Casa Bianca

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Revision as of 07:10, 22 October 2026 by Jacques (talk | contribs) (Add the 2000–2004 years from the newspaper research recorded in the database; earlier text kept)

Casa Bianca was a family of pizza parlors run by the Elmazi brothers, Efraim "Feme" and Nafi Elmazi, who came to Madison from New York in 1997. The Capital Times' restaurant writer called the original, at 333 N. Bassett St., "one of Madison's best — if not most overlooked — pizza parlors"[1].

History

The brothers opened the Bassett Street restaurant in 1997, "about the same time Sal's Pizzeria opened on State Street". A couple of years later they took over Sal's, called it Casa Bianca, and eventually turned the State Street spot over to Pizza Di Roma. Their father, Sal Elmazi, had come to New York City from Albania in 1969, worked in an Italian restaurant making pizzas, opened his own place in Atlantic City a year later, and later ran Best Italian Pizza at Broadway and Canal streets with his sons[1].

The Badger Herald told the State Street story in September 2002: the shop at 313 State St. "has been known as Casa Bianca since Elmazi bought Sal's Pizza in 1999"; Jimmy Pashaj had bought it from Nafi Elmazi that spring and on September 17 hung a "Pizza di Roma" banner to set it apart from the Bassett Street Casa Bianca. Before Ian's Pizza opened in 2001, the paper added, the downtown slice market had been "just the two Casa Biancas and Falbo Bros."[2] The building, with Zorba's next door, belonged to Jimmy and Irene Mitropoulos[3]. The city's licence lists of 2000 to 2004 carried Casa Bianca at 333 N. Bassett St. under Nafi Elmazi, and the State Street store until 2002[4][5]; in May 2004 Efraim Elmazi applied for the Bassett Street licence in his own name[6]. A developer's 15-storey tower proposed in January 2001 for the 400 block of West Johnson Street would have razed the restaurant, but was not built[7].

In July 2003 the State Journal gave the Bassett Street restaurant three stars: Nafi Elmazi "has two passions in life: the pizza he makes and the people he serves"; 16 kinds of pizza by the slice, from $2 for cheese to $3.95 for stuffed pepperoni, stromboli, 20-some pastas and a full bar, in a family business where his brother and cousins worked. Casa Bianca had then "been at the present location for five years", and Elmazi was about to open a second restaurant in the City Center West building on Junction Road[8]. That store, licensed in August and open by about October 2003, was reviewed in December as the more upscale "West Side incarnation", with white tablecloths at dinner, pink marble on the pizza ovens and ten veal entrées; the New York-style pizza, sold by the pie or the $2.95 slice, was what it did best[9][10]. A Daily Cardinal reviewer that autumn found the Bassett Street slices "as big as a city block" and the owner's father Sal greeting customers and watching the late football game with Ald. Mike Verveer[11].

By 2005 each brother ran a Casa Bianca and a Sal's: Feme the downtown pair — Bassett Street and the new Sal's Pizzeria at 15 N. Butler St., opened about October 2005 in the Butler Plaza spot that had been home to three coffee shops in five years — and Nafi the West Side Casa Bianca on Junction Road and a Sal's Pizzeria in Appleton. Sal's offered 10 to 15 lunch slices a day from about 50 kinds of pizza, as at Casa Bianca, with a slice, salad and soda for $5.45[1]. In April 2005 a State Journal columnist counted Casa Bianca among "Madison's best pizzas"[12].

The city's licence lists carried Casa Bianca at 333 N. Bassett St. (Efraim Elmazi) and 515 Junction Rd. (Nafi Elmazi) in May 2005[13]; by May 2007 the Junction Road licence was under Adrian Bajrami[14]. In January 2007 a developer proposed condominiums for the one-acre site near 502 N. Frances St. "that had been home to the Casa Bianca Italian restaurant"[15], and in July 2007 Casa Bianca was among the businesses whose liquor licences had not been renewed[16]. The Butler Street Sal's gave way to Cafe Porta Alba in 2006[17].

Former Locations

  • 15 N. Butler St., as Sal's Pizzeria (about October 2005 to 2006).
  • 333 N. Bassett St. (1997 to about 2006; "at the present location for five years" in July 2003[8]).
  • 515 Junction Rd. (opened about October 2003 in the former Rozino's Pizza[10][18]; licensed to at least May 2007).
  • 313 State St., the former Sal's (1999 to September 17, 2002, when Jimmy Pashaj renamed it Pizza Di Roma[2]).

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Kalk Derby, S. (2005, December 15). "Sal's Pizzeria helps a family tradition grow." madison.com.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 (2002, September 18). "Casa now to be 'Pizza di Roma'." The Badger Herald.
  3. ↑ Kalk, S. (2001, April 3). "Zorba's carves its final gyro." The Capital Times. p. 2. Newspapers.com image 522211832.
  4. ↑ (2000, May 25). City of Madison licence renewal applications, 2000–01 (pages 12–13). The Capital Times. p. 12. Newspapers.com images 522191464, 522191464, 522191472.
  5. ↑ (2002, May 21). City of Madison licence renewal applications, 2002–03 (pages 4–5). The Capital Times. p. 4. Newspapers.com images 526007657, 526007657, 526007659.
  6. ↑ (2004, May 11). TCT legal notice: public hearing, new licence, Efraim Elmazi dba Casa Bianca, 333 N. Bassett St. The Capital Times. p. 5. Newspapers.com image 522253694.
  7. ↑ (2001, January 23). "Plan Commission hears tower proposal for West Johnson and Bassett." The Capital Times. p. 17. Newspapers.com image 522554305.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Henneberry, J. and Neuenschwander, G. (2003, July 3). "Casa Bianca's pizza, stromboli outstanding." Wisconsin State Journal. p. 67. Newspapers.com image 406199156.
  9. ↑ (2003, August 22). Alcohol License Review Committee agenda: new application, Nafi Elmazi dba Casa Bianca, 515 Junction Rd. The Capital Times. p. 6. Newspapers.com image 525971385.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Martell, C. (2003, December 21). "Restaurant review: Casa Bianca — West Side incarnation does best at pizza." Wisconsin State Journal. p. 52. Newspapers.com image 407390862.
  11. ↑ Lauvray, B. (2003, November 6). "Casa Bianca's serves slices, smiles." The Daily Cardinal.
  12. ↑ Kalk Derby, S. (2005, April 14). "Ian's Pizza brings its slices to upper State Street." madison.com.
  13. ↑ (2005, May 23). City of Madison licence renewal list, May 2005 (continued): Casa Bianca, Pizza Pit, Pizzeria Uno, Glass Nickel, Pizza Di Roma, Urban Pizza Cafe. The Capital Times. p. 5. Newspapers.com image 525987738.
  14. ↑ (2007, May 28). City of Madison licence renewal list, May 2007: Rocky Rococo (8 stores), Cafe Porta Alba, Casa Bianca, Pizza Pit, Urban Pizza Cafe, Pizza Di Roma, Pizza Hut, Unos, Roman Candle. The Capital Times. p. 4. Newspapers.com image 529156052.
  15. ↑ (2007, January 23). Condo proposal for the one-acre site that had been home to the Casa Bianca Italian restaurant near N. Frances St. The Capital Times. p. 1. Newspapers.com image 522455031.
  16. ↑ (2007, July 3). Businesses whose liquor licences were not renewed by July 1, 2007, including "Urban Pizza (closed)" and Casa Bianca. The Capital Times. p. 3. Newspapers.com image 522433714.
  17. ↑ Martell, C. (2006, December 10). "Cafe Porta Alba makes pizza the old-fashioned way." madison.com.
  18. ↑ Moe, D. (2003, April 29). "Rozino's was a slice of city life." The Capital Times. p. 2. Newspapers.com image 523384490.
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