The ribbon has been cut at the new San Giorgio Pizzeria Napoletana, a passion project spearheaded by the Calderone Club's Gino Fazzari. The restaurant, which is located in the former Thai Palace at 838 N. Old World 3rd St., hosted soft openings this week. Although a date has not yet been set, Fazzari predicts he'll open the doors to the public sometime next week. In the meantime, we had the opportunity to take a peek at the space and try a few of the items on the San Giorgio menu, which includes appetizers, soups and salads, panini and – the star of the show – Neapolitan style pizza.

San Giorgio is on the cusp of attaining its Vera Pizza Napoletano certification, an honorable designation which verifies adherence to traditional methods for producing authentic Neapolitan style pizza. Such certification requires that the pizza be made in accordance with a number of specifications, including ingredients, type of oven, baking temperature and the characteristics of the end product.