Mattei Family Pizza Is Serving $10 Pies During its Grand Opening Weekend

Mattei Family Pizza has been getting into its groove for the last couple of months now and is finally ready for a housewarming party. The Point Breeze pizzeria (1260 Point Breeze Avenue) is calling this weekend its official grand opening, with a party running Friday, April 28, to Sunday, April 30, with live music and deals on pies and wings.

Mattei is owned by musician/producer Mariano Mattei, who also co-owns Philly Sound Studios, and his father, Angelo.

“I started a food blog many years ago recreating my nonna’s recipes, and that got me started cooking for musicians at festivals, to ending up on [the Food Network’s] Cooks vs. Cons last year, to this,” the younger Mattei says. Angelo, a builder, hand-built the brick pizza oven, he adds, and the recipes are a combination of both father’s and son’s.

Angelo used to be a butcher, working out of “a little family-owned corner deli and butcher shop” named Rachel after his wife, Mariano says of his parents.

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The Matteis are from Molise, Italy, and Mariano says they cook their pizza in the Molise style, with a crispy crust and a thin center. During the grand opening weekend, margherita and Americana pies will be discounted to $10. There will also be 69-cent wings. Or go for one of the more unusual pizzas, like the pie with fontina cheese, pear, and sage, or the arrosticini: lamb skewers served with house-baked bread. Rachel’s family is from Civitella Casanova in Abruzzo, where “it is said that arrosticini were invented by a sheepherder, who took a gutter and filled it with coal to cook the lamb meat on wooden skewers,” Mariano says.

On Friday night, from 7-10 p.m., musicians Jacopo de Nicola, Nicole Zell, and Clarabell will be playing at Mattei. Saturday is kid-centric, with face painting and balloon art from noon to 2 p.m., and on Saturday night, from 7-9 p.m., singer-songwriter Marion Halliday will be performing.

Take a look at the food:

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