Annamaria Getman, the granddaughter of original owners Tony and Ann Privitera, is serving the old recipes with her husband, Paul, at the new Tony & Ann's Pizza on Broadway Road in Dracut. SUN / TORY GERMANN

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DRACUT -- Tony & Ann's Pizza, beloved by locals and made famous by The Simpsons, reopens in Dracut today.

Fans of the longtime Chelmsford landmark have been whipped into a cultlike frenzy since July when the original owners' grandkids announced they would revive the restaurant and the pizza known by its distinctly sweet tomato sauce -- a protected family secret.

Chris Doukszewicz said plenty of pizza shops have tried to replicate the taste, but they don't come close to Tony & Ann's, which is opening at 11 Broadway Road, reviving a tradition put on hold when the original Chelmsford shop closed in 2002.

"It's just so different," said the Dracut mom, who stopped by to buy some frozen pizza yesterday. "We used to get

For years, fans flocked to the old Tony & Ann's on Tyngsboro Road in Chelmsford.

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pizza there on Friday nights before we had kids. I put one of my daughters in the car to drive over here and she thinks I'm crazy."

Doukszewicz wasn't the only fanatic armed with a fistful of cash looking to buy pizza yesterday. (The credit machines aren't up and running yet.)

Bob Langer, 68, of Tyngsboro, tapped on the locked glass front door yesterday and snuck in to buy several frozen pies.

Langer, who used to go on dates at the original restaurant with Claire, his wife of 45 years, loves Tony & Ann's cheese pizza and calls their pies "candy pizza."

Annamaria Getman, granddaughter of original owners Tony and Ann Privitera, and her husband, Paul, have worked feverishly since summer to open the restaurant at its new Dracut location.

"Even as people are coming in now, we recognize the faces and people are just as excited as we are," she said.

Getman grew up making pizzas at the Chelmsford restaurant and even met her husband, a regular customer, when he smiled at her from across the counter.

"It was a love-at-first-sight kind of thing," she said.

Just like the original shop, Getman said she expects the restaurant to remain a family affair.

Ann Privitera, now 81, is expected

Annamaria and Paul Getman, owners of the new Tony & Ann's Pizza in Dracut, share many memories of the old Chelmsford restaurant. She met Paul, a regular customer, when he smiled at her across the counter. "It was a love-at-first-sight kind of thing," she said. SUN / TORY GERMANN

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to stop by to help cook from time to time and Annamaria's brother, Anthony Vitale, who been making Tony's secret pizza sauce since he was 10 years old, will be making sauce and dough in the kitchen. Some of Tony and Ann's great-grandchildren are even interested in working at the shop and learning the family's pizza trade, said Annamaria.

Tony and Ann Privitera opened the original pizza shop in Chelmsford in 1953. Tony had a reputation for knowing all his customers' names and the Tyngsboro Road restaurant became a popular spot for local high school kids and those who craved the sweet pizza. In 1998, Tony & Ann's gained national fame when Chelmsford native Lance Wilder, background-design supervisor for The Simpsons, included the restaurant in the series backdrop. Tony worked at the shop until he died in 1999 and Ann kept the shop open until she retired in December 2002.

After more than seven years, it seems Tony and Ann's customers are still loyal.

As of yesterday, the Facebook page for Tony & Ann's had 2,681 fans, with people posting about plans to fly in from as far away as Florida and Las Vegas to have a slice and another fan vowing to buy pies of frozen pizza to take down to family members living in North Carolina.

Paul Getman said he has received requests for frozen pizza from people in 16 states. The Getmans don't have any current plans to ship their frozen pizza, but said they may look into the business idea in the future.

"I can't wait to get there," Caroline Gainan of Sandown, N.H., told The Sun yesterday. "Their pizza is nothing like you've ever had in your life. I'm so excited it's coming back."

Gainan said she used to spend every Friday night at the restaurant when she was growing up in Tewksbury in the 1960s.

"I've probably spent more hours at Tony & Ann's than Tony and Ann," she said.

The Getmans said they are directing customers to park in lots behind the restaurant as they brace for large crowds when they officially open for the first time today.

Annamaria Getman said she plans to keep things mostly the same as when Tony and Ann ran the place, except for a few small changes. Like before, the shop will only be open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, but they won't close down for several months in the winter anymore. Fresh-cut French fries have been added to the menu, but other than that one addition, the original menu remains intact with the same famed pizza recipe, along with other old favorites like their meatball and veal-cutlet subs.

Said Annamaria, "The pizza will still be 'made with tender loving care,' as Tony always used to say."