Italian Style category at the International Pizza Expo. In 2014, D’Amelio was awarded second place in the coveted

Pizza World Championship in Parma, Italy.Eager to promote internationally the product of his homeland, the prize-winning pizza-maker accepted a two-
year consulting position to help open Pizzeria Testa, a Neapolitan pizzeria in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas, and ultimately settled at A Mano. Said D’Amelio, “I am very proud to be able to share pizza Napoletana with people in the United States. There is nothing quite like authentic Neapolitan pizza, and at A Mano, we make pizza with the same methods used in

Naples for more than 300 years. Tradition is important and something that should be passed on. It’s culinary history.”A member of the elite Italian pizza-governing organization APN (Association of Neapolitan Pizza Makers), D’Amelio has been granted authority to ofer APN certification to aspiring Neapolitan pizza makers who train under his guidance.D’Amelio has made his first culinary mark at A Mano by crafting masterful creations which will run as specials on weekends beginning June 26th. Highlights include:

Pizza Fiori: imported smoked bufalo mozzarella, zucchini flowers, zucchini, fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil

Pizza Pugliese: homemade mozzarella, fava beans, Italian ham, peas, fresh basil, extra virgin olive

Pizza Terra Mia (“My Land” – tribute to D’Amelio’s home – ingredients are imported from the Naples’s area): cherry tomato sauce, imported bufalo mozzarella, basil leaves and extra virgin olive oil (cherry tomatoes from Campania, bufalo mozzarella, olive oil and flour from Naples)

A Mano is located at 24 Franklin Avenue (at Chestnut Street), Ridgewood, NJ. Hours of operation are:Monday through Thursday, 11:30AM–10:00PM, Friday and Saturday 11:30AM-11:00PM and Sunday 12:30PM–9:00PM. Tel. 201.493.2000, www.amanopizza.com, www.facebook.com/AManoPizza