Cunningham wanted to surprise Fey and arranged to send a woman to 30th Street Station to collect the pies. Laurence School, rekindled a long-ago connection from playing basketball in Delco. Frank III always will have a memory of his pop from the pizza handoff they made to get their iconic pie on the “Tonight Show” to Fey, who graduated from Upper Darby High.įrank Pica III and Cunningham, who grew up in Upper Darby and attended St. The last year and change has been difficult for the Pica family, as Frank Jr. That’s what they want, for people to stay away from each other.” We thought it was important to help get this thing under control with the social distancing. The last thing we wanted to see was anybody get sick.
And a lot of our guys carpool and we were worried about our employees. With our volume with the takeout, even with both places it takes a lot of people to run that. We’re not like just a small pizza place where you have a couple of people in there and you can do delivery. Our hearts were heavy to close our doors but we feel confident we were doing the right thing. Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania state health authorities determine it’s safe. The marinara sauce goes on top of the cheese, a sort of upside-down recipe customers salivate over.Ĭheese pizzas, white pizzas and for old-school Italian palates, broccoli rabe pizza, won’t be available from Pica’s until Gov. Pica’s is a Delco institution enjoyed not just by Fey and Luke Cunningham, the “Tonight Show” writer who arranged the pizza exchange six years ago but with Eagles, Flyers, the township mayors and police and a community that enjoys the unique pies. The surfaces were wiped down, gloves and masks were worn, and they practiced social distancing. Pica, who splits his time between the Upper Darby and West Chester restaurants, and the staff felt they had addressed the safety concerns. The takeout operation worked for a while. We were just really worried about the health and safety of our employees and our customers.” I hope I never see anything like this again. “It’s surreal to think we’re going to be closed on a Good Friday.
“It’s surreal,” Pica said by telephone Wednesday. With the infection rate supposedly peaking the next couple of weeks, the tradition that reached a celebrity level when Upper Darby-born star Tina Fey enjoyed a slice on national television with “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon had to be put on hold. Upper Darby is the township hit hardest in Delco by the COVID-19 pandemic. Closing the places would impact more than 130 workers. In these coronavirus times, Frank Pica III and his management team wrestled with keeping the custom alive or shutting the entire restaurant operation down here and in West Chester, including takeout. The tradition dates back to 1956, when Pica’s moved from 62nd and Race in West Philly to 7803 West Chester Pike. UPPER DARBY – Just the thought of a Good Friday without Pica’s celebrated square pizza on Delaware County tables is incomprehensible to ownership.
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