andy was greek, as was his sauce. he would never say exactly what made it different, but it was. him and my mom went to high school together at northern durham, then i went to high school with his two sons. when i was little, my dad (state grad) used to take us to brother's on hillsborough street. that's where andy threw dough before opening his own joint. that was when david thompson and tommy burleson would be sitting at the next booth eating...i used to go back and stand at the kitchen door to watch him toss pies...i sure do miss him. i don't know if the new people got the sauce recipe with the name or not, but you're right, when i took my little boy there a couple of years ago, it just wasn't the same. it doesn't suck, but still....
Andy's is still very good. For Italian in Raleigh you can't be Casa Carbone out past Crabtree Valley Mall on Glenwood.
I tell ya...Andy's story is one of success, tragedy and struggle for their family. We started going in '94 and continued there probably for about ten years or more. How he went from the Methodist orphanage to marrying his wife and having a fairly large family is amazing enough. I think the pizza place was named "Johnny's" originally and Andy worked there, eventually bought it and it became a gathering place, especially on Friday and Saturday night. It was so unfortuate how he died very suddenly. I think it was actually playing basketball with his grandkids, yet the family persevered. My wife and I found the staff always very friendly and the restaurant very quaint prior to the first fire. When they rebuilt, it seemed to lose some of its pizzeria charm, looking more like a typical restaurant. The food stayed very good though. Then the second fire that originated from in the store room of Eckerd's and then,finally, his widow's sudden illness. The family that remained in the family restaurant business seemed very taxed. No doubt it became a burden for just a son and daughter to maintain. I'm sure you probably knew all that dangerboy, but I thought I'd share that with those who didn't know the story behind Andy's Pizza. Perhaps, it was the personal ingredients that mixed with the pizza to make the place such a great place to eat. I loved their pizza, spaghetti and their made-from-scratch breadsticks with the absolutely delicious marinara sauce they made. They once told me prior to selling they'd give us the recipe for the marinara which I adored, but alas I was never able to get back around there prior to the change of ownership. I would have loved to have that sauce recipe just to use at home any time I wanted. Despite no longer being owned by the Kanas family, I really want to get around there and try it again more than ever now.
We love Mulberry on Mains pizza for a pizza-nite-out. A nice pizza and big salad.....yummm!! I think the rest of their menu is good, never had anything there to complain about. By comparison I think Venero's is "middle of the road" italian... its average by my italian standards. I really like La Piazza too, its just a little too out of the way for us to go to. There is a new restaurant in Raleigh I'm waiting to try... its called Gravy and is on Fayetteville St. downtown. Anyone been there yet?