CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio — Located in the heart of Chagrin Falls, ETalian has quickly become a crowd favorite. The secret sauce to their pizza? Simplicity, and it's paying off.
The man behind the dough is chef and owner Eddie Tancredi. And with a name like that, he was born for slicing za!
"It just goes with it," Tancredi laughed. "It goes with the flow."
He is putting his own flair into food and into the name of the shop.
"So it's my initials, Eddie Tancredi. I actually had this name ETalian since I was 20 years old, and I've just been waiting to use it," said Tancredi.
Tancredi is using pizza to revitalize a historic Chagrin Falls building that sat vacant for years.
"This building is from the late 1800s. It's actually one of the first buildings built in Chagrin Falls," said Tancredi. "It used to be a blacksmith, so it kind of ties into a pizzeria as well. Blacksmiths back then were using fire to make their things, just like we do now for our pizzas with the wood-fired oven."
ETalian is pumping out a bit more of a delicious product now, though... and according to Tancredi, it all starts with the dough.
"We use four ingredients (for the dough)... flour, fresh yeast, salt and water. That's it," he said.
That dough then gets topped with their homemade tomato sauce, cheese, and fresh toppings and cooked to perfection in their 800-degree Italian wood-fired oven.
Along with pizza, they serve fresh salads, home-baked bread, desserts, and a Tancredi original, a pizza wrap that incorporates all the best of a pizza and a salad.
"When you're coming in here, be ready to have a good time. We cook everything to order with fresh ingredients. Just come in with a good attitude, and we will be happy to serve you," said Tancredi.
ETalian is located at 13 Bell Street in Chagrin Falls and is open every day at 11 a.m. For more head to their website www.etalianpizza.com.