Bradenton ‘neighborhood pizza joint’ opens with New York pies. Take a look inside
At the age of 10, Mark Nilsen began learning from his grandmother and mother how to make pizzas and other Italian classics.
And for 18 years, he had a pizzeria called Salerno in Stuart, Florida.
After relocating to Manatee County to be closer to family, Nilsen recently opened Cornerstone Pizza at 5203 Cortez Road W. to continue his family’s tradition, which includes his grandmother’s recipe for homemade sauce.
“I want to be that neighborhood pizza joint,” Nilsen said. “I want to know everybody by name. I want everybody to know me by name.”
Cornerstone Pizza opens in Bradenton
Specializing in New York-style thin and crispy pizzas baked in a brick oven, Cornerstone’s signature is its gourmet pies.
The Mammoth features pepperoni, sausage, bacon, ham and extra cheese. The lasagna pizza has meatballs, sausage, ricotta, parmesan and extra cheese.
The menu also boasts pinwheels, made with pepperoni, ham and mozzarella cheese, as an appetizer as well as sub sandwiches such as the Italian Stallion and San Gennaro.
The Italian Stallion has pepperoni, ham, salami, provolone, lettuce, tomato and onion on toasted garlic bread. The San Gennaro is a meatball sub on garlic bread with ricotta and mozzarella.
Cornerstone also serves a New York cheesecake and a sea salt caramel cheesecake.
“It’s quality ingredients,” he said. “I don’t cheapen on anything. So I buy the best that I can buy. And I make every pizza myself.”
Cornerstone has daily lunch specials. For $6.99, customers get two slices of cheese pizza and a soda. For $7.99, it’s two slices of pepperoni pizza and a soda. For $8.99, it’s two slices of whatever gourmet pizza is in the slice window and a soda.
On Mondays and Tuesdays, Cornerstone offers a 16-inch cheese pizza for $13. They offer 15% off all dinners on Wednesdays. And all subs are $8 on Thursdays.
Dinners such as chicken parmigiana, lasagna, baked ziti and more are $18 or less and include a side salad and three garlic knots. A 14-inch Neopolitan cheese pizza is $13.99 and a 16-inch is $16.99. Gourmet pizzas are mostly $20.99 for a 14-inch and $22.99 for a 16-inch pie.
“I’m not in this business to kill anybody with prices,” Nilsen said.
The family bond
Nilsen said family is extremely important to him, so when his dad, mother-in-law, grandmother and uncle all died within a few months of each other a few years ago, Nilsen and his family decided to make a fresh start on the Suncoast near other family members.
“My kids were clamoring a lot, they wanted to be near family,” Nilsen said.
With wife Letty, 13-year-old daughter Olivia and 10-year-old son Dominic, Nilsen moved to the area. After settling in, he turned his attention to opening a pizzeria and found a spot in Bradenton.
“It’s what I do, it’s my passion,” Nilsen said.
Restaurant uses family recipe
And that passion is something that was passed to him from his grandmother Hilda, who emigrated from Bari in Southern Italy.
“My grandmother was an amazing cook,” Nilsen said. “Simple food. She would call it peasant food, really what it was back in the day. Cheap to make. But my grandmother, she was the type of person that you could look in the refrigerator and see nothing, and she’ll tell you to sit down and relax. And 20 minutes later, you have a three- or four-course meal.”
Nilsen uses his grandmother’s dinner sauce recipe at Cornerstone, cooking it low and slow for six hours.
The cooking and recipes were passed down to Nilsen’s mother and his aunt and uncle. And now he’s passing it down with his family-run Cornerstone Pizza.
“I don’t have friends outside of my family,” Nilsen said. “They are No. 1 to me.”
What are the hours?
The pizzeria is open Monday from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday through Saturday. There are 28 seats spread across booths and tables, and the pizzeria does delivery through Sauce, which is ordered from Cornerstone’s website, or DoorDash.
For more information, visit MyCornerstonePizza.com.
