You’d think with a name like Napoli Pizza and Restaurant you’d be walking into an Italian place but owner Mike Alexandropoulos, whose father Nick opened it in Burlington, Iowa in 1972, has a simple explanation why it’s Greek.
“The story is, my father’s first initial is N, last name is A, and ‘poli’ means ‘city’ in Greek,” Alexandropoulos told the news site Hawk Eye. “So after all these years, we’ve finally ‘fessed up to it,” he said.
Napoli means Naples in Italian, thus Napoli Pizza is Neapolitan pizza made by Greeks, is how it was put. Alexandropoulos just celebrated the 50th anniversary of the eatery, which moved locations in 1980.
Alexandropoulos was 4 years old when the family began their American lives at JFK Airport in New York City. His dad passed away in 2013 and his mother Demetra – Dimi for short – just turned 89.
“My dad, my mom, my brother, and I did most of the cooking. Now that they’ve moved on, we’ve had to hire more people,” he said. As for the exact date it opened so many years ago, they’re not quite sure.