Rustic Pizza Carries on Family Legacy
Rustic Pizza & Eats photo provided by Brian Brumley.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — An award-winning pizza recipe created in the 1950s has been resurrected at Rustic Pizza & Eats, which opened in Saratoga Springs in July.
“As much as I did not want to get back in the restaurant business, I’m doing it for [my mom], for her family,” said Rustic Pizza owner Brian Brumley.
Brumley is the former owner of Spring Street Deli, which he ran for nearly three decades before deciding he wanted to scale back. “I put 28 years of my life into it,” Brumley said. “It was very good to me. I just felt like it was time to sell and move on, create something a little smaller”
Brumley downsized with Olde Saratoga Miniature Golf, which is located right next to Rustic Pizza. The mini golf course famously hosts “Puff Puff Putt” events that allow adults 21 and older to use marijuana while aiming for a hole-in-one. But the call to carry on his family’s legacy compelled him to open up a pizzeria next door.
Brumley’s grandfather opened a restaurant in Amsterdam, New York in the 1940s, then turned the business over to Brumley’s uncle, Tony Centi, in the 50s. Centi created a pizza recipe that was named “Best in the Great Northeast” for multiple years. He sold his famous pies at the Crystal Bar & Restaurant. But in 2013, Crystal closed, and it seemed as if the recipe would be gone forever.
Brumley said his mom, the last living sibling of his uncle, wished that the recipe would survive. And so Brumley opened Rustic Pizza after securing the recipe from a cousin.
Brumley said his mom is “ecstatic” that new generations will be able to enjoy the Centi family’s creation. “It’s an honor to be asked to carry on the tradition of such a great legacy,” he said.
Brumley classifies the pies as “bar pizza,” which has a crust akin to Chicago-style in that the sauce and lightly browned cheese go to the edge. Culinary magazine Bon Appétit describes bar pizza as recalling “a pre-gourmet pizza era.”
“[The recipe] really is unbelievable, and I’m not just saying that because it’s my family,” Brumley said.
Rustic Pizza & Eats is located at 556 Maple Avenue in Saratoga Springs, next to Olde Saratoga Miniature Golf.