By Emily Merrell, Photography by Melissa Donner

For more than three decades, Pizza Chef has been a popular destination for gourmet pizza for generations of Arkansas State University students, faculty and local food enthusiasts.

Owner Brian Harvey serves up a wide variety of scratch-made specialty pizzas, calzones, subs, salads and more from the restaurant’s long-standing location on East Matthews Ave., near A-State. Harvey purchased Pizza Chef in 1997 from its original owner, Don Bowers, who opened the restaurant in 1992.

“After graduating from Valley View in 1992, I moved to Memphis to go to college,” said Harvey. “Two semesters in and I decided to come home and do something different. I started working at Pizza Chef as a delivery driver in the spring of 1993.

“After managing the shop for a few years, I decided to buy it from the original owners when the opportunity came up in August of 1997. My beautiful bride, Rhonda, and I were married six months later. From August of ‘97 until the birth of our first son in March of ‘99, you could find Rhonda at the store every weekend.”

Harvey said the couple renamed the eatery Papa Cella’s Pizza Chef after his wife’s grandfather, Eurelio “Papa” Cella, who was Italian.

Pizza Chef has become a family operation for the Harveys. Both of their sons, Trevor and Kile, have worked in the restaurant and have specialty pizzas named after them – Kile’s Shrimp and Garlic and Trevor’s Buffalo Chicken.

Despite the abundance of dining options in Jonesboro, Pizza Chef has carved out a spot for itself among locals by offering both classic and unconventional flavor combinations using ingredients made in house.

“We are Jonesboro’s first gourmet pizza shop,” said Harvey. “We have 19 specialty pizzas, from traditional style to somewhat unique. From pepperoni to grilled or barbecued chicken to fresh spinach to shrimp, the options are many. Our large Chef’s Abbondanza (supreme) weighs in at five pounds before cooking. We are generous with our toppings. Of course, you can never go wrong with a traditional cheese pizza.

“Our toasted raviolis, salads and sub sandwiches are all very popular. The Hot Italian Sub is our signature sub. Cheesy Sticks and gourmet garlic bread are always a big hit as a starter. Over the years, we have become famous locally for our made-to-order calzones. True story: The first time I tried one back in 1993 as a new employee, I thought it was one of the best things I had ever eaten. Little did I know that I would still be making them 31 years later.”

With its close proximity to campus, Pizza Chef serves many A-State students and staff members regularly; the pizzaria offers 20% off for students on dine-ins and pick-ups and 10% off for faculty, employees and alumni.

“We see many of those wonderful people daily,” said Harvey. “As a matter of fact, we know most of them by name. A lot of folks will order their dine-ins over the phone while they are on their way. Then, they can eat and run to get to the event they may be attending on campus. We love the folks at ASU.”

Despite facing challenges such as the rising cost of ingredients and keeping enough staff on hand, Pizza Chef has remained open and successful. Its longevity has allowed Harvey to develop strong bonds with his staff and regular customers.

“The most rewarding part of all is the family Pizza Chef has become,” he said. “We have hundreds and hundreds of regulars that have been coming here for over 30 years. We have regulars who don’t even live here any longer but never fail to stop by when they make it to town on a visit. There are a lot of families that have spent many lunches or dinners just enjoying each other’s company eating their favorite foods at our shop. I have seen many babies grow into young adults and start families of their own. Pizza Chef really is a family tradition for many in this city and the surrounding area.”

Harvey says many of his employees have been with Pizza Chef for many years and are the backbone of the business, including Cody Sparkman, Aaron Francis, Alex Mosby, Olivia Langston and Jimmy Fitzgerald. The Pizza Chef crew focuses on continuing to provide quality experiences for new and returning customers.

As for the future of the restaurant, Harvey plans to keep giving his loyal diners the taste they adore.

“I’ll probably take my last breath in front of that oven someday,” said Harvey. “But seriously, I see no changes in the future. We are just going to continue to be a little hole in the wall pizzeria that consistently makes the best food we can make.

“There is nothing fancy about Pizza Chef. We just make really good pizza. It doesn’t matter how long you wait between visits, it should always taste the way you remember it.”

Pizza Chef, located at 2324 E. Matthews Ave., is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:30 a.m.to 8 p.m. Learn more by calling the restaurant at (870) 931-0109, visiting eatatpizzachef.com or visiting Pizza Chef’s Facebook page.