Here's what DiCarlos says:
Dicarlo's History
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Origins of Original Di Carlo's Pizza
For more than 50 years, Original Di Carlo's Pizza has had a long and proud tradition of providing a delicious pizza product. Primo Di Carlo decided he wanted to get in the pizza business when he served in the military during World War II. While stationed in Italy, he observed that the locals were creating a bread, tomato sauce and cheese concoction and selling it. He believed a similar concept would succeed in Wheeling.
When he returned from Italy, he and his brother Galdo adapted the Italian recipe. They opened the restaurant in 1949 and sold pieces of their pizza which they called "poor man's cheesecake" for 10 cents a slice. They helped to put pizza on the map in Wheeling. It has become so successful that when anyone in the Ohio Valley thinks of pizza, they automatically think of the Di Carlo's.
Today Galdo's three daughters, Caroline, Toni, and Anna, run the business. They are successfully taking the company into the future by not breaking one very important rule. Stick with tradition. They still use the same secret recipe their father created. They treasure this family heirloom and would never do anything to jeopardize it. Galdo fashioned the recipe for the "poor man's cheesecake" to his own liking. He was a large man and loved to eat. He had a magnetic personality and quick wit. He was even pals with Dean Martin, who also grew up in the Ohio Valley. His very organized wife Carmalina was the bookkeeper and secretary. Now Caroline and Anna concentrate on the accounting, franchising and overall management, while Toni focuses on operations. Together they are building on the legacy that their family created and carry it into a bright and prosperous future.
Here's what I say:
DiCarlo's is unlike any other pizza. It is done in big square trays of 16 slices per tray and sold by the piece or by the tray. The process of baking goes something like this: the dough is first baked in several different ovens,of varying degrees, the result being a very crisp bottom with a tender not so thick, not so thin top . The corner pieces are especially prized because of the outside crust, a consistency resembling ciabatta bread. Before the last baking, the sauce is applied and heated, it does not soak the crust, but instead remains a very distinct layer. The sauced crust is then removed and put in the box. Copious amounts of cheese and slices of pepperoni are added.(No need to order extra cheese on this pizza). The lid is slammed shut and the intense heat inside steams the cheese and pepperoni, causing it to become the stringy cheese that most desire, with the pepperoni tender and not hard baked. The FAVORED way to eat this pizza is by paying for it and rushing out to your car, loaded with napkins and pop and diving in before one leaves the parking lot. A full tray of pizza is currently running as a special(of several months duration) 1 tray with pepperoni and cheese, two orders of Cheese breadsticks(best in the business with accompaniments of pizza sauce and homemade herbed garlic parmesean butter), and a two litre bottle of soda/pop for 12.99. They have recently opened a branch here in Morgantown and it's one of the most coveted pizzas around. The flagship original store is in Elm Grove, a suburb of Wheeling , West Virginia, and has 3 or 4 other locations in the Wheeling area, the Elm Grove one being considered the Queen of the group. Access to the Elm Grove store is an easy jump off 1-70.