GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The owner of Electric Cheetah is opening up a pizzeria right next door in the spot that used to house Brick Road Pizza.

Testa Rossa Pizzeria will offer Sicilian-style pizza, live music and more, owner Cory DeMint said.

DeMint said owning the neighboring restaurants will allow for more opportunities.

“It was just kind of a smart move for us to have this space,” he said. “It opens up a lot of possibilities for us to do more outdoor seating, potentially have an outdoor eating area out back and be able to occupy the whole grounds.”

DeMint, who has been in the restaurant industry for around three decades, owns multiple restaurants in Grand Rapids. Before opening Electric Cheetah on Wealthy Street near Fuller Avenue 15 years ago, DeMint said most of his experience was working in Italian restaurants.

“It feels like I’ve come back to my roots a little bit,” he said.

The menu will offer something for everyone, with a mix of modern-American and traditional Italian dishes. The pizzas will be thin and crispy, baked in “high-temperature ovens creating a nice, Sicilian-style pizza using very high-quality ingredients,” DeMint said.

There will also be salads, pastas, wines and a full bar.

DeMint said one dish he’s excited about is a white-clam pizza, which will have an olive oil base, sautéed clams, parsley, lemon zest, garlic and chili flakes. It’s a dish more common in other parts of the country, he said.

“There’s not a lot of clams on menus and there’s not a lot of fresh, from-scratch seasonal, more traditional Italian dishes that don’t necessarily translate to Americans,” DeMint said.

Guests who come into the restaurant will be greeted by a warm interior with custom woodwork and vintage portrait paintings on the walls — most depicting someone smoking a pipe.

When opening a restaurant, DeMint said he and his team prefer to bring a unique touch by giving new life to old items. Light fixtures in the dining room are 70 years old, purchased from a church that was becoming a banquet facility, he said.

“One thing that I really like doing is taking old spaces and remodeling them using old things, and as you walk around here you’ll see a lot of vintage artwork and custom woodwork,” he said.

Some of the walls and ceilings are covered with moldings purchased from a lumber company that was moving.

“(They) gave us a really good deal on a lot of really old, cool, custom, historical to some extent moldings and custom woodwork that they do down there,” he said. “We were able to turn that into a lot of the décor and ceilings and woodwork that you see around here.”

“It’s just one of a kind,” he added.

With so many unique and vintage aspects, DeMint compared it to dining in an antique store.

Testa Rossa Pizzeria will offer live entertainment on some nights, including piano and acoustic music. DeMint said he’s also considering having an open-mic or karaoke night that’s open to kids.

“There’s a lack of experiences for families with children, so we definitely want to welcome kids in here,” he said.

DeMint said Testa Rossa Pizzeria will have its soft opening in the next few weeks, which will focus on the restaurant’s pizza, salads, beer and wine. The grand opening will be sometime this fall.

“More than anything we’re just looking to provide a really nice, high-quality comfort food with some live entertainment and take care of some families that live in the neighborhood,” he said.