Eatery offers pizza lovers fast, fresh dining option

It may take more time to decide what to have on your pizza than it does to bake it. Because of the special Mugnaini wood-fired oven from Italy that is installed at Custom Built Pizza, cooking your meal takes only two minutes.

The eatery at 4165 S. Grand Canyon Drive, Suite 105, has been open since spring.

"I've been in the restaurant business all my life," said owner Larry DuLittle, a Spring Valley resident. "Two years ago, I was at this place in Atlanta, and it was the most incredible pizza I've ever had. And I started getting enamored with these artisan-style, wood-burning ovens they used to create these wonderful pizzas."

He said he didn't want to open just another pizza restaurant, where the menu was expanded to spaghetti and pasta. He wanted a fast-concept eatery serving strictly pizza.

DuLittle was talking with a buddy about determining the concept.

"He said, 'Why don't we just do Chipotle pizza? You know, Chipotle-style pizza,' " DuLittle said. "And it was just like a bell went off. So we started to develop what we thought at the time was the most original idea in the restaurant business ever, but of course it wasn't. After we thought it up, (we discovered) other people were out there doing it."

This day some customers were trying it for the first time. 

"We were going to Tropical Smoothie (next door), and we saw this place," said John Staluppi on how he learned of the eatery.

His friend, Trey Hoppel, said it was a spontaneous decision and a good one. He said the pizza was tasty and that he'd definitely return. He liked moving along the kitchen line, choosing his own toppings.

"That's why Chipotle works," he said of the fast-casual, Mexican-style restaurant chain Custom Built Pizza is modeled after. "It's a good idea."

The concept would not be possible without an oven that bakes the thin crust in roughly two minutes. It is not praised for just speed. DuLittle said the wood-burning aspect makes a difference in the pizza's taste and that it is "night and day, the char on the edge and the way that the flame just roasts everything; it's the same thing as steaks on the grill. A steak on the grill does not taste like a steak (made) in your oven. Same theory."

The eatery makes its own dough using imported Italian flour. The dough is already made up and divided into single-serving sizes, which results in an 11-inch pizza.

If the patron wants a pizza with just cheese, it costs $7.95. For a dollar more, he can add as many of the 21 toppings as he likes. There also are choices for sauces and cheeses.

One devotee comes in after her workout at a nearby athletic facility and orders no cheese at all, just artichokes, sliced tomatoes, peppers and onions on top of regular sauce.

Have a sweet tooth? There are dessert pizzas ---- apple pie with cream cheese filling, blueberry and s'more style.

DuLittle chose the site because it was convenient to the Las Vegas Beltway and was "near Summerlin. It's tough to find things up there where Summerlin really starts, but I found this spot. It had been a bagel place and had been empty for about two years. When I came into the place, the tables and chairs were here, all the refrigeration was here. It was just a great deal for the amount of money I had to invest."

He reupholstered the chairs, added a textured wallpaper and installed bricks for the oven area. Custom Built Pizza seats 56 with a square footage of 2,300.

A special deal awaits youth teams that come in en masse after games and are still in uniform. They get half-price pizzas, "and their mom and dad gets half price on the beer and wine for suffering through the game," DuLittle said jokingly.

His wife, Bernita, is a fifth-grade teacher at Tarr Elementary School, 9400 Gilmore Ave. After school, she helps out at the restaurant when she is not grading papers at one of the tables.

General manager Mo Barrie has worked with DuLittle in two different eateries before this one and said marketing the restaurant was key.

"We increased sales (at the former restaurants) just by using his guidelines. He's like, 'You've got to go get people, not wait for people to come,' " he said.

To that end, the restaurant has been talking with several schools about offering dine-in nights that benefit the school where it would kick back 20 percent of food sales. It also supported the Making Strides for Breast Cancer event at the JW Marriott this spring.

DuLittle said the economy was tough for everybody right now.

"But people come in, and they see that you can't spend more than $8.95 for pizza; it really fits the budget," DuLittle said. "... Even though the economy is struggling, our sales continue to go up every month."

Hours are from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. For more information, call 702-473-9918 or visit custombuiltpizza.com.

Contact Summerlin/Summerlin South View reporter Jan Hogan at jhogan@viewnews.com or 702-387-2949.