LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – A family business will soon celebrate 50 years of selling the same pizza today enjoyed by classic Vegas icons like Elvis and Frank Sinatra.
Since the 70s, they’ve used the same recipes handed down for generations.
FOX5 visited the American Pacific location of Carmine’s in Henderson.
It is one of four, soon to be five locations across the Vegas valley, all dating back to the first pizzeria just off the Strip.
Master pizza chef Sergio started at just sixteen and has been making pies for nearly 50 years since Villa Pizza first opened its doors.
“This is Commercial Center. This is the first one, 1976 and you can even tell by cars… this is the line for the slice window that he had and it wrapped all around the building,” explained Frank Vento, Owner of Carmine’s.
The family began making pizza in Italy and brought their talents to America. Vento’s family history now lines the walls of the pizzeria.
Frank Vento’s dad, is worked at a New York City pizzeria in 1975 when the family vacationed in small town Vegas.
“He asked my mom, ‘What do you think about opening a pizzeria?’ It was a big gamble at this time. There was nothing out here. Just a few hotels. There was a lot of dirt,” recalled Vento.
Like their dough, Frank has watched the city rise over the decades.
“It is really great to see Vegas so big, I mean we have a football team and a baseball team coming,” Vento gleamed
but he’s also happy to reminisce on classic Las Vegas.
“Sinatra was looking for pizza and he found us…and Dean Martin. Liberace, I remember him coming in, I was in a booth and he had all the glitter and stuff and I was like who is that,” Vento recounted.
Perhaps the most notable fan of Villa Pizza: Elvis.
“He came and picked it up and he said I am going to bring you back an autograph and it is hanging up on the wall here still,” Vento revealed pointing to a signed picture of Elvis on the wall.
As the family business continues to thrive, Vento has renamed the mom-and-pop chain after his father, Carmine.
“That is where I learned to operate, my mom and dad, and that is how we embody the family restaurant,” Vento contended.
The name is an ode to a Vegas and family past, carrying a legacy into the future.
Another Carmine’s location is scheduled to open near Rainbow and the 215 next year.
Their original location has seen many improvements recently. When asked if the pizzeria would ever return to its roots of where it all started, at the Commercial Center. They said it is certainly a possibility.
Copyright 2024 KVVU. All rights reserved.
