susanreynardreports

Pizza as a metaphor for life

Gino’s Pizzeria is a local favourite, tucked away in an unprepossessing building in a light industrial area of Robertsham, a well-established, quiet suburb in the South of Johannesburg. You could drive past it and maybe miss it between the factories and businesses. So how did it manage to win the hotly contested South African Porcupine Ridge Pizzeria Competition last year and is currently defending its title in this year’s competition?

Because Gino’s has been in the same building since it opened in 1983, serving multiple generations of devoted customers and welcoming many new patrons, it is an institution. It’s run by Gino Mazza, one of those rare restaurateurs that you know and trust because his name is on the door, menu and pizza boxes and he is almost always the first person to greet you as you walk up the well-worn stairs – or take the stairlift if your legs are past it. Many of the original staff members still work in the restaurant and are equally friendly, familiar faces.

The restaurant was started by Gino, eldest son of Guiseppe (Babbo) and Antonia. In true Italian style, they and his sisters Carmela and Maria and youngest brother, Domenico (Dom), soon came on board. Today, Gino and Carmela continue to run the Robertsham restaurant and Dom is in charge of Gino’s Stellenbosch, which opened in 1996. Gino’s two daughters can be seen helping out on weekends and school holidays. Babbo and Antonia are retired and spend their time between their Italian village of Monte San Giacomo and South Africa.

Gino Mazza and his daughter Giulietta

Our Gino’s

Our journey with Gino’s Pizzeria started when we moved to Robertsham in December 1989, by which time the restaurant had been operating for six years. Little did we know that it would become more than just a conveniently located restaurant serving delicious Italian cuisine at affordable prices just 1km from our house. The restaurant, owner and staff have been witnesses to our lives, our ups and downs, and gotten to know family now gone.

Gino and his team knew my late husband Paul always ordered the same customised pizza for takeaways every Friday, with the uniquely aromatic toppings of tuna, garlic and mushrooms. They’ve seen our daughter Katie grown up from a lively pyjama-clad four-year old to a married lady of 36 with a lovely husband Vince. They presented her with a bottle of bubbly for her 21st birthday with a written message of congratulations on the bottle. They’ve welcomed my late sister Mandy to the restaurant when she was out from the UK and looking for the best pizza and sangria in town. And they’ve served and chatted to countless friends and family who have either made a stop in the restaurant or pored over the well-worn paper menu in our home – we actually all know it by heart but can’t resist reading it too – and ordered their favourite dishes off the menu as takeaways.

During the pandemic, when restaurants were allowed to partially open, Gino and his team had their meals available for pick-up kerbside or delivery. A mouthful of hot, cheesy pizza or delicious spaghetti bolognaise, lasagne and more reminded us that life goes on, even during turbulent times. When we were allowed back inside, we delighted in the fact that Gino’s feels like home because he doesn’t overhaul the décor and menu every few years in a relentless quest to stay “relevant”. Rather, he maintains the ambience as a warm and familiar haven. The restaurant smells like home, you can sit for hours and chat, if you smoke you love the balcony and handy cigarette vending machine, and if it’s chilly outside you’ll find a cosy nook in the restaurant or bar inside. You can see the team making the pizzas behind the counter, and if the door to the on-site laundry downstairs is open you get a warm whiff of freshly washed linen.

SA’s favourite pizzeria

When we saw the sticker on the takeaway pizza box indicating that Gino’s Pizzeria was a contestant in the inaugural Porcupine Ridge Pizzeria Competition last year, we immediately voted and did our bit to draw attention to this opportunity to thank Gino’s for all they mean to us. It felt like a way to collectively thank Gino and his team for being an important part of our lives. Clearly we were not alone.

Gino says of the win: “It was a tremendous validation of what we do, which is to provide delicious Italian food made with passion and which is good value for money. What made the win even better is that the competition is voted for by the public and it demonstrated that we are doing the right thing for our customers and to them I say, ‘Saluti, bon appetito, grazie’ (Greetings, enjoy your meal, and thank you).”

Gino’s pizzas are a signature oval shape with pinched up edges giving customers the perfect grip and topped with the best cheese and ingredients. The Chiattona – “the one with everything, as customers affectionately call it”, Gino notes – is a firm favourite and is one of 20 standard options on the menu, complemented by any combination of toppings you can dream up to customise your pizza. Gino says his favourite pizza toppings are bacon, anchovies, olives and onions.

The Porcupine Ridge Pizzeria Challenge runs from 1 July to 30 September 2022, with the Top 10 and winner being announced in mid-October 2022. The challenge is open to any restaurant offering pizza on their menu and holding a valid liquor license. Participating restaurants display point-of-sale material containing a QR code that takes customers to the voting platform. Customers can also visit www.votepizza.wine to vote or to find out more about the competition. Each week, a lucky voter is drawn to win wine from Porcupine Ridge and an EarthFire Pizza Stone & Cutter. A grand prize winner drawn at the end of the challenge will receive wine from Porcupine Ridge, an EarthFire Pizza Oven as well as pizza to the value of R2,000 from their favourite pizzeria.

And let’s not forget the wine! Chatting to the wonderful team from Porcupine Ridge at a media event last week, we were reminded why we love this particular brand of wine. It’s equally friendly and familiar as it is delicious and perfect for any occasion. It does what Gino’s does – enhances any dining occasion in myriad ways.

Useful info

Gino keeping it real 🙂

(Pictures supplied, except for the last one which I took.)

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