Valentina’s Pizza wins national award for top-class pies

MADISON, Ala. ( WHNT ) – Valentina’s Pizza has the secret sauce when it comes to winning awards.

Last week, owner and head chef Joe Carlucci took home the title of 31st best pizza in the country from an acclaimed panel of Italian judges. But for Carlucci, Valentina’s is about more than just awards. It’s about mentorship and family.

“I’m blessed, by all means, by God,” Carlucci said. “That award is my staff. It’s not me, because it was unannounced. It wasn’t just on the ingredients, the pizza. It was the menu, the service, the ambiance. I don’t do that.”

It’s the family environment that’s drawing people from around the world to Valentina’s, but it’s the top-notch pizza that keeps them coming back.

Carlucci says it’s all in the science. Fresh ingredients and imported Italian flour make the dough tastier, healthier, and less filling than regular pizza.

“It’s a little bit of a process for us, but the result is a lot better and a lot healthier to eat,” he said.

Cooking runs in Carlucci’s blood. He started learning how to make sauce from his grandma when he was a child in the Bronx.

Since then, Carlucci’s taken his love of cuisine to a whole new level, but that New York-Italian heritage is still a major influence.

“She was old school Italian, right off the boat,” Carlucci said. “So that had a huge impact on me… always trying to cook and further my education, learning how to do what she did and take it to another level.”

Now, he’s passing that passion for cooking onto his daughter Valentina.

“She’s my heart and soul,” Carlucci said. “I love having her work here… most of the time. Because at the end of the day, she wants her money from working to go to Sephora or Ulta.”

Valentina does everything from washing the dishes to running the front of house, and even throwing a few pizzas. It’s her relationship with her father that’s at the heart of Valentina’s Pizza.

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