I Love Frankie’s, Worcester’s Best Pizza

For Frank Abbatecola, pizza is art.

I love making pizza. It's the whole creative aspect is what gets me going. I have my instruments here, my paints, my colors the dough is your canvas. So everyone turns out a little bit different. And just like anything else people who create they do it with a passion and a love for it and it just takes a hold of you."

And like many great artists, he's also a bit eccentric.

Insane.  What is happening today? I gotta I gotta chill my vibe man.  Where am I? Woo.

But to know him is to love him and once you taste his pizza, you'll understand why he named his place "I Love Frankie's".

Located in this tiny shop on Union Hill, I Love Frankie's touts itself as "The Best Pizza in Worcester".  In fact, their website is actually “worcestersbestpizza.com”. Frank is a former musician, who came to the city by way of Colorado to be with his daughter, who you see devouring one of dad's slices on the restaurant's logo.

"Oh, the logo. That would be my daughter, Lily.  She's 100% committed when she eats her pizza."

And you too will be committed, the second you have the shop in your sights.

"You can smell it.  You can smell the aroma of the pizzeria half a block down. And so when you come in, it's just like being in New York. We make everything in house. Everything is fresh here. So if you want that local authentic New York style pizzeria, you come here."

Frankie actually makes a couple different kinds of pizza.

But of course, the New York Style Pies are a must try.

So it's a thin crust, you know, hand stretched. I use like five different combinations of cheeses at this point. A nice extra virgin olive oil you know goes on every pizza. We're doing it right."

But when it comes to toppings, Frank does things a bit differently and puts them UNDER the cheese.

"Customers sometimes freak out. They’ll be like where's the pepperoni underneath the cheese?  They're used to it like being on top so when they see it you know poking through a little bit it's a little different to them but it all tastes the same."

And the flavor combinations are endless, with options like the White Pie with Fresh Basil, Ricotta, and Extra Virgin Olive Oil.  Or this pie inspired by Clams Casino.

"It's a white pie. And will heat up some like chopped clams, some bacon, some roasted red peppers, some special sauce, some extra virgin oil, some parm, fresh basil on top and it’s really.  Refreshing. That’s the word, refreshing."

For something a whole lot heavier, there's the Supreme pizza with pepperoni, sausage, mushroom, green pepper, and onion. And if you want to go all in, cardiac care be damned, order the Heart Stopper.

"We call it the heart stopper because of all the meat toppings on there. Double pepperoni, meatball and sausage.. You know you eat enough of them and your heart will stop with love will be overwhelmed with all the goodness."

And when it comes to size, you’ll also be overwhelmed because a large pizza here measures in at 24 inches.

"If somebody calls in orders a large we're like, it's, you know, it's 24 inches and they say, Okay, we'll say it's two foot around, and they say, Okay.  And then they show up, and they don't realize how big two feet actually is. And they're like, Oh, my God."

A plain cheese pizza here is great, but if you want an upgrade, order the El Presidente, made with a top secret cheese blend. Frank named it after Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, in hopes of getting the attention of the pizza aficionado and media mogul.

"It was a way to just maybe like, try and get social media to bring that law of attraction."

And well.  It worked.  Because in the middle of our production team's shoot, guess who stopped by?

"Well they tagged me about 3000 times so we did research and try to find like 10 of the best places I haven't hit around Mass so that's how we ended up here. "

"I absolutely called it. I called it. I call this whole thing."

And just like Frank hoped, El Prez gave his pizza a review.

"This is too hot to eat almost.  It's really good. Also, we come in, The Phantom Gourmet is in there. The Phantom Gourmet has been around as long as I’ve been around. I'll go seven seven. There you go.  I love Frankie's.  There's the review."

If you follow Barstool, you know the saying, "One Bite, Everybody Knows the Rules."

But you may want to break those rules when it comes to Frankie’s Grandma Style Pies.

"The grandma pie is like pan pizza kind of like a Sicilian pizza, but it's not.  It's our regular sauce. It's our regular dough and it cooks longer in the oven. We put a little bit of extra virgin olive oil underneath it. So you get some extra flavor in there.  It's basically a take on what everyone's Nana used to do growing up making pizza at home in a pan. And it's delicious."

Of course grandma probably never made a pie like this zippy Buffalo Chicken, spiked with bacon and drizzled with creamy ranch. Or the Pepperoni Garlic -- a flavor bomb that will knock your socks off.  But Frank is a simple kinda guy, so for him, the Traditional Margherita always hits the spot.

"The traditional Margarita is my favorite. There's something about it. It has very much of a throwback look to it. Throwback taste. It's a classic. It never fails. It's really one of the best."

And when it comes to finding the best pizza in the great city of Worcester, one bite and you too will probably be saying “I Love Frankie’s.”