ANGELO’S PIZZA

“There are a lot of Angelo’s,” the man answering the phone told a customer, who was calling to find out what hours the pizzeria was open. He wanted to make sure the caller had reached the right place. “We’re on Main Street.”

It’s not Angelo’s & Vinci’s Cafe Restaurant in Fullerton or Angelo’s Pizza Company in Anaheim, but its founder’s name was indeed Angelo--Angelo Mastroianni, from New Jersey. But this Angelo leased his business 10 years ago to a worker who seemed to communicate better with the Santa Ana clientele. That worker and the eatery’s present owner is Marcos Schulz of Argentina.

When customers came in asking for jalapeno peppers on their pizza, Marcos didn’t say, “That’s not on the menu”; he’d say, “15 minutes,” and send someone out the back door to the local grocery to pick up a bottle.

He’ll tell you that his pizza is like no other pizza in the county. The secret is in the dough, he says, and in the nine ingredients that make up the tomato sauce.

Angelo’s offers the standard favorites as toppings--and more. Cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms, sausage and meatballs are there, as well as salami, olives, bell peppers and anchovies. But his chicken pizza is something of a novelty in Orange County. Another, the Hawaiian pizza, is garnished with pineapple and, yes, they serve pizza with jalapeno.

Their specialty is custom-made pizzas with combinations such as artichokes, anchovies and mushrooms, or ham and asparagus, or with the addition of Roquefort cheese.

But it’s the empanada de carne (meat pie) that reveals Marcos’ South American roots.

Schulz and his wife, Geronima, came to Santa Ana from Buenos Aires in 1969. He had been a flight engineer for Kaiser Steel for 17 years but lost his job when Kaiser sold the business to Renault, which eliminated the aviation division.

Marcos tried to work in aviation in the United States, he said, but his Argentine license was not recognized. He worked for Parker Hannifin by day and went to school at night, gaining his U.S. license after two years. But when he was offered a job in Burbank he chose to stay in Santa Ana. He worked for Angelo’s Pizza, which he has owned for the past five years.

Angelo initially leased the parlor to Marcos on the condition that the interior not change. The original linoleum remains, along with the same metal tables, padded chairs and booths. Marcos’ sole additions are small, colored lanterns that hang along one wall and a neon sunrise on another.

The pizza parlor is unobtrusive among the storefronts on Main Street at McFadden Avenue. There is no accompanying parking lot, and its proximity to Lathrop Intermediate school, whose playing fields are across the street, prevents wine or beer from being sold.

It’s a humble, mom-and-pop kind of place, with Marcos and Geronima as its sole employees: They do all the cooking and cleaning themselves.

Much of the business is takeout among a faithful clientele. Marcos does not advertise, but he has a list of his customers and their telephone numbers and he jokes with them as if they were family. On Christmas Eve he cooks the typical Cuban meal of roast pork for many local Cuban families.

“Food is more or less like love,” he said. “You have to find something that appeals to your taste, and you have to handle it with care. It is the quality that’s important.”