On Sunday afternoons after church, you’ll find the Longano family at their usual lunch spot -- Country Pizza Italian Grill.
- Clearwater Italian pizzeria celebrates 40 years
- Country Pizza Italian Grill opened in 1977
- Owner brought Greek traditions to restaurant
"There’s something for everybody,” Joe Longano said. “The kids obviously love pizza."
And the community obviously loves the restaurant.
Saturday, the restaurant celebrated its 40th anniversary at its Clearwater location.
"We have a lot of experience. We have been doing this for more than 50 years,” owner Arthur Alimonos said.
Alimonos was 19-years-old in 1952 when he left Greece and arrived on Ellis Island. He said he had a dream of bringing his homeland’s traditions to America. He worked with chefs in New York City before opening a small eatery in 1956.
In 1977, Country Pizza Italian Grill opened its doors along US 19 in Clearwater.
"We make everything daily, we try to stick to our idea that our cooking has to be homemade, like you would make it at home,” Alimonos’s daughter, Bessie Karapateas said.
Karapeateas said customers love their pizza crust, which is made from a 50-year-old family recipe. Her father tweaked a Greek bread recipe to make pizza dough.
Customers said they love the restaurant’s food, but they love being treated like family even more.
"We in fact love the stories we hear from our customers,” Karapeateas said. “They used to come when they were little and now they bring their families, they bring their kids."
Joe Longano said their waitress always knows his kids’ names, what they’re drinking and how they’ve been. And that makes all the difference.
"It’s not a shock they will be here for another 40 if they want to be,” Longano said.
The restaurant also has locations in Largo and New Port Richey.