As a child, Antonio Daniele helped his dad and his brothers, who were commercial fishermen in their hometown of Bari, Italy. He was too young to be a fisherman, but Antonio helped out at the fish market, taking money from customers and putting fish in bags.
Now, except for occasional trips to a lake, the only fishing the Daniele brothers do is maybe pull an anchovy out of a can and slap it on a pizza.
Three of the five Daniele brothers, which include Vito, Nick, Joey, and John Daniele, moved to the United States, where two of them opened Milano’s Pizza restaurant in Raleigh Springs Mall.
Fishing was hard work back in Italy. “My dad and uncle had a fishing boat,” says Antonio, who is co-owner with his son, Marco Daniele, of Milano’s Pizza at 7936 Highway 51 North in Millington, Tennessee. “They’d go catch fish and send it to the market.”
His dad and brothers began their day with their commercial nets “at 2 in the morning and came back at 5 in the afternoon.” That was in summer and winter.
None of them knew anything about the restaurant business until they moved to the United States in the ’80s, Antonio says. They wanted to learn a different trade from fishing, which was a cold and miserable business.
They learned the pizza business working for a year at a New York pizzeria before moving to Memphis, where they bought the Raleigh Springs Mall pizza restaurant. “My dad gave them the money to buy this place over here.”
Their dad didn’t want Antonio to become a commercial fisherman. He encouraged him to move to the United States, which he did in 1988. His father gave him some words of advice: “It’s just up to you if you want to learn something.” He told him, “Love what you do.” Then he’ll be “able to do anything.”
Milano’s Pizza began to grow. “We started expanding,” Antonio says. His brother, Nick, opened up a restaurant at 7625 US-64 Number 109 on Bartlett Boulevard, and Vito opened one at 128 West Liberty Avenue in Covington, Tennessee. Each restaurant has its own personality, Antonio says.
Antonio opened his own location in Oak Court Mall. He then moved to Peabody Place Mall, where he opened Napoli Pizza, before moving to his Millington location.
He describes their fare as “New York style more than South Italy.”
Their pizza, which they sell by the slice as well as the whole pie, is thin crust as opposed to the deep dish Chicago-style pizza. They also sell “double crust,” which, Antonio says, is “like deep dish. It’s stuffed pizza. Double crust.” The topping goes over the first crust and then another crust is put on top of that.
“‘Supreme’ with everything on it” is their most popular pizza, he says.
His menu also includes spaghetti with meatballs and sauce, chicken parmigiana, lasagna, chicken Alfredo, and ravioli.
They cook from scratch, he says, with ingredients from New York. “We get trucks coming from New York every week bringing stuff we need.” He doesn’t mind the extra cost if it makes a better product. “You can buy 50 cent cheese or $5 cheese.”
But, unlike some pizza restaurants who order their water from New York to get that Big Apple taste, Antonio and his brothers use Memphis water. “We don’t get our water shipped. Our water is good over here in Memphis.”
Antonio now just works on Thursdays since he handed over the reins to his son, Marco, 31. “He wants this to be his future.”
Marco began working at the restaurant when he was 12 years old. After high school, he held several jobs as well as attending Southwest Tennessee Community College, where he studied psychology. But then his dad told him his plans for Milano’s Pizza. He said, “I don’t think I’m going to do this anymore. … I’m thinking about selling it.”
Marco realized if he didn’t step in, “the legacy will end.”
“I love it now,” Marco says. “I had children. I’m someone in this community. I bought my house here. That feeling of being a part of something is an innate drive in human beings.”
Asked what else sets Milano’s Pizza apart from other Italian eateries, Antonio says, “The love. When I make something for a customer, I make it like I make it for myself.”