Posted: Sunday, November 2, 2008 6:47 am

Authentic New York-style pizza is being served up beginning this week on South Church Street.

“It is the same thing if you ordered a pizza in Brooklyn,” said Nico LaMattina, the owner of Angelo’s Picnic Pizza, though, adding in Brooklyn customers wouldn’t get a thank you or a plate.

LaMattina, 26, grew up working in his family’s Nashville pizzeria. As a child, he made a few bucks working the soda fountain. He is going out on his own with the Murfreesboro restaurant.

Angelo’s Pizza Picnic is located at 2021 South Church St. near Cracker Barrel.

About 15 years ago, LaMattina’s Uncle Sal operated a Picnic Pizza in the Stones River Mall. The family has operated Angelo’s Picnic Pizza — named after his father — at various Nashville locations for decades.

“We are real Italians making real pizza,” LaMattina said. “What else can I say?”

“Pizza is in our blood,” he added later.

LaMattina said his uncle discovered Antioch when he was driving back to New York from Florida and his car broke down on Interstate 24. He found an available retail spot at Hickory Hollow Mall and called his brother Angelo to come check it out.

Part of what makes Angelo’s Picnic Pizza special is that everything is made from scratch, LaMattina said.

The pasta sauce is slow cooked for six hours, bread is baked fresh daily, and cheese is shredded and vegetables are cut at the restaurant.

Angelo’s is known for its double-crust pizza, which is filled with meat, that some customers have nicknamed the Cadillac of pizza, LaMattina said.

The menu consists of a wide variety of pizza from the traditional and the tropical to the spicy. Calzones, stromboli, sandwiches and pasta round out the menu.

Angelo’s features a daily buffet from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Delivery is available within a five-mile radius of the restaurant.

Hours of operation are Monday-Thursday 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m., Friday-Saturday 10:30 a.m.-midnight (delivery until 1 a.m.) and Sunday 11 a.m.-8:30 p.m.

For more information, call 907-0010 or visit www.picnicpizza.net.

•••

StoneCrest Medical Center is offering free advice to all senior citizens regarding Medicare replacement plans at a brunch Saturday, Nov. 8.

The event is 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. at StoneCrest Medical Center’s Medical Office Building conference room.

Hospital experts will be available at the brunch to help seniors choose what benefits are most important to their care.

Space is limited, and reservations must be made by calling the TriStar MedLine at 615-342-1919.

Erin Edgemon can be reached at 869-0812 and at eedgemon@murfreesboropost.com.