Entertainment Diet: John Arena
John Arena started making pizzas professionally in 1967, at age 13, in his family’s pizzeria in New York. He and his cousin Sam Facchini came to Las Vegas from New York in 1980, driving a borrowed car. They had freshly minted college degrees — Arena’s in communications, Facchini’s in accounting — but they’d end up opening a pizzeria; all they had, according to their website, was two pizza ovens, a cash register, a napkin holder and each other.
It was a good move; today their Metro Pizza has five locations and Arena and Facchini started the Pizza Olympics, the International Pizza Exchange, the World Pizza Spinning Championships and the National Pizza Hall of Fame. They were named National Pizza Operators of the Year in 1986 and Nevada Restaurateurs of the Year in 1999.
Over the years, Arena has been the more visible of the two. Here’s a taste of his Entertainment Diet:
Restaurants
“Other Mama (3655 S. Durango Drive), that’s kind of my go-to place right now. I think they’re doing an extraordinary job and it’s a great local restaurant. I like Raku (5030 W. Spring Mountain Road), too. There are other great pizzerias in town; I think of them as colleagues, and they’re all doing unique things. I love Due Forni (3555 S. Town Center Drive); I think they do an amazing job. Dom DeMarco’s (9785 W. Charleston Blvd.), Naked City (3240 S. Arville St. and 4608 Paradise Road), I think they’re all doing something unique and noteworthy.”
Books
“I try to read at least one book a week. Right now I’m reading the Neapolitan Novels, a series of novels by Elena Ferrante. They’re fiction, but they really give insight into life in Naples.”
Music
“That’s a three-way tie: Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Paolo Conte, who is sort of a Leonard Cohen-Bob Dylan-esque personality from Italy.”
Movies
“One of my favorite films of all time is ‘Big Night,’ because it explores the tension between art and commerce in the restaurant industry”; Arena adds that with their educational backgrounds, he and Facchini represent art and commerce in the industry.
Travel
“Definitely the great restaurant cities in the United States — New York, Chicago, San Francisco, New Orleans. Anywhere in Italy is always fun. I like to go to Brazil. I travel to Sao Paulo; there’s a great Italian community there and extraordinary pizzerias. Fifty percent of the population claims that they have Italian heritage.”
What else he does for fun
“I ride a bike — 20, 30 miles. I ride in my neighborhood up at The Lakes. As far as my real hobby, it’s traditional Japanese martial arts. I’ve been doing that for 44 years. I’m a slow learner.”
Contact Heidi Knapp Rinella at hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Find more of her stories at www.reviewjournal.com and follow @HKRinella on Twitter.
