I was invited to lunch by Alino Pizzeria at Concord Mills Mall to try a taste of fire oven-baked pizza with ingredients from Italy. Here’s why it was worth my trip on I-85. It’s hard to miss Alino Pizzeria. It sits next door to the AMC movie theater. The dark green exterior and large sign confirms you have arrived.

I asked owner Michal Bay why Concord Mills. “We were invited to open at Concord Mills by the mall owners,” he said. “We were excited to reach shoppers and other new customers and accepted the offer.” Another Alino location is in Mooresville, along with a third at Mall of Georgia near Atlanta. The Concord Mills location opened about a year ago.