"The story behind Sarpino's is a fun one," Brumfield said.

The franchise was started by Gerry Koutougos in Victoria, British Columbia about a year ago. Koutougos had taken a vacation to Kalabria, Italy, and fell in love with the food there. But there was one special restaurant that grabbed his attention. So for the next month Koutougos worked at the restaurant for free to learn the Italian cooking secrets of a woman named Sarpina.

When Koutougos went home to British Columbia, he began work on his new pizzeria, which he named Sarpino's.

In December of 2001 the first Sarpino's was opened in Canada. Soon locations opened in Malaysia. The Willow Glen pizzeria will be the first Sarpino's in the United States.

"Gerry wanted to serve people gourmet take-out pizzas. He had a lot of experience in the pizza business, starting the 2-for-1 Pizza franchise, which now has over 128 locations worldwide," Brumfield said.

Brumfield, who used to work at the San Jose Country Club as a golf pro, moved his family to Utah 11 years ago. When the opportunity to open a pizzeria in the Willow Glen area presented itself, the Brumfields jumped at the chance.

"We know a lot of the people in Willow Glen. Many of them were members of the country club when I was there, so it was like coming home to old friends," Brumfield said.

At Sarpino's the dough for the pizzas is made by hand on the premises.

"We have about three days a week set aside for dough-making right now. When business picks up we'll probably have to make dough daily," Brumfield said.

The sauce may also be a factor in the unique quality of Sarpino's pizzas. The sauce used on the pizzas is also made from scratch. It is the recipe of Sarpina in Italy and a guarded secret.

The pizzas themselves are considered both specialty and gourmet by pizza standards.

There is the Tropical Hawaiian Special, with Canadian ham, smoked bacon, pineapple, cheddar and mozzarella.

Another pizza that has become popular is the Spinach Special, with fresh spinach, a blend of four different cheeses, leeks, green onion, garlic butter, eggs and herbs.

"People really like the spinach pizza. Even the people who aren't vegetarians are ordering it quite a bit," Brumfield said.

The BBQ Chicken Bonanza pizza is topped with a mixture of barbecued chicken strips, button mushrooms, red and green bell peppers, onions and roasted garlic covered with cheeses.

Sarpino's offers pasta dishes as well as the large selection of pizzas.

There is also a baked lasagna, baked spaghetti with either meat or vegetarian sauce, baked meat ravioli, cheese tortellini and baked cannelloni. And the eatery's salads—chicken Caesar and a Greek salad—can be a meal unto themselves.

"People have been so supportive of our new business," Brumfield said. "We've got people coming in who have heard from a friend or seen one of our flyers, and they love the pizza and the pasta dishes. It's a different flavor; you can taste the difference."

Sarpino's Pizzeria is located at 1111 Meridian Ave., Suite 2. The hours are Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday from 4 to 9 p.m. Sarpino's delivers for a small fee outside of the three-mile service area. For more information, call 408.264.7277.