Mark Iacono / Lucali

Located in the hip new South Beach neighborhood, Sunset Harbor, the Brooklyn import Lucali is serving up delicious, classic, paper-thin-crust pizzas that have quickly gained a cult following throughout the city.
Sitting down with owner Marc Iacono, Chat Chow TV learned the some of the secrets to his famous pies, why he started in the pizza making business, and some of the challenges he faced bringing the popular restaurant to South Florida.
"Everybody was talking the water, the water, the water, and you know, I've had some good pizzas down here," says Iacono, addressing some of the hesitations he faced. "I was like it's not the water, it's the humidity, so we just had to make a few adjustments to the dough."
Unlike many traditional pizzerias, the pizza at Lucali is made by candlelight, with the dough rolled out by empty wine bottles, and cooked one at a time in a wood-burning oven. The extra-large pies are hailed for their simplicity, using only the best ingredients such as imported Italian cheeses and a tomato sauce worthy of writing home about.
While Iacono wouldn't divulge his famous pizza sauce recipe, he did share one tip -- cooking the sauce, which gives it a different flavor profile than its raw counterparts seen at most establishments.
Pizzas aren't the only thing that you can find on the Lucali menu. One hidden gem guests can enjoy is the calzone, filled with five different cheeses and served with mounds of fresh basil and a large bowl of his pizza sauce for dipping.
Curious what inspired Iacono to get into the pizza making business? Hint: it has to do with English muffins. Or wonder what his favorite pizza toppings are? Find out all that in more in the video above.

[@kolhapure]

He is genuinely sweet. Talks to people standing in line. Pizza was the best I ever had.

[@deepk9920]

I want to try it so bad but I stay in India and going to New York for a pizza is just out of question

[@loochan325]

@@deepk9920 Go to Naple in Italy, where you can find even better pizza for a fraction of the price.

[@charlestran7309]

Mark is such a handsome guy, and I'm a straight guy lol. His got style, I admire him.

[@jaswats9645]

Mancrushes are not ghey.

[@bozumoyo3277]

Charles Tran yeaah, I think his personality helps as well

[@roccosiffredi6427]

You’re a little gay

[@roccosiffredi6427]

Eagle englasi please

[@roccosiffredi6427]

Eagle are you really a bird?

[@XTheSonofTheSunX]

Mark is the man! i like his style. cheers

[@louzer2566]

Mark trying to nonchalantly flex his muscles lmao

[@saveir6601]

Man this guy is my idol.

[@sirvanghazi9429]

lmao she drank his sauce in the end.

[@jaswats9645]

She was thirsty from the start

[@themodularmodular]

03:53 then she'll say it again

[@louzer2566]

Yes the white sauce not the red sauce

[@Michael-rc1kc]

Haha got that too. Dam did you see his lip motion throughout. What a slick guy

[@daedaetinez6406]

Mark is just awesome!!

[@markroberts2378]

Cant't wait to try your pizza in Brooklyn, when I go to NYC Mark!

[@mrglock2313]

She swallowed that sauce.

[@9faris3]

Me: Wait. Since when Mark looks so young again? Did he start to do some beauty routine or something? Saw the video's date. OOOOOHHH

[@Bob_Psycho100]

I’d rather pay 24 bucks for a great pizza rather than 14 bucks for some crap pizza.

[@moealn]

Nah, i’d get the cheaper crappier pizza

[@ducheswannabe]

@thomas samson are you going to take your "wealth" to the grave old timer? No... you are gonna spend 20-30 years hunched over a desk, hating your life and for what? The "wealth" you've "built" will be left behind to rot... Do yourself a favor, enjoy your life while you can

[@Metrallaroja]

Or you can pay 3 buck for a greta pizza in Naples.

[@sarfaraz.hosseini]

@thomas samson it depends on how much you earn, and how often you spend eating out. If you cook often at home, there's absolutely no reason you can't enjoy a good restaurant every so often.

[@mojtabarasooli843]

@thomas samson OK BOOMER

[@gbb5557]

3:54 “...and it tassste sooo gooddd” 🍆😂😂 mArks reaction dough

[@luisrojas3173]

Fulano Utal love these double entendres

[@skatingcanuck9837]

This is for the camera crew? "The Camerawoman". I like Mark even more now.

[@efanshel]

It's not the water, it's the humidity....

[@fredwu5965]

Two guys are actin' weird, feelin' like almost a footsie goin' on under the table.

[@haythamhmiedat253]

This is what a great entrepreneur is

[@wariouswarious9364]

your sauce is drinkable... wtf

[@raniermendoza]

You know exactly what "sauce" she's talking about

[@yuufeternal5837]

Did Mark say "in gonna eat her out" at the end.

[@hd2488]

$24 is cheap. In Seattle $34 per and it is not anything like mark’s

[@jaswats9645]

It's all relative. I remember my ggmom taking me to Louies when I was a kid in Queens. A buck a slice. And I tried hard to eat 2.

[@themodularmodular]

this and di fara are in my bucket list, gonna be some expensive pizza with plane tickets & hotels

[@CapnCody1622]

Exactly what I was thinking. I'd pay $24 all day for that pie.

[@linkinlinkinlinkin654]

This is new york. You get slices for 2$

[@timothymiller3846]

What’s the name of the beautiful lady doing the interview?

[@asd3262]

the tension is real

[@slamminpotatoes4508]

Everybody complaining about price, we been paying $24, now $30 at trash spots.

[@tpo1342]

That's awesome! Takes care of the camera woman.

[@greveeen]

Did she say she drank his sauce?

[@friedrichschulz-pflugbeil7791]

What happens at 3:33? And How?

[@mohyeldin8085]

That's bread without sauce and it's fucking great you can it with some feta and olive oil

[@mohyeldin8085]

When you doing put anything on the dough it puffs like that

[@friedrichschulz-pflugbeil7791]

@@mohyeldin8085 you mean without putting anything on the dough? so just stretching it like a normal pizza and then putting it directly into the oven?

[@KillBill_gaming]

@@aharonaryeh4049 lol. That's steam 😂

[@johnadamczyk6213]

@@friedrichschulz-pflugbeil7791 yes that's how middle eastern pita is made

[@PianoPianissimo335]

Alan Alda!!

[@brookem4454]

Brooklyn accent....that accent God!

[@derkahderkah]

He looks like punisher

[@deflandre8286]

He was in the italian mafia in Brooklyn

[@benwilliams868]

Interview or date....? "It was really good, then drank your sauce"

[@mikew2479]

That slap at 4:17 mmhmm

[@evilhutdug4665]

hes changed so much lmao

[@sparngyl5617]

New York pizza is extremely similar to Roman pizza

[@michaelnguyen823]

English muffin pizzas? If it's made by Mark, I'll take a dozen, please. No, make that two dozen.

[@salcamposano7560]

If it's the water just use spring water

[@maheshkumartak3096]

Never knew jon hamm made pizza...

[@adriangroenewald3825]

Oh my lord every time a woman goes to interview mark they end up... ya know...

[@MrPressPhotographer4]

It's not a pie its pizza.

[@NeoGamemaster]

No it's Apizza

[@osmanosman401]

Florida ??? WTF isn't he in brooklyn ??

[@ZMCarsandMore]

He has those two spots from what I learned. He expanded. Miami makes sense. $24 pizzas can be sold in Miami, especially near South Beach.

[@peeweemgee2738]

😂

[@sarasparks1992]

is this the start to a p*rno? lol the way she keeps talking about how his sauce is so drinkable and the way she flirts is so obvious hahahah

[@Brandon-youtube]

What is this interviewer

[@ImmyT89]

So in the end it was revealed that the camera guy was a woman.

[@jimijackson]

She's wife material

[@deepeshpanday1054]

When you are successful girls laugh at any lame thing you tell.

[@xevious2501]

Trust me, i know what its like to go out and eat at a restaurant only to want to know how a dish was made, ingredients and all, because it was just that good, But fact is.. you gota have respect to the chef, because good food comes often with long hours lots of money , skills and learning, and to ask for all that just because you like it is actually incredibly rude. Dont try to steal the guy's recipe in front of his face. Your trying to take what he created and give it to the masses just so you have something to talk about in your interview. And thats pretty pathetic.

[@HT.100]

His pizzas are super expensive

[@MBailote]

Go to Domino's and eat synthetic shit (made in the U.S.A.) for 5 bucks!

[@user-sm2ql7nq4l]

@Mario Bailote well said. Same in the BBQ world. People who complain about prices and have no idea what it costs and takes to make quality food on top of owning a restaurant. These are not corpartate. Ma and Pa. I have a saying. In this case, I will use Pizza. Good Pizza isn't cheap, and cheap pizza isn't good.

[@mrwhite1771]

A 24 dollar pizza with 3 cheeses imported from Italy, in a working class Brooklyn neighborhood, just screams hipster.

[@throwaway2910]

Mr White most local pizza places have plain cheese pies starting at 20$. NYC is already an expensive city, 24$ for a pie isn’t bad.

[@chojinkhan7935]

Eat a slice. Worth it by a mile. Probably cheap he could be a douche and raise the price and still sell it but he doesn't cause Mark is the man.

[@TRENLORD]

3:17