Located just outside of metropolitan Miami in south-west Miami-Dade County, lies a
small family-owned restaurant that
continues to satisfy the taste-buds of many
italian pizza aficionados who long for a
taste of the past. Billed as the "Worlds Finest Italian Pizza", Frankie's has been serving freshly baked pizza to thousands of loyal customers for 50 years.
Frankie's, named after its founder Frank B.
Pasquarella, is by far Miami's oldest pizza
shop. After their honeymoon visit, Frank
and his wife Doreen noticed that Miami had "plenty of italian restaurants but no pizza shops" to speak of. Armed with 150 baking trays, a Veterans' administration loan and a determination to succeed, they opened their first shop in South Miami, on
Valentines Day 1955.
Two years later they moved their operation
to a small grocery shop located on Bird
Road and 91st Avenue flanked by farms, dirt roads and Everglades scenery. But Miami grew, and with it came the shopping malls and developments that are highly evident today.
This unique "mom and pop" establishment
has withstood the changes, trends and
hardships that have threatened it through
the years. It is the story of a community
growing around their "beloved pizza shop", many of its loyal customers being fourth
generation Frankie's fanatics.
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