A BIG Plus

Ever-expanding menu evident at new Grandview pizzeria

Brad Rocco began his career with Pizza Plus in the 1980s, as an entry-level pizzeria employee working to pay his way through college.

Now, he’s getting ready to open a Pizza Plus of his own.

Rocco’s Pizza Plus is slated to open in December at 1664 W. First Ave. in Grandview Heights across from the Grandview Heights Public Library.

Rocco’s will be the third location in the Pizza Plus family – the original restaurant opened in Bexley in 1980, and a Gahanna store without a dining room opened in 1998.

A Bexley resident, Rocco attended The Ohio State University and Franklin University. Though he got his college degree, he never quit his day job, starting at Pizza Plus almost three decades ago and buying into the company in the early 1990s.

One of his top priorities has always been the continuing growth of the Pizza Plus menu, and that will be a focal point of Rocco’s Pizza Plus. Maintaining a wide variety of toppings and specialty pizzas is an important part of the Pizza Plus philosophy, he says, and Rocco’s Pizza Plus will offer an even larger menu than the other locations.

“We’re basically taking … about 95 percent of the Bexley menu and expanding upon it,” Rocco says.

The 28 specialty pizzas on the menu will be a Pizza Plus record, including such newcomers as the Red Eye – spicy pepperoni, red onions, roasted red peppers and hot peppers. The list of toppings is also expanded.

“In Bexley, we have about 43 toppings to put on a pizza,” Rocco says. “Here, we’re going to have about 55.”

That means entirely new toppings, as well as variations on existing toppings – for example, the Bexley location offers white onions as a topping, while the Grandview location will offer white, red and caramelized varieties.

Another Pizza Plus signature is the time and effort that goes into every pizza, Rocco says – all pizzas are made to order, and Rocco’s Pizza Plus won’t change that.

“We just do everything old-fashioned, the way pizza should be made – we make fresh dough several times a day, we age and grind our own cheese, we make our own sauce,” he says. “You can buy a lot of pizzas that offer the same things … (it’s) the basics of the pizza that separate one pizzeria from the next, and I really think we have one of the best.”

In addition to pizza, Rocco’s Pizza Plus will have one offering entirely new to the Pizza Plus family: authentic Italian gelato. The gelato – available in 14 flavors, from Tahitian vanilla to blood orange – comes