Late Brother’s Pizza owner is honored after being denied street renaming (2024)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Sunlight spilled through the windows of the Brother’s Pizza dining room as staff ladled pinwheels of sauce on dough and sliced bubbling, hot Sicilian pies into squares.

It was a typical Saturday afternoon in Port Richmond with which the late Bart Giove, one of Brother’s founders, would be familiar. Except on this particular afternoon, neighbors and state Sen. Diane J. Savino visited the parlor to memorialize the business owner and present his family with a New York State proclamation.

Savino stood by a mantle in the restaurant’s dining room and read from the plaque honoring Brother’s and the Giove family. Its few hundred words encapsulated Giove’s life story from establishing the pizzeria to his charitable work in the community to his death from brain cancer in October 2019.

“Today, Brother’s Pizza is owned and operated by Bart’s son George, and his nephews, Giorgio and Filippo; these men work to keep traditions of their family alive,” the plaque read.

The proclamation might be considered a cathartic and most welcome gesture to the Giove family after a kerfuffle in January when the City Council denied a street renaming for Giove. In December 2019, the neighborhood group Port Richmond Strong submitted a proposal through Councilwoman Debi Rose’s office. The request came with a whopping 1,400 signatures along with required documents yet met with a quiet rejection. This did not sit well either in neighborhood or with local civic leaders of Port Richmond Strong, Mario Buonviaggio and Mary Bullock.

“Our name speaks for itself. You can’t have a passive mentality in this neighborhood. And Brother’s is an institution,” said Buonviaggio. “We were extremely upset about the original decision. We hope the second time through the City Council process the street renaming will be approved.”

Bullock’s family dates back to 1665 in Port Richmond with roots at the historic Dutch Reformed Church on Port Richmond Avenue. Her history and roots in the area foster a love and loyalty to its small businesses and residents.

“Port Richmond is so much of a community,” she said. “A lot of the streets are named for firemen, policemen and politicians. An ordinary businessman who came to this country, started a business, made millions of pizzas, fed people in 9/11 ... this is someone who deserves to be remembered.”

But the proclamation is a fine stand in, for now, the Port Richmond Strong crew agreed.

“The community’s been great since my father passed,” said Giove’s son, George. “It’s touching to see all the lives he touched just from making pizza. I’m hearing stories about my dad that I’ve never heard before.”

For instance, one customer shared with George that when his own father passed many years ago, Bart dished up comfort along with a slice of pizza with the encouraging words, “You have to take care of your mother now.” And that very customer recently remembered Giove’s sentiment and offered the same fatherly advice to a grieving George.

“You’re the man now. You have to take care of your family,” George recalled the customer saying to him. “It was like my dad trying to talk to me.”

Giove’s youngest brother, Filippo, talked about the special dishes his late brother made, including a Pizza San Giuseppe. “He made it in honor of St. Joseph for St. Joseph’s Day [March 19] with raisins, scallions, sausage, mortadella, dried sausage and olive oil. We roll it up and then it goes in a tray.” It bakes for one hour and 40 minutes and hails from the culture of Gavina di Puglia, the Gioves’ hometown, a small town near Mola di Bari, Italy.

The Gioves, brothers Filippo, Bart and Pietro, immigrated to Brooklyn in the early 1970s where the trio operated Gino’s on 13th Avenue in Borough Park. They worked 17 hours a day, recounted Filippo, working in landscaping during the day and making pizzas at night. They moved to Staten Island after two years and, in 1975, fired up ovens at 750 Port Richmond Ave. in a storefront now next door to Subway. They spotted a nearby vacant lot for sale and scooped up the property to build its current structure in 1982.

Pizza is entrenched in the family’s DNA, one might say.

“Pete’s son owns the pizza place in New Dorp,” Filippo said, referencing Giove Pizzeria with proprietor Giorgio, an award-winning pizziaolo famed for his Food Network appearances, including a winning performance on “Beat Bobby Flay.”

“It’s been 46 years in business,” said George, who has been making pies since he was a teenager. He only recently started taking charge of the back-of-the-house functions of Brother’s.

“My uncle and father built this business up and me and my cousins are trying to keep it going. One of us is always here,” he said.

Filippo’s wife, “Jerseylicious” reality star Catherine Giove, thanked several in the room for coming, including North Shore City Council hopefuls Kamillah Hanks, Michael Schnall and Kathleen Sforza. Over a dozen guests sat down after the proclamation presentation and broke bread over Sicilian pizzas, rice balls and mozzarella sticks.

“Small businesses have been hit hard this past year. I’m thrilled to honor a Port Richmond staple who has withstood the test of time, and has given so much back to the community,” said Savino.

“It’s great to be a Staten Islander,” Filippo said.

Pamela Silvestri is Advance Food Editor. She can be reached at silvestri@siadvance.com.