Tina Fey’s Favorite Pizza Spot Pica’s Is Closing
"This has been such a tough personal family decision," co-owner Angela Pica Oandasan tells Foobooz.
Tina Fey and Jimmy Fallon with a box of pizza from Pica’s in Upper Darby, which is closing / Image courtesy of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
The next time Tina Fey pays a visit to her Delco hometown of Upper Darby, she’s going to have to find another place to grab a pizza. Pica’s, which is Fey’s favorite pizza spot, is closing its longstanding Upper Darby location.
I first heard rumors that Pica’s might be closing early this week. So I reached out to co-owner Angela Pica Oandasan, whose father Frank Pica Sr. opened his first pizzeria at 62nd and Race streets in West Philadelphia, eventually landing as Pica’s on West Chester Pike in Upper Darby.
“Sadly, the news is true,” Pica Oandasan told me. “We will be closing at some point this summer. Exact date not known yet.”
Pica Oandasan says the family does have plans to open a smaller restaurant in Delco — Pica’s in Upper Darby is quite large — but those plans have yet to be finalized. She explained that she wanted to hold off on any announcements about the Upper Darby Pica’s closing until she could announce the new restaurant at the same time. But somehow word of Pica’s closing leaked out, forcing her hand on Thursday.
“We have been blessed through the year with terrific loyal customers,” she says. “We wanted to make this announcement timely but when we were ready. This has been such a tough personal family decision …”
Back in 2014, I interviewed a writer for the Tonight Show who grew up in Delco, and he told me that he had bonded with Fey over their mutual love for Pica’s pizza. I inserted a note in that story: “[Hint to Pica’s: SEND PIZZA.]”
Frank Pica Sr., who has since passed away, read the interview and called me, explaining that he wanted to figure out a way to get some Pica’s pizzas to the show the next time Fey was a guest.
It turned out that Fey was going to be on the show very soon. The Tonight Show dispatched an intern to 30th Street Station, where Frank Pica Sr. delivered some pizzas. And later that night, Fallon surprised Fey with a Pica’s pizza, and they ate it on the air, as you can see here:
Naturally, Pica’s phones started blowing up, with customers driving more than three hours to try the pizza. Ah, the power of celebrity … and great pizza.
The family opened a Pica’s location in West Chester in 2017. That Pica’s remains open.
