BAINBRIDGE, Ohio — What does it take to make the perfect pizza? Is it a focus on quality products? Or perhaps, it's the support of a strong family. Add in a love passed down through the generations, and you've got the new Pizzeria DiLauro in Bainbridge.
Owners Adam and Tiffany DiLauro say, all of those ingredients combine to make their specialty "East coast inspired" pies.
"We use a California tomato blended with a San Marzano tomato. Pecorino Romano finished with parmesan..." Adam DiLauro said of just a few of their specialty ingredients.
Locally sourced ingredients are particularly important as well.
"We make our meatballs in-house with beef and veal that we pick up twice a week from Heritage Meats in Middlefield. All our salads are done with Great Lakes Growers lettuce... it's the best stuff that you can buy."
And that strong family? They're the foundation here, says Tiffany.
"Adam brother [Cody] is a partner in our business as well. Adam's mother works the front counter every single night we're open, she hasn't missed a day. His dad picks up bread for us twice a week he makes cannolis....my mother is a huge part of it as well."
"It's my grandpa's [sausage] recipe that we use in the pizzeria and we've been making it since we were children," Adam added.
And it all comes together to make a pretty incredible slice of pizza. So incredible in fact, the DiLauro's say they've barely been able to keep up with demand since opening this spring.
"We have one oven. Our process is two people making pizza, one person working the oven, so you can only make so many pizzas," Adam said. "[But] we do everything that we can out of here to um get everybody pizza as much as possible."
The DiLauro's first started their pizza-making journey with a wood-fired oven and a food truck.
"This was probably a 10-year project for us getting where we needed to be," Adam explained. "We just did all the research we needed to do, contacted the people we needed to contact and we uh fell in love with [making pizza], fell in love with it."
Right now, the pizzeria is take-out only. But the DiLauro's have big plans for the space. They recently closed Tiffany's former makeup studio next door, and plan to expand into that space.
"We are putting in a bar and a lounge in the front space, so a 12-person bar with couches, chairs, coffee tables," she said.
A passion and a longtime dream, on full display here, along with their menu.
"We fall asleep talking about pizza in the shop and wake up talking about the shop," Adam said.
"We're risk takers and it was all or nothing. This has been a dream of ours for so long and we were ready to go for it," Tiffany added.
Judging by the high demand, and rave reviews. They're doing something right. Adam and Tiffany hope you agree - and that Pizzeria DiLauro is a Northeast Ohio staple for many years to come. And no surprise, Tiffany says they ultimately hope it's a dream that carries down through the next generations.
"You know, it's about building a legacy for our family and our children. We're doing this for our children as well."
You can visit Pizzeria DiLauro, at 17800 Chillicothe Rd, Chagrin Falls, OH or call 440-384-3947.