Vincenzo Vaccaro grew up with a passion for pastry. After he created the donnoli, a cross between a donut and a cannoli, the ensuing internet stardom led to stints on the Food Network and other acting gigs.
He also loves pizza. Seeking refuge during the dog days of COVID, his family moved from Queens to Marlboro. Vaccaro always intended to establish a pastry shop in these parts, but as he and partner Beatriz Martinez scoured the valley for New York City-style pizza, they came away disappointed and the business idea pivoted.
Last July, the couple opened Big Vinny’s Pizza & Donnolis in a narrow storefront on Beacon’s main drag and they’re already contemplating a move to larger space. “We love it here,” said Martinez. “It’s got that city feeling, like a mini Williamsburg.”
As a kid, Vinny worked at his family’s bakery and acquired the acting bug after making an uncredited appearance in “A Bronx Tale,” filmed in and around his father’s property in the Astoria neighborhood. At age 14, he decided to drop out of school.
“My father said ‘congratulations, I’m happy for you.’ That night, I went to sleep all content and at 3:30 in the morning, he kicked me in the ass so hard, I‘m still feeling it. I jump up: ‘what the hell!?’ He said, ‘you’re not going to school in the morning, right?’ I said ‘yeah.’ And he said ‘great. Now go downstairs and get to work. Welcome to the real world.’”After Vinny perfected his pastry-making skills, his father sold the bakery. Then, he bounced around several pizzerias in the city, caught “pizza fever,” and developed a singular approach to dough.
“I used my experience with bread to make a softer dough that rises easier in the oven because the air pockets form quicker, like ciabatta,” he said. “You’ve seen pizzerias spin the dough in the air? That’s because it’s so hard they have to open it up. Mine is soft and spongy; I just tap it [into the prep surface].”
He also uses a fermented starter, akin to sourdough, with a gooey consistency like Slime or Play-Doh. “It’s a lot of work, but people want a fancy, crispy pizza, not a chewy, soggy pizza,” he said.
Another key to fluffy crust is the ample use of water. Most pizzerias mix four gallons of water with every 50-pound bag of flour. Vaccaro adds five gallons, “so it’s sticking all over my hands.”
His sauce consists of fresh basil, Alta Cucina brand San Marzano tomatoes, and Lakonia extra virgin olive oil (some pizzerias use soy or vegetable oil, he said). A pinch of ground hot peppers adds a subtle kick and most slices ($3 to $4 in-house) are topped with a dusting of parmesan cheese. Pies range from $20 to $26 in-house.
Big Vin’s may not be the only slice shop in town (there’s Pizza & Stuff II, Sal’s Pizza & Pasta, Enoteca Ama, Brother’s Trattoria), but it is the only place you can get a donnolis ($6). Based on cartocci, a Sicilian dessert, Vaccaro’s version resembles five mini frosted donuts lined up side by side and filled with cannoli cream.
He figured out that coating one side with a sweet sauce and rolling it in crushed candy, cereal, cookies, and even bacon creates a colorful treat (and adds countless calories to the original concoction). Further experimentation led to a campfire s’mores flavor, which is covered in melted chocolate and encrusted with graham crackers and marshmallow. A blowtorch adds the finishing golden touch.
Internet stardom for donnolis happened virtually overnight in 2018 after Martinez loaded a video to Instagram. The day after Thrillist.com picked it up, the views reached one million and more media exposure followed. “We had such a crush of people that first day, it was chaos,” said Martinez. “We had to close the doors because we couldn’t handle the crowd.”
Before the donnoli craze blew up, Vaccaro got serious about acting and added to his IMDB page. The internet spotlight led to new opportunities, which he continues to pursue even though running his new shop in Beacon eats up a lot of time.
“Baking took me to places I never imagined,” he said. “But I’m always looking to come up with something new, so who knows what’s next.”
