All Eyes On Eddie’s Pizza

The HBO show “Entourage” is showing that there’s no place like home when it comes to pizza as it features Queens-born characters with a love for Eddie’s Pizza, which has been in New Hyde Park since 1941.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Joseph DiVittorio and Stephen Levinson were working together as CPAs. The two decided to leave the firm; DiVittorio to join Eddie’s Pizza as an owner and Levinson to go out to L.A.
“I think the firm thought we were both crazy to leave but I think they thought he was a little nuttier; at least I was going into a business,” DiVittorio said.
Levinson became the manager of Mark Wahlberg and is now the producer of “Entourage.” Both Levinson’s parents and the parents of the show’s creator, Doug Ellin, remained customers of Eddie’s Pizza and Levinson and DiVittorio’s friendship continued.
While filming the show, Levinson asked that DiVittorio ship some of his pies out to Los Angeles. He went from periodically doing so to sending them out on a more frequent basis.
DiVittorio explained that Eddie’s Pizza, which is known as the “home of the bar pie,” makes thin crust pizzas that are low in fat and calories. Since they are thin, they can be half-cooked and mailed or the shells can be sent raw.
After a while, “Entourage” started to incorporate Eddie’s Pizza into some of the episodes. They were first used in the second season when the characters were on a plane leaving their hometown of Queens to head back to L.A and had one of the pizzas on the plane.
Although they had mentioned to DiVittorio, who has always been a fan of the show, that they wanted to work Eddie’s Pizza in, he did not know exactly how they would do it.
“It was fantastic,” he said of seeing that episode.
There have now also been scenes in the show where characters have worn Eddie’s Pizza t-shirts or have had the food delivered to L.A. Also, about a month ago, it was included in a book that came out about “Entourage.”
“It always gives them something to tie back to their roots in New York,” DiVittorio said.
DiVittorio said that they have also had a very diverse group of customers, although now they do see many teenagers and people in their 20s coming in specifically because of the show.
The cast and people behind the show have been to Eddie’s Pizza. DiVittorio said that they are great guys and very down to earth.
Eddie’s Pizza has won several awards for its food and has been included in Zagat’s for many years. However, he said that being included in “Entourage” is nice because it is a different form of recognition.
DiVittorio said that there has been talk of possibly filming a scene of “Entourage” at Eddie’s Pizza for one of its upcoming seasons. He also said that so far the highlight of the whole experience has been having two friends who went in different directions and became successful.
Eddie’s Pizza is located at 2048 Hillside Avenue in New Hyde Park.