Arinell Pizza was co-founded by Ron Demirdjian (see photo above-- the "R" in Arinell Pizza) in 1975. His father and grandfather were both bakers in NYC. Ron learned to make pizza from an Italian pizza-maker in his old neighborhood in upper Manhattan. Upon moving to Berkeley in the 70s and learning there was no NY-style pizza here, he opened up his own joint, and has been here ever since. The store in SF, on Valencia, was opened 1989.

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Not much has changed at Arinell since then. The pizzas and dough are hand-made, the toppings are simple, just the way it was in Italy--and NY--in the 70s. Ron thinks an unadulterated cheese pizza is "what Arinell is all about," and if you're at the store, you might hear him say: "the fewer toppings, the better."