By Cassie Pappathan - Jun 29, 2010 | 1 comment

Pizza is awesome for a whole bunch of reasons: It’s cheap and delicious. It’s good hot or cold, and you can eat it pretty much any time of day. It brings people together like few other foods do (you’ve never been to a celebratory kale party, have you?), and you can put practically anything on top of a pie and call it dinner.

We could go on for hours about the joys of pizza, but this isn’t a story about pizza – it’s about the people who make it.

One of the biggest challenges in profiling the people who make Concord’s pizza was choosing whom to write about. This is a city that loves its pizza. At last count, there were at least 15 pizza joints in town.

Because we couldn’t talk to everyone who makes the stuff, we conducted an informal poll of the newsroom to find out where people order their pizzas. From there, we narrowed it down to seven places. Here’s a small sampling of what we found.

Remi’s Place

By: Amy Augustine

On the day he turned 23, Remi Hinxhia hopped on a plane from Tirana, Albania, and made the long journey to Concord. In those days, he had never heard of pizza, never mind tasted it.
In his native country, Remi had recently graduated college and was teaching history and geography to grade school students. When an opportunity to come to America through a U.S. government program for young people from ex-Communist countries presented itself, he took it.

Remi arrived in Concord in 1996 with his best friend, Phillip, whose grandfather had lived here for about 70 years. On the day he arrived, Phillip’s grandfather took him to McDonald’s for his first Coke, and to look for a job.

Remi, who speaks four languages, didn’t have a Social Security number at the time but said he finally found a job at Milano’s Pizza. On his first day of work, he showed up overdressed, in a turtleneck and a jean jacket, which he promptly traded for a red apron and a white T-shirt. He got another job at Concord Litho on the third-shift, and 80-hour weeks became the norm.
For three years, Remi saved and sent money back home to his mother, Refie, and sister, Dhurata. A few years later, they joined him here.

By then, Remi said, he’d saved up enough money to start his own business. On Jan. 8, 2000, he opened Remi’s Place, at the age of 27.

Remi, who said he couldn’t cook an egg when he arrived in the U.S., confessed that his mother and sister are real cooks behind Remi’s Place. His mother, who’s 67, comes into the business every morning to “have her coffee” and make the dough. His sister, who was a veterinarian and later a professional chef in Albania, handles most of the traditional, non-pizza options on the menu, he said.

“I’m the face of Remi’s,” he said, grinning widely. “And I’m good at cooking the American stuff.”

Remi is now in the process of getting a master’s degree in business from UNH. He returns twice a year to visit family in Albania, where he met his wife. They were married last summer.

Constantly Pizza

By: Amy Augustine

John and Dave Constant knew before graduating high school that they wanted to open a business together. The brothers both liked pizza, so opening a pizza place seemed like a logical fit.

The Constant brothers, Concord natives who graduated from Merrimack Valley High School, opened the first Constantly Pizza in Tilton 20 years ago. Now they have three stores – in Concord, Penacook and Tilton.

John, who’s 41, graduated from MV two years before Dave. The brothers worked with their father, who retired from his job four years prior as a plant production manager at Pitco Frialator Inc. in Concord, to get the business off the ground. After a few years at it, they decided to open another store in Concord.

“We knew we eventually wanted to be in Concord but didn’t want to open in our home town before we got all the bugs out,” said Dave, who’s 39.

Community is important to the Constants, who attribute much of their success to the relationships they’ve cultivated over the years. They sponsor sports teams and donate to nonprofits.

“Giving back is how we built our business,” John said.

When they’re not slaving away in the kitchen, you can find the brothers with their families, camping or checking out old muscle cars.

Donatello's Pizza

By: Cassie Pappathan

Bob and Mary Boisvert weren’t born into the pizza biz. They sort of just happened upon it.
The bulk of Bob’s working life was spent running an electronics company. His career caused him to pide his time between Dover and the Dominican Republic, which meant a lot of traveling and little time at home.

Eight years ago, Bob and Mary were flipping through the newspaper and saw an ad that piqued their interest: It said Donatello’s Pizza was in search of new owners.

The couple mused that running a pizza place may be the ideal way to spend their “semi-retirement.” The more they thought about it, the more the idea grew on them. Obvious benefits included less time on an airplane and more time with family. The Boisverts figured, they could keep their college-aged busy with guaranteed summer jobs.

Six months later, the Boisverts were handed the keys, and business has been going strong ever since. Bob believes the couple’s lack of restaurant experience has been their biggest asset. No experience meant a fresh set of eyes and fewer boundaries to abide by.

Their no-fear attitude led them to create the state’s largest pizza. Donatello’s “Super Dominator” is a behemoth, measuring 28 inches.

“It was originally supposed to be a joke or a novelty . . . but we sell tons of them,” Bob said.

Bob’s easygoing attitude makes running a pizza place look like a piece of cake. But don’t let his positive, calm demeanor fool you: Bob still spends most of his time at work. Now though, work is only a few streets away from where he lives. That’s a heck of a lot closer than the Dominican Republic.

Milano's Pizza

By: Cassie Pappathan

While the rest of you were shouting “USA! USA! USA!” after Landon Donovan’s game-winning goal during last Wednesday’s World Cup match against Algeria, Nick Latiotis was lamenting Greece’s loss from the night before.

“They’ll win next year,” Latiotis said.

It’s not that Latiotis wasn’t rooting for America, too, it’s just that he has some loyalty to Greece – it was where he was born and raised, after all.

But for the past 23 years, Latiotis has considered New Hampshire his home. A resident of Chichester, he spends the majority of his time in good ol’ Concord, managing Milano’s Pizza. The South End pizza joint opened 34 years ago, and Latiotis has been part of it for 18.
“Or something like that,” he said. “I haven’t really been counting.”

In that time, Latiotis has brought his own touch to the restaurant. The name Milano’s may sound Italian, but don’t let that fool you. Latiotis stays true to his roots by using recipes from his homeland. Everything from the pizza to the lasagna has a Greek flare to it. This gives feta-lovers a reason to rejoice.

Latiotis says it’s the Greek-style cooking that helps set Milano’s apart. Plus, Milano’s serves Arnie’s ice cream and breakfast on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

So the next time your craving a side of eggs with your pepperoni pie, swing on over to Milano’s. Latiotis treats anyone who walks through the doors like family – but that could be because often it is a family member who strolls on through. At any given time, expect to see some of Latiotis’s relations hanging out in the kitchen with him.

Receive extra brownie points (or would it be baklava points?) and bring up the World Cup. Specifically, how Greece is totally going to kick butt next time around.

Kaylen's Pizzeria

By: Patrick Gamble

It’s been more than a decade since Hakim Said started his work within the pizza business and five months since he took over as owner of Kaylen’s Pizzeria. To state the obvious, Said is a big pizza fan.

“I love the business,” he said, “I’ve been in the business for like, 12 years, and I can’t see myself in another place.” Said used to own a pizza restaurant in Massachusetts before taking over at Kaylen’s. The Granite State may be new territory for him, but for any restaurant owner, business is business, no matter the location. That’s not bad, considering he arrived to the United States in 1999.

His climb up the business ladder has been long and successful, but he says a lot of help originates from within the family. His brother, Mina, and sister, Flora, help keep customers coming back for more. The menu is stocked with Italian and American dishes including the popular oversized pizza, which remains a fan favorite.

Said believes the dough and cheese attracts Manchester Street’s hungry stomachs. But as for the man in charge? It’s all about the meat lovers.

Vinnie's Pizzeria

By: Amy Augustine

If Concord had a flavor, it would probably taste a lot like Vinnie Salerno. Or at least like a pizza he made.

Salerno, owner of Vinnie’s Pizzaria, has been in the business since he was big enough to toss a ball of dough over his head. Vinnie’s roots run deep in Concord, The restaurant is the city’s longest-running pizza place, opening in the South End in 1958, “back when the neighborhood was all meat and potatoes.”

If you couldn’t tell by his name, Vinnie’s got some Italian heritage – a fact he’s very proud of. When talking about his family, he drops names like Giovanni, Tony and Frankie. His father, who opened the restaurant, is a “full-blooded Italian” from New Jersey, he said.

The walls of the restaurant are decorated with pictures of sports stars, especially boxers. That’s because Vinnie’s grandfather was a professional boxer who won a gold medal for the sport in the ’20s, back before the Olympics had even been invented. Salerno’s grandfather, he said, was trained to fight by the same guy who trained Rocky Marciano, a former world heavyweight champion in the ’50s.

His father was a boxer, too, making a name for himself while fighting in the Navy. Salerno never got into boxing, though, because he’s never liked getting punched in the face, he said.

Salerno’s mother is “a Concord girl” who grew up on Lewis Farm, ventured to Jersey City, found her future husband and brought him back. For years, Salerno’s father worked on the railroad, then decided to open Vinnie’s.

Growing up, Vinnie liked hunting with his trusty coonhound, Yankee, and trail riding. When he graduated high school, he moved to Alaska to work in a steel yard but found that missed his family and the community, so he returned.

“I like the flavor of Concord. It’s always been a small town, and it’s grown slowly through the years,” he said.

Chiefs Place

By: Cassie Pappathan

When I first stopped by Chiefs Place to talk to owner George Blatsis, I was told he’d just stepped out.

“Come back in about 20 minutes,” the young woman behind the counter said. “If not then, he’ll definitely be here by 5.”

I looked at the time – it was a little after 4 p.m. “Does he always come in at 5 o’clock?”
The woman laughed at my seemingly ridiculous question. “No. He’s actually always here. He usually never leaves.”

I went back 30 minutes later, and, sure enough, Blatsis was there. He was sitting in a booth finishing up his dinner of rice and what looked like steak tips. I almost mistook him for a customer.

That’s just the type of guy Blatsis is – he’d rather blend in than be the center of attention.
Blatsis has been the owner of Chiefs for eight of the 11 years it’s been open. During those eight years, Blatsis has hardly stepped foot out of the restaurant’s doors. You can even find him there on Sundays when the restaurant is closed.

“There’s always something to do,” he said.

I asked him if he ever gets sick of being there.

“I would be more sick if I wasn’t here!” he laughed. “I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t like it. The work, the people, the customers . . . I enjoy it.”

Prior to running his own shop, the native of Greece worked at his brother-in-law’s Boston restaurant. He stayed close to his kin and eventually worked at another family-run business, Theos Restaurant in Manchester, for two years.

It could be Blatsis’s years of experience in the restaurant industry that makes Chiefs a staple of downtown Penacook, but he’s far too modest to say that. He credits much of Chiefs’ success to his staff, who he says are like family.

Even when it came time for a photo, he insisted on including his entire staff. The group stopped making pizzas to gather in the kitchen.

“Wait,” Blatsis said gesturing to an employee taking a customer’s order. “We’ll wait for her.”

Where to find ‘em:
Remi’s Place – 62 Pleasant St., 224-2303
Donatello’s – 15 Village St., 753-6000
Milano’s – 3 Broadway St., 224-3419
Kaylen’s Pizzeria, 30 Manchester St., 226-0899
Constantly Pizza – 39 S. Main St., 224-9366
Chiefs Place – 304 Village St., 753-9500
Vinnie’s Pizzaria – 200 S. Main St. 224-7727