New Paradise Pizza restaurant in NSB brings mix of Italian, brick oven pizza flavors

NEW SMYRNA BEACH — With more than 40 years in the restaurant and food business, Karen and Scott Chase hope to make their new Paradise Pizza the go-to spot in the city.

Originally from Maine, the couple have lived in Edgewater for three years. Their experience in the industry made them jump at the opportunity to own a restaurant with a brick oven.

The small eatery on South Dixie Freeway opened its doors on Dec. 4. The location was home to previous restaurants, most of which relied on the unique cooking style. Most recently, the place was home to Pomodoro’s Pizza.

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Karen has been a server and a food truck owner and also ran her own “gourmet to-go” food business back in Maine.

“I love this place — it’s adorable,” Karen said. “I have eaten at many brick oven restaurants in Maine — I have never worked at one — but I know I love it. It’s so delicious.”

'The oven is the key'

The menu is not all about the brick oven pizzas, but they have been the most popular items so far, Scott said.

Customers can choose between 10 pizza types, including cheese, Hawaiian, pepperoni, Greek and — the most popular one so far — meat lovers pizza. These 12-inch pizzas range between $11.95 and $15.95.

Since opening, the couple has sold more than 40 meat lovers pizzas, which Scott said has at least a very indulgent half-pound of meat.

“The oven is the key — the taste, the flavor, the sealing everything in,” Scott said. “We are trying to put good flavors together with a quality product, and you can taste the difference.”

The brick oven pizzas, although the most popular so far, aren't the only ones on the menu. Traditional oven pizzas are also available and haven’t disappointed.

Local Nicole Roy, originally from St. Louis, said she has had a “difficult time finding decent pizza” in town.

“We thought the restaurant was fantastic,” Roy said. “The pizza had a ton of toppings, and the crust was homemade and delicious.”

Roy said she likes that a neighborhood place like Paradise Pizza is locally owned because “it’s important to support local people.”

The menu also offers spaghetti dishes, homemade lasagna, seven sub sandwich combinations — all of which range between $7.50 and $13.95 ­— as well as Junior’s Cheesecake slices for $7.95 and homemade cannoli for $2.99.

“We’re making everything ourselves,” Scott said. “Is it perfect yet? No. But we make our own sauce, we make our own lasagna, coleslaw, potato salad. If it costs me 50 cents more to use a quality product, so be it.”

Proving they can do it one more time

When preparing the menu, Scott said the couple checked “everywhere we could possibly go,” trying out different tastes and putting together what they felt would work best at Paradise Pizza.

“We knew we wanted to have a better product than a lot of other places,” he said.

The brick over is “high-maintenance,” Scott said, but the fact that it has worked out well for them so far makes it worth the effort.

Scott said he and his family have been busy with the restaurant, especially at night. The business is entirely family-run for now, and the co-owners have the help of their 14-year-old daughter Amanda.

Besides getting the word out on social media, Scott said he saw customers call their own friends from the restaurant to let them know about Paradise Pizza.

“If we can keep doing that for the next two to three months, we’ll be busy,” he said.

The family is focused on making the new business work as the local pizza place it was intended to be.

“I want it to have a family atmosphere,” Scott said. “Where grandma can come, the kids can come, and feel comfortable.”

Besides applying for a beer and wine license, hiring some help, and expanding their takeout system, Scott said the are no bigger plans in the works.

“We just saw the opportunity and wanted to prove that we could do it one more time,” he said.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Paradise Pizza

WHERE: 1518 S. Dixie Freeway, New Smyrna Beach

HOURS: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday

INFO: 386-410-3007

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: New Paradise Pizza offers mix of oven pizza, Italian flavors in NSB