‘Don of dough’ NYC pizza legend Andrew Bellucci dead at 59

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To Olivia Land

Jun 1, 2023 | 10:39am

One of New York City’s prominent pizzerias has died less than a year after being forced to rename his eponymous Queen’s Pizzeria to settle a bitter feud with a former business partner.

Anthony Bellucci’s Pizzeria, the restaurant where Anthony Bellucci died overnight announced on Instagram Thursday morning.

“Rest in peace my friend. Thank you for all the lessons you have taught us about your life passion, pizza,” the sentimental post read.

The Astoria Pie store has announced it will close Thursday in honor of its late owner.

Mr. Bellucci, 59, a chef and businessman, was known to take the adage “get your hands dirty” a little too far.

After making a name for himself remodeling Lombardy’s on Spring Street in Manhattan in the early ’90s, he was imprisoned for embezzling funds from a law firm where he previously worked, and his career was put on hold.

Bellucci then worked as a taxi driver for 16 years before returning to the slice game in 2013, when he stayed in Kuala Lumpur with restaurateur Michael Helfman.

He will open Bellucci Pizza on 30th Street in 2021 with Leo Dakmak.

One of the signature pies, the pepperoni-filled Sonny Supreme, is named after his former cellmate and Colombo’s second-in-command, John “Sonny” Franzese.

“I have only one goal,” he told the Post at the time.

“And it’s about becoming the first slice restaurant to get a Michelin star.”

The partnership between Bellucci and Dakmak did not last long.

Within a few months, Bellucci was fully independent, opening rival Bellucci’s Pizzeria just eight blocks away.

Last summer, he reportedly renamed the new restaurant “Andrew Bellucci’s Pizzeria” as part of a settlement that resulted in a trademark infringement lawsuit filed by Dacmac.

Andrew Bellucci’s Pizzeria did not immediately respond to the Post’s request for comment.