Nonna’s Pizza Restaurant offers Sicilian-style cooking. Grandma would approve
Nonna’s Pizza Restaurant, which recently opened at 7604 Cortez Road in Unit 10 of Rekkas Plaza, is a genuine family operation. It’s the first business venture of the husband-and-wife team of Erina and Enrique Gonzalez, but the family recipes go way back.
Erina runs the front of the restaurant and Enrique handles the cooking.
Erina’s mother, Enza Amato, makes the sauce for the Sicilian-style cooking, Enrique makes the dough, and her father, Giuseppe Amato, handled many of the renovations needed to open the 60-seat restaurant.
The family involvement doesn’t end there. The couple, who were childhood sweethearts at Bayshore High School, have three children, Isabella, 11, Enrique, 7, and Giuseppe, 3.
“My two oldest children were arguing about what we should call the restaurant, when my mother arrived. The kids started calling out to her, ‘Nonna, Nonna,” Erina said.
Right then, the couple had the inspiration they needed. The restaurant should be called Nonna’s, Italian for grandmother, they decided.
“We are really excited about it,” Erina said of the opening of Nonna’s. My husband worked in my family’s restaurants for 10 years, and he loves to cook. He even tosses pizza at home. We have our own recipes.”
The Gonzalezes were attracted to Rekkas Plaza by the neighborhood and that it is located on the north side of one of Bradenton area’s two corridors to the beach.
Business has been good at the family business during its first few weeks.
“I am happy to see people coming to have a good time and enjoying our food,” Erina said.
Enrique says the new business presents a good opportunity for the family. “We wanted to do this for a long time,” he said.
Erina’s family still owns Oma Pizza & Restaurant in Bradenton Beach, and previously owned Bella Mia Pizza & Italian Restaurant on Manatee Avenue.
“I started working for Erina’s family, doing the same thing I am doing here and decided I liked cooking,” Enrique said.
The menu at Nonna’s includes thin-crust pizzas, starting at $13 for a medium, and $14 for a large. Pizza is also sold by the slice for $2.50 plus 75 cents for each topping..
Other menu offerings include appetizers, hero sandwiches, salads, calzones, soups, salads and desserts. Dinner prices range from $13 to $18.
Nonna’s recently obtained its license for beer and wine sales.
Noona’s offers dining in, takeout and delivery options.
The business is open noon -9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, noon- 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 4-9 p.m. Sunday.
For more information, call 941-761-8327, or visit Nonna’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Nonnas-pizzeria-restaurant-103660104430180/.
