Pizzeria DeMarco Offers Much More Than Pizza

Adel Fitian has been in the restaurant business for more than 20 years, and he's bringing that experience to Pizzeria DeMarco in Attleboro.

Born in Egypt, Fitian began learning to cook when he was 6.

"It's a family thing," he said. "I would sit and watch my grandmother cook. I helped her and then I learned from her. It became a real habit to cook."

Fitian came to the United States in 1988. His first jobs were in Staten Island at Italian and Greek restaurants.

"I spent five years in New York," he said. "I came here with my cousin and he offered an opportunity to run his business."

Fitian took over DeMarco's in 1999, and he set out to make it his own.

"Pizza is actually the thing we sell the least now," he said. "I created this menu, no one had these kinds of calzones before. It was a new thing in Attleboro. They had calzones, but they were very traditional. Chicken, all kinds of parms, ham and cheese, now all the pizza shops around here are doing what I was doing."

He said he never saw the extent of variety in calzones around today.

"I tried to make it a combination of Italian and Mediterranean cuisine," he said. "We created a lot of items. I love experimenting with new things."

Fitian said many of the menu items taken for granted these days were never around when he started.

"It's really spread around," he said. "I see them in New York, Pennsylvania and even in the Carolinas. Having the menu online helped to spread the ideas of my specialty. Before, you make something special and it stayed in your store. Now, it's hard to keep secrets like that."

Fitian said the restaurant works mainly on word of mouth from his customers. He said the location itself isn't all that great, kind of out of the way from the main center of Attleboro, but after being there 10 years, he has made it work.

"I'm really kind of hidden here," he said. "A lot of my business comes from word of mouth. People try it and they spread the word. I always get people coming in who say, 'Oh I tried your food at my friend's house and now here I am. It works really well when I do catering, when a big group of people try the food. That's mainly how I get regular and repeat customers."

Fitian said he donates to the local schools as much as he can.

Pizzeria DeMarco is located on 25 Forest St. and is open every day but Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.