Two entrepreneurs want locals to enter the low calorie zone and they're using Italian cuisine as the bait.
Owners Matthew Horelick and Bradley Rosenberg hope their new restaurant, Low Calzone, 8975 S. Eastern Ave., will give people some light eating options that actually taste good.
The two Las Vegas natives are lifelong friends and always hoped they would one day go into business together.
"We've known each other since we were in diapers," Horelick said.
They attended various camps, Orr Junior High and Valley High School together while growing up in Las Vegas.
Low Calzone has been an idea brewing in Rosenberg's head for a long time. He has been frustrated with healthy fast food choices for years. He and Horelick decided to get serious about opening a healthy quick-serve restaurant about two years ago.
Both left their full-time jobs about a year and a half ago to make the restaurant happen. Rosenberg was an attorney and Horelick was a program director for a nonprofit organization.
At Low Calzone, foods like pizza, pasta and salads are served in a healthier way. There are more whole grains incorporated than most restaurants and everything is baked, even the chicken wings.
"We don't even own a fryer," Horelick said.
They employ reduced amounts of dough and use turkey instead of beef for their sausage, meatballs and lasagna.
All vegetables are steamed, allowing them to maintain more vitamins and minerals than they would being boiled or fried. Pizza and calzones are made with part skim mozzarella and the tomato sauce is preservative-free.
They also offer a vegan menu and sugar-free dessert menu, complete with cheesecake. There also is brochette made on-site that is served with sun-dried tomatoes.
Horelick and Rosenberg do not claim that Low Calzone has all the answers to a perfect body.
"Eating properly is only one element of overall lifestyle," Horelick said. "It's very important to consult a doctor and be active."
Neither claim to live perfectly healthy lives either. They've both played sports throughout their lives but neither studied nutrition or went to culinary school.
Rosenberg said he simply was looking to offer the healthy menu choices he was always searching for at restaurants, food he would actually want to eat.
"I wouldn't say I'm a health nut. I just always make a conscious effort to do a little better," he said. "Taste is always important too. I'm not going to force tofu down or anything."
And he does not expect customers to either. The menu is full of flavorful dishes that people will recognize. They're just done in a healthier way.
Horelick said he now understands why people choose to open franchises. He and Rosenberg had to create absolutely everything from scratch, from menus, to a staff, to a facility.
"There's been many twists and turns," Horelick said. "We've had some obstacles along the way and it's very rewarding to finally open up our business."
Even now that they're open there could still be some fine tuning. Horelick said customer demand will dictate the direction of the menu -- a document that has and will continue to evolve.
"The menu has honestly taken on about 200 different revisions," Horelick said.
Going in, they just knew they wanted to create a health food restaurant. How they do that has changed and may change in the future.
Since its Dec. 12 opening, the restaurant has had a great response, Horelick said. They intentionally chose their location based on the fact that there are three gyms nearby.
Mike Sawyer is a regular at Low Calzone. A manager at the nearby Better Nutrition store, Sawyer said he used to wait to get home before eating because there was never a healthy choice for eating on the go. He would down a protein shake or two at his store but that was all. Now he grabs a calzone or a wrap at Low Calzone just about every day of the week.
"The food is good and the service is friendly," Sawyer said.
A full catering menu is available. They can accommodate large groups with healthful pizzas, pastas, wraps and more. They also sell their own brand of barbecue sauce, used in their barbecue chicken pizza.
"We'd eventually like to open up many locations and we feel we have a great new concept," Horelick said.
Low Calzone is open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. For more information, call 835-1133.
Archived Editions| Advertising | Contact The Staff
