You Can't Keep a Good Pizza Maker Down

When word broke two weeks ago that Robert Moorman had departed Krescendo Pizzeria in Boerum Hill just a couple of months after his predecessor Elizabeth Falkner bolted, the local food media was quick to start up the rumor mill, churning out possible reasons for the split.

To date, Krescendo’s owner Nancy Puglisi had stayed silent on the topic of the chef changes. But in response to “The Elephant in Boerum Hill: Is Krescendo Cursed?” she invited Patch to sit down with her to set the record straight. What followed was an hour-long conversation that took us from Italy to San Francisco to Brooklyn and even beneath a surgeon’s knife. But in the end, all roads led to the Neapolitan pizza oven at the back of the house.

“When Elizabeth left, a lot of people thought she was the owner,” says Puglisi, taking a break from prepping for dinner service. “And then people stay away because they think the restaurant is closing. But I’m in it for the long haul, I’m not going anywhere.”

As it turns out, she has a lot of family ties keeping her here.

Raised in Bensonhurst, Puglisi grew up never knowing her father, a doctor who died when she was one. But relatives would often share stories of how the physician spent his free time throwing pies at a friend’s pizzeria and had dreamed of someday opening his own. Small wonder then, while living in Sicily, Puglisi was drawn to the food world and began learning how to make traditional pizzas herself.

After a few years of judging pizza competitions and helping Naples create the World Pizza Cup, Puglisi moved to San Francisco where she went on to open three restaurants and teach classes at the International School of Pizza with world champion Tony Gemignani. The latter attracted Top Chef Masters alum Elizabeth Falkner to enroll as a student and the pair built an instant friendship.

“I saw her enthusiasm and talent and asked if she would like to compete herself,” says Puglisi. After a successful trip to Naples together, she then asked Falkner if she’d like to join Puglisi in opening Krescendo on the East Coast.

Still describing Falkner as “one of the most amazing chefs that I will ever know,” Puglisi says the split that followed months later was upsetting but foreseeable.

“Once we opened, it became apparent that Elizabeth had other interests,” she says, referencing the cruise lines, TV spots and other celebrity opportunities pulling Falkner away from the kitchen. Then, when Moorman took over the stove, Puglisi says the menu began veering too far from its original mission.

“I didn’t want Robert to feel suppressed, he’s not a pizza maker—he’s a very good cook,” she says. “But I had to keep in focus what my vision was.”

That meant editing the menu and bringing on Italian pizza maker Stefano Vecchio, who hails from Salerno. Together, she says, they are able to reminisce about the many pizzerias they have been to abroad and reintroduce the flavors and styles they loved, such as fried pizza, Sicilian pizza, classic margherita as well as a new fennel and orange salad and refreshing fruit granitas.

Wearing a black t-shirt emblazoned with the words “Yes, they’re fake… The real ones tried to kill me,” Puglisi explains that personnel playing musical chairs was actually the smallest hurdle she’s faced since deciding to open a business in her native borough.

“Fourteen days prior to Krescendo launching, I was diagnosed with breast cancer, had a double mastectomy, and then opened up the restaurant,” she says.

Defying doctors who questioned her ambitious work ethos, the pizzeria became her focus for survival. 

“I knew cancer wouldn't knock me down. What I went through would have probably discouraged a lot of people,” she acknowledges. “But this place kept me going and kept me alive, I think.”

Now cancer-free, Puglisi says the experience “put everything in perspective” and helped distill her passion.

"I want this place to feel like an extension of your home,” she says, looking up at a black and white photograph of her father hoisting a peel in front of a large oven, "knowing what pizzas and drinks you like and having it ready for you just like my grandmother would do when I’d go to see her.

“It’s a lot of fun and it’s a lot of work,” she adds. “But it’s instant gratification for me when someone tells me, ‘That was a really good pizza.’” 

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Krescendo is located at 364 Atlantic Avenue; open Tuesdays-Sundays from 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Puglisi plans to start offering a series of pizza-making classes for kids and adults this fall.