At FEATURE, we believe that the heart of a great business is in its story, much like the ones we highlight in our Hidden Gems series. In this edition, we sit down with Vincent, the visionary behind Good Pie, a pizzeria that’s more than just a place to eat—it’s a tribute to the rich tapestry of New York City’s pizza culture and the grandmothers who have inspired it. Vincent’s passion for preserving tradition while pushing the boundaries of culinary creativity is evident in every detail, from the design to the carefully crafted pizzas. Join us as we explore the heart and soul behind Good Pie, and discover how Vincent’s journey has shaped a dining experience that’s as nostalgic as it is innovative.

FEATURE

The decor in Good Pie has a distinctive vibe. Can you share the inspiration

behind the design and how it reflects the restaurant's identity?

VINCENT 

The inspiration behind the design of good pie has to do with the pizzerias of my youth. I grew up in Brooklyn, in Manhattan, in New York City, at a time when pizza culture was thriving, and the tin ceiling tiles, the hex tile, the tenement building floor, the grandma wall, the white brick, the subway tile, it's all reminiscent of elements that we had in the pizzerias of my childhood, in my youth, and so that's really important to me to help tell a story of our origins. And what we do is we celebrate grandmothers. We lead with the grandma-style pizza. We celebrate grandma culture. So we have a wall of grandma pictures, and everybody from Grandma Ma Larry Johnson, UNLV to Mother Teresa to my owngrandmother to the grandmother of my attorney, we're all there. And so that culture of nurturing, caring, giving, generosity, it all embodies what we do. The real design is a mix of the dreams of the pizzeria that I wish I had grown up in and the pizzerias that I actually spent real time in.

FEATURE

How do you aim to create a unique dining experience for your

guests from the moment they walk in the door to the last bite of their pizza?

VINCENT

We aim to create a unique dining experience through all the elements, through music, through sound, through smell, with the moment you walk in the door, you're grabbing the handle, which is a grandma spoon. That spoon was made from a spoon that my own grandmother used. And that moment you touch that handle, you're entering our world, our world full of pizza nostalgia. We have a pizza cutter wall over the slice window oven, and that has a pizza cutter from every single decade of an entire century. That's 100 years of pizza. And when you walk in, that's one of the first things you see. We want you to have the ability to travel from Detroit to Brooklyn, to Sicily to New York City to get a street slice to Brooklyn and get fresh mozzarella on your pizza. The styles of pizza tell the story, and we are the ambassadors of that. We grab inspiration from the development of the styles. And pizza is one story. It's the Italian immigrant struggle to survive in the new world. It's the storytelling of desperation, of the struggle to survive, of keeping memories alive. We do that in this restaurant. We play the music that is the Beatles, we play the Rolling Stones, we play Sinatra. We embody the era of the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and all of the popular culture during that time, because pizza is a part of that, and we want to share that with the world.

FEATURE

Can you tell us about a particular element of the restaurant's design or atmosphere that you're especially proud of and why it holds special significance?

VINCENT

It's the grandma wall, but it's also celebrating grandma culture, like these schoolhouse lamps. I wanted to make sure these lamps were over that wall because that helps tell the story. Each grandmother is a real person that means something to us. Each grandmother has a struggle, and when we're having a hard day, we look at the wall, and that wall gives us inspiration to get through that day. Because none of the struggles we're going through right now can compare to the struggles of a grandmother trying to feed a family. We really have a strong connection to feeding our family, our communities, customers, vendors, our partners, our neighbors, and friends. When someone delivers a product to the restaurant, we offer them a slice and a cold drink. When we have a new neighboring bar or restaurant, we send them slices because we especially want to feed the people who feed our community. We want to nurture them. And that spirit is started with what grandmothers represent to all families, and we want to share that nourishing spirit with the world. 

FEATURE

What's the most unusual inspiration you've drawn from when creating a new pizza? Do you ever take cues from unexpected places, like art, music, or travel?

VINCENT

One of the most unusual places of inspiration I've drawn to create a pizza actually came from a homeless man, which, you know, is part of my youth, growing up in New York, there were homeless people around as part of what's happening in downtown Las Vegas. And you usually look at a homeless person as a nuisance, as someone who doesn't make you feel safe and you're threatened by but there are moments where, you know, we do try to find a safe space to feed them. When I first opened the store, the first week we were open. I was pretty much here. It was the middle of the pandemic. Not a lot ofpeople were around, and it was kind of scarce, and this homeless guy was around. At that point in the restaurant, we only had the slice window open, and so through the slice window, I offered him a slice, and it was a sausage and caramelized onion. And he just said, Hey, I don't like caramelized onion. Can you put the red onions on there for me? And you never think a homeless guy is going to say, I don't really like that. Can you make it my way? And so the fact that he had that interaction with me, every sausage and red onion pizza just reminds me of that moment of generosity, of giving, and ofwanting to go the extra mile to make someone happy, even a homeless person deserves that. We all deserve that.

FEATURE

How do you keep the spirit of creativity alive in your kitchen?

VINCENT 

It's a challenge to keep the spirit of creativity alive in your kitchen, because we're rooted in tradition, and you know, we have very simple ingredients that are not super complicated. And what we try to do is stay rooted in simplicity and authenticity. So in order to keep creativity alive, I lean on my team and we do something that a lot of restaurants do, it's family meals. And if a family meal is something that we eat, that we love and enjoy, then we can use that to create a new dish from existing ingredients that we can share with our customers. We eat in the restaurant every day, and it can get boring, the same stuff over and over. So when you use the same ingredients, but you can come up with new combinations, you actually create a new dish. It's even in the way that you place the toppings on a pizza. Most people don't know this, but I can make a mushroom, onion pepper pizza so many different ways because I put the pepper onion or mushroom, or the mushroom pepper onion or the onion pepper like there's a different way to top it, and how you build it, and how they melt and how they release juice on a pizza, how they release their flavor on that crust changes the profile. So it's incredible. What you can do with just two or three simple things, you can make a new dish every single day using the same ingredients in a different way. So that's what we try to do, to bring new things to our customers.

FEATURE

Can you walk me through the All Things Good: FEATURE, FILA, and Good Pie pizzas?

VINCENT

We're doing three pizzas, one is inspired by Ajay's love for the good hot, which is a balance of all of the flavor profiles that we love, of sweet, right of heat, right of salt, of fat, of acid. What we do on the good hot is we balance each one of those with a different layer of heat. So the good hot has sweet heat and the hot honey has acidic heat with that sauce. It has that fat heat with that spicy sausage, and it has that wonderful heat, heat when we put the chilies on there, so you're building layers of flavor. And you know, of course, Ajay, who is our great friend with FEATURE, and one of the leaders of the brand. He loves that pizza. He's been a long-time loyal customer, and we're doing a rendition of that, as our 'All Things Good' pizza, because it's a tribute to how we feel about flavor and balancing heat. It's a tribute to Ajay, and it's also a tribute to what the relationship represents to us. We're also going to do a pizza inspired by the Fila brand and by Italy. So we're bringing in imported Italian tomatoes from Italy, just for this pizza, a special tomato that we're bringing in that the base of the pizza will be baked off. And then we're gonna finish this pizza with a stracciatella cheese that comes from a region in Italy where Fila was born. That stracciatella is creamy, it's delicious, it's pure white with just a little bit of balance that gives it such a wonderful contrast with fat to the acidic deliciousness of that tomato. And then we're going to finish with that, basil, that locally grown, organic, large-leaf basil from our friends at Get Fresh. This is not basil that's available every day. It's very, very difficult to get, and you have to pre-order this basil. I know it's kind of crazy that basil is something so simple, but this is the simplicity and deliciousness of basil with stracciatella and tomato represents the Italian flag, but also those flavors can blend together harmoniously, knowing that we can never repeat this pizza ever again. You're going to want to order this. It can't be on the regular menu. It's one night only. It's to celebrate Fila and all that it stands for. Guest House is also celebrating its 20th anniversary and to commemorate that, I was able to acquire a very rare 20-year-old balsamic vinegar. We're going to drizzle this balsamic on a white pizza that will be balanced with five different cheeses, Fontina, Ricotta, Parmesan or Reggiano, aged Mozzarella, and Grana Padana. Those cheeses will come together with this delicious aged balsamic and form a flavor combination that I think will be a tribute to 20 years of hard work and brand development. And so these are the pizzas that we're going to be featuring on our night. And I reallyhope you guys can enjoy it.

Vincent’s dedication to honoring tradition while embracing innovation is what sets Good Pie apart in a city filled with culinary options. His deep emotional connection to the art of pizza-making, paired with a commitment to creating a space that celebrates community and culture, makes Good Pie a true gem in the Las Vegas food scene. Just as FEATURE connects with those who appreciate authenticity and creativity, Good Pie embodies the power of staying true to one’s roots while reimagining what’s possible. We’re excited to see how Vincent continues to evolve his craft, and we invite you to experience the unique blend of history and flavor that defines Good Pie.