Florida Style Pizza? What the hell is Florida Style Pizza!? Well, funny story. Despite the name, there’s no actual Florida-style pizza, at least not one associated with the Sunshine State. The story instead begins in South Philadelphia, where Greek immigrant Panagiotis Kotsiopoulos opened a pizza shop at the corner of Snyder and Beechwood in 1972 and named it Florida Style Pizza. Alongside traditional pies, Kotsiopoulos served panzerotti, small, calzone-like pockets stuffed with pizza ingredients. Unlike calzones, which are baked, panzerotti are deep-fried to crispy, golden perfection, and it was these delicious little grease bombs that Kotsiopoulos dubbed “Florida Style Pizza.” Some credit him with introducing panzerotti to America, although several competing pizza joints have made similar claims, while others insist they invented the concept of “inside-out pizza.” Most of these establishments are in Philadelphia, a couple are across the river in New Jersey, and absolutely none of them have anything to do with Florida. Regardless of who invented them or what you choose to call them, there’s one thing pretty much everyone can agree on: deep-fried pizza is freakin’ amazing.
