Fifty years ago, Ken and Elaine Spinato moved from Chicago to the Valley and opened a pizzeria. Their first day’s take: 69 cents for an iced tea.
Not an auspicious beginning for a family pizza group that would become a local institution, with six locations, and as the “Official Pizza” of the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury basketball teams and Arizona Cardinals football.
Today, Spinato’s Pizzeria & Family Kitchen spans the Valley, from the North Central Phoenix Spinato’s, at 7th Street and Missouri, to Scottsdale, Tempe, Ahwatukee and Gilbert. They also prepare fresh pizzas at the sports locations.
“That was part of the deal,” Anthony Spinato said. “If we can’t make our pizzas in the stadium the way we do in our restaurants, we wouldn’t do it.”
Through its expansion, Spinato’s remains a solidly family enterprise, now operated by Ken and Elaine’s children: son Anthony Spinato, president and CEO, and his wife Jaime, brand manager and community outreach director; and daughter Nicole Spinato-Kienlen, office manager and food team lead, and her husband Chris Kienlen, catering manager.
Blending traditional family roots with the look – and especially the flavors – of their restaurants has been a foundation of their company. Case in point, the design of the North Central location.
“My family and I have started to talk about a refresh of the interior and exterior,” Spinato said. “This restaurant has a more traditional feel and we’re trying to figure out how to bring a bit of color into it.”
One feature that won’t change is the distinctive wallpaper in one dining area. The custom paper has words that all have meaning to the family, Spinato said. Memories – including NUNS AND RULERS – packed in their lives.
The menu hearkens back to family roots as well.
“My grandmother did all the prep at the Scottsdale store,” Spinato said. “The recipes are from my mother and my dad’s great-aunt, passed down through the generations.”
“When Jaime graduated with honors from the Arizona Culinary Institute, my dad gave her the keys to the kingdom to put new recipes on the menu,” Spinato said. “I wasn’t allowed to do anything with that stuff, though I grew up in the kitchens, starting at 6 years old, rolling dough, shredding cheese, doing more dishes than anyone will ever know. My sister came in with us, too. Summers – family business – we had to work.
“Here I thought I was going to get a shot at it someday, and I got it through my wife. I always say, ‘I’m the cook, she’s the chef.’”
The November and December special, Rose au Gratin pizza, was developed by Jaime and demonstrates her range and creativity, with an Alfredo base with layered sliced potatoes dressed in olive oil, rosemary, garlic, caramelized onions, ricotta, mozzarella and borage blossoms.
Favorite dishes from Spinato’s include, top, left to right, Brownie Bella, cannoli; center, Rose au Gratin pizza, Red Zone pizza, Strawberry-gorgonzola salad; below, Big Boss chicken wings (photo by Darryl Webb for North Central News). 
Rose au Gratin pizza (photo by Darryl Webb for North Central News) 
Strawberry-gorgonzola salad (photo by Darryl Webb for North Central News) 
Cannoli (photo by Darryl Webb for North Central News) 
Brownie Bella (photo by Darryl Webb for North Central News)
A new combination celebrates the Cardinals, with Red Zone pizza, topped with roasted red pepper, pepperoncini, Canadian bacon, mozzarella and spinach spice. Rounding out the menu are more pizzas, sandwiches, calzones, pasta and appetizers, including meatballs and saucy wings – and don’t miss the cannoli topping the dessert fare.
In a recent visit, Spinato talked about how his family’s business has grown from those early years – especially day one.
“I asked my father what that first day meant, starting out with 69 cents,” Spinato said. “They had just left from Chicago and put in all that energy, all that effort. My dad just said, ‘Hey, I believed in the product, and I believed in what we were going to do with it.’
“My dad still comes in. He visits all the restaurants. He comes into my office and we talk about what we call the ‘Spinato’s Experience.’ When that door opened up, we took care of the guests, just the way we would if they came into our house. We knew nothing different. You were greeted with hugs, and we just connected.”
Spinato said once his pastor told him that the Greek word for “hospitality” translates as “love to a stranger.”
“My earliest memory was in a little room, when you walked in the old Spinato’s in Tempe, and Mom would just get you with a hug,” he said. “She was happier than the people coming in. She’d find out how you liked your coffee, how you liked your salad. She had things that weren’t on the menu that she’d served to them.”
That kind of hospitality was essential when the Spinato’s closed their original Scottsdale location, which served upwards of 200 guests. They opened a tiny place instead – just four tables – in a rather grungy commercial development in Tempe.
They wanted a less hectic spot, Anthony said, and this one relied entirely on word-of-mouth, spurred along by Elaine Spinato’s “mangia” atmosphere and those classic Chicago-style pizzas with grandma’s sauces. Growth came, in careful steps, in the central and southeast Valley. Future growth is planned for the West Valley, Spinato said, first in Goodyear, then north to Surprise or Arrowhead. And the Spinato family are determined that “Alla Famiglia” spirit will permeate each one.
Spinato’s Pizzeria & Family Kitchen, 5509 N. 7th St., is open, Sunday and Tuesday to Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. On Wednesdays, guests can order bottles of wine at half-price all day. For information, call 602-688-2424 or visit www.spinatospizzeria.com.
