Is there anyone who hasn’t been to Amnon’s Pizza on 13th Avenue in Boro Park?

Photos and text by Avrom and Raizy Rubinfeld

Between the mega stores and malls, you can still find them: mom-and-pop businesses that have been around for years and are still holding their ground. Is there anyone who hasn’t been to Amnon’s, where nothing’s changed in decades but the price of a slice?

Say Cheese

Amnon’s Pizza on 13th Avenue in Boro Park is the kind of no-frills pizza shop where time seems to have stopped half a century ago. The booths are sturdy, the lighting is cozy-but-a-little-dim, and the menu is iconic. The slices are classic New York — wide, cheesy, and just floppy enough to demand that signature fold. The staff moves with the speed and confidence of people who have been making pies for longer than you’ve been alive. It’s not fancy, but it’s Amnon’s — and that’s the story in itself.

Amnon Levy

Amnon’s Pizza

4814 13th Avenue

Since 1959

Secret Sauce

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he shop was opened by Amnon Levy in 1959 after he emigrated from Israel. A private man who still prefers to keep a low profile, he sits with me in one of his own booths.

Why pizza back then? “Well, it was pretty new, so I took my chance,” he shrugs. The recipe developer for his legendary New York style slice? “Actually, my Yemenite mother,” Amnon says. She would to work in the store alongside him from the very beginning. In the early days, Amnon would spend 12 hours a day in the shop, making every pie by hand. Back then, a slice was just 15 cents. Eventually, he trained his employees in his family’s recipe and process, ensuring that the pizza would remain consistent no matter who was behind the counter.

Nothing’s Changed

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hat’s changed since then? Amnon chuckles. “The pizza has stayed the same. I just got older.”

The shop has seen its share of memorable visitors, from New York politicians like Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg to countless rabbis and community figures. Amnon waves off the question of whether any great rabbis ever stopped in. “Everyone’s a rabbi here,” he quips. Over the years, couples have even met over a slice at Amnon’s — and later got married.

How You Slice It

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this day, Amnon still arrives at seven every morning to open the kitchen and start baking.

The business has grown beyond the walls of its Boro Park shop. Amnon’s son Ilan, who’s been working in the store since he was 13, runs the frozen pizza and dough line, which can now be found far and wide.

“No one else makes products that come close to ours,” Ilan insists. “Sliced, whole, dough, you name it. And it was all my mother’s idea. She used to package and bring home leftover slices to reheat and realized they could sell frozen slices in the same style.”

The heart of Amnon’s has never changed: a family, a recipe, and a slice that’s as steady as the man who’s been making it for over six decades. His refrain is simple but heartfelt: “I came from nothing, now Hashem has given me everything.”

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1087)