Larry Cariglio wanted to be his own boss. As the son of Italian immigrants, a lot of his relatives owned and operated pizza shops. “That was always something he was interested in doing,” his son Michael says. So when a cousin mentioned that an Oberlin pizzeria was for sale, Larry and wife MikelAnn decided to check it out. He subsequently quit his job as an Akron-based M&M/Mars candy salesman, bought the restaurant and renamed it Lorenzo’s, the Italian iteration of Lawrence. His goal: to make the very best pizza he possibly could.
Forty years later, Larry, Michael and their staffers continue to achieve that goal in the same South Main Street location. The pizzeria’s food truck, available for catered events, turns out a crispier-crusted version of a traditional Neapolitan pizza, the result of Larry’s earning a certificate in wood-fired pizza-making from the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana in Italy. But the pies made in the restaurant have evolved into what Michael describes as a generously topped “Ohio-style pizza.”
By the Numbers
8:Hours the house-made sauce is cooked
3,000:Pepperoni pizzas sold each month
40: Pepperoni slices on a large pepperoni pizza
2: Meats in the pepperoni,
“Beef-and-pork pepperoni is better than all-beef pepperoni, flat out.” – Michael Cariglio
2: Cheeses on the Pizza
It’s a mozzarella-provolone blend.
Lorenzo’s Pizzeria
52 1/2 S. Main St., Oberlin • 440-775-0118 • lorenzospizza.com
