Try a slice of something new

Tutti Gusti pizzeria gives customers a taste of Italy with its wide menu selection

By Ashley Hopkins, senior writer
Posted on November 29, 2007

Tired of typical pizza?

Tutti Gusti, a recently opened Italian-style pizzeria, offers a welcome alternative to those looking for a change.

The restaurant, located beside the R-2 lot off Port Republic Road, includes eight to 12 pizzas, with ingredients that change daily. Those looking to add a little spice to their meal can enjoy wide varieties as wings pizza, streak pizza, seafood pizza and peanut butter pizza.

Just because an option is not on the buffet doesn’t mean it can’t be ordered. Customers are encouraged to come up with their own recipes.

“As long as we have it in the kitchen, we’ll make it for you,” said Butch Strawderman, one of the restaurant’s three owners.

Tutti Gusti also makes food from fresh ingredients. Drawing from Italian techniques, chefs mix the dough in 80-quart mixers before separating it into individual portions and placing it on trays, where it can rise for 10 to 12 hours.  In order to ensure that it’s fresh, workers make the dough no more than one day in advance.

“Everything is 100 percent man-made,” Strawderman said.  “100 percent fresh.”

Tutti Gusti also offers a variety of specials as well. Customers can get a slice of pizza and a drink for under five dollars or lasagna, bread, salad and a drink for $5.95. In addition to the specials, the managers plan to create theme nights sometime in the near future.  While still in the works, possibilities include Spaghetti Night, Kids Night, Wings Night and Senior Night.

If all this seems too good to be true, it almost was. According to Massimo Coppola, another of the restaurant’s three owners, the space was originally intended to house a fine restaurant. Being so close to JMU, the owners changed their minds.

“We had a good location near the college,” Coppola said. “You have to work the location.”

And they have. While Tutti Gusti may not be located in the waterways of Italy, it’s a clean, comfortable place for students to grab a bite to eat between classes. That’s exactly what junior Brian Anderson did.

“I was looking for a place to eat and wanted pizza,” he said. “I was parked in the R-2 lot, so I came on over.”

While the location may bring students in, the restaurant’s character keeps them coming.

“American and Italian restaurants are kind of the same,” Coppola said. “Of course the atmosphere is different, but this place has a nice atmosphere.”

Coppola should know the difference.  He has worked in restaurants all his life and admits that he got into the business in an effort to meet women.

“When I was younger I thought it was a good catch,” he said.  “Make good food, have a candlelight dinner.”

Something must have worked, as Coppola met his wife in a restaurant when he moved to the U.S. in 1996.  After working as head chef for the Bravo Italian Eatery for seven years, he was approached by Strawderman and his business partner, Be Tran, about opening a pizzeria.

Strawderman and Tran had owned the entire complex Tutti Gusti is housed in, which includes other buisness such as Caribbean Tan and Jimmy Johns. Together the three men opened the business on Oct. 26, offering pizza by the slice, pizza by the pie and a wide variety of other dishes to hungry students.

Junior Andrew Stearns, who visited the restaurant for the first time yesterday, has been impressed so far.

He said, “They have a great Italian atmosphere, good food and good prices.”