Pizza shop is rising
from the ashes

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

Fire has always been good to Ernie Caranci.
For the last two decades, it has baked his pizzas, boiled his pastas and provided his family with a wealth of happiness as proprietors of one of Northeast Philadelphia’s most popular and successful neighborhood eateries, the Original Ernie’s.
But flames took all of that away from the Caranci clan almost 14 months ago when an electrical mishap claimed the Cottman Avenue pizzeria and restaurant in the middle of the night.
The blaze gutted the place and seemed to take from Caranci — a native of the Abruzzi region in central Italy — everything for which he had worked since coming to the United States with his bride Carmela in the mid-1960s.
But fire couldn’t burn his love of food or his passion for serving local folks some of the tastiest pizza and Italian platters to be found anywhere in the city.
The rebuild took them over a year, but Caranci, his family and his loyal staff are back in business with a bright new shop and the same beloved fare. The new Original Ernie’s opened on Jan. 9 at its familiar spot across the street from Northeast High School.
"It was a total loss," Caranci said, recalling the fire that put him out of business and put hungry folks out of luck for so long.
"It happened in the middle of the night — two or three (o’clock) in the morning. I got called (at home) by the fire department and police department. I was very disappointed and depressed. You build for a lifetime, and all of a sudden it goes down."
When the owner got to the scene about 15 minutes after taking the call, he couldn’t even get near the building, as firefighters were still at work dousing the charred rubble.
"They had everything barricaded. I couldn’t get near it. It took the whole night until the morning," Caranci said.
Nothing could be saved — not the pizza oven, nor the grill, the fryer, the refrigerator or the cash register. As owner of the building, Caranci was on the hook for that, too.
But more than the small fortune he had invested in the business, his thoughts were of his many nieces and nephews and employees who had come to rely on the business for income.
And he thought of his personal journey.
Caranci first immigrated to the United States at age 13. He spent the next decade here before returning to Italy in 1964 to visit relatives. On that trip, he met his wife-to-be.
In the late 1970s and early ’80s, he operated a pizza parlor and restaurant at Aramingo Avenue and Cambria Street in Port Richmond. He and Carmela lived in Frankford at the time.
After the couple moved farther Northeast, he sold the pizza shop and in 1987 bought his current location at 1618 Cottman Ave. Several prior owners had tried to run successful eateries there but had failed.
"I bought this and did a little remodeling," Caranci said. "As soon as people got to know us, we got dedicated people who (would) come all the time."
In an industry flooded with potential competitors of both the independent and national franchise variety, Caranci credits taste for setting Ernie’s apart.
"Our quality of food is top of the line," he said. "We use the best ingredients. And since it’s a family-owned place, everybody is dedicated to what they do. We have a big menu, and everything is made here. It’s all cooked and made fresh every day."
Carmela Caranci is a hands-on participant in the business, as is Ernie’s sister-in-law, Nancy DeFrancesco, and the couple’s nephews, Angelo and Nick Caranci.
During the dark days after the fire, the owner also thought of the future. Now 67, Caranci has long considered the restaurant a legacy to his family.
"It’s something that I accomplished and I preserve," he said. "I’ve got young nephews, and it’s probably going to stay in the family."
So, collecting an insurance check and moving on was never an option.
"I knew that we still had our quality of food. I didn’t have any doubt (that we would rebuild)," Caranci said. "We stayed here because I know my customers here. I didn’t want to go out of the area."
Once again, the restaurant owner led a team effort as he re-designed the place in accordance with new city codes and relatives helped build and decorate it.
"We changed the dining room. And there’s a brand-new kitchen," he said. "And there are brand-new handicapped-accessible bathrooms."
The owner’s brother painted the cloud designs on the ceiling, and his wife and sister-in-law picked out groovy red-and-orange fixtures for the dining room that look like hanging slices of pizza.
"The food is the same; it hasn’t changed," Caranci said. "The place maybe looks brand new, but I’ll leave it to customers to say how they see it.
"When we were working on it, (customers) stopped by and said they couldn’t wait until we reopened. On the first day, we got a good welcome back from everybody."
At an age when many entrepreneurs look forward to retirement, Caranci has no plans to back off from his rigorous six-day work schedule.
"I love this business too much," he said. "I always loved the food business. I love to make food. It was always my ambition."
Caranci never was going to let a bit of fire stand in his way. ••
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com