Gallery Pizza opening in Decatur

— Residents in Decatur will soon have another choice when they want to go out to eat, without leaving town.

Gallery Pizza will be opening Monday. The new restaurant will be located on Main Street, in the building that houses the Banquet Room next to the Gallery Cafe, according to owners Stacy and Amy Brooks.

The Brooks are building a partition in the Banquet Room and adding pizza ovens in the new kitchen space at the back of the restaurant. Even though the two restaurants are next door and will share a common banquet room,Gallery Pizza and the Gallery Cafe will be two distinct restaurants.

“This is not an extension of the Gallery; it is an entirely new restaurant,”Stacy Brooks said.

The Brooks have worked together to develop their own pizza from scratch. They have tastetested multiple sauces, doughsand toppings, and created their own special recipe of pizza sauce.

“This is not a storebought pizza,” Stacy Brooks said.

The new restaurant will also offer soft drinks and snow cones.

Stacy Brooks said he had several things in mind when he decided to open the restaurant.

“I love the town ... It’s a combination of wantingto have a successful business and looking at what the community needs,” he said.

Whilethere were several places to buy pizza, there wasn’t a sit-down family-style pizza restaurant in Decatur, Stacy Brooks observed. Stacy Brooks said he is pleased with how Decatur has expanded with new businesses and industriesover the past few years, citing the addition of the FNA plant, Simmons Pet Food and Simmons Poultry, and Nichols Family Farms to more established businesses such as Peterson Farms and Decatur State Bank. Stacy Brooks said he would like to see the downtown area continue to develop.

“There’s lots of businesses you can do, but it’s nice to do a business that helps the community grow and develop,” Stacy Brooks said.

The new restaurant will be open from 4 p.m. until 10 p.m., Monday through Friday, and from 2 p.m. until 10 p.m. on Saturday. Gallery Pizza will do special lunch orders with one day's notice, Stacy Brooks said.

News, Pages 2 on 07/14/2010