Denise Sansosti and Tom Mastascusa, owners of Shell Point Pizza, are excited to be part of the South Shore community. Stop by their food truck at 302 Shell Point Road W, Ruskin, and welcome them to the neighborhood.

Shell Point Pizza offers diners authentic Italian food

By LOIS KINDLE

True Italian cuisine is known for its quality of ingredients, slow preparation and vibrant flavors. Diners who’ve experienced true Italian food know there’s nothing like it.

Shell Point Pizza’s top-selling sandwich is made with foccacia bread and an 8-ounce meatball. It’s a customer favorite, said co-owner Denise Sansosti, who bakes the bread daily.

This is what you’ll find at Shell Point Pizza. Located at 302 Shell Point Road W, Ruskin. The eatery opened July 2, and folks are already raving about it.

Janice Bayruns, of Apollo Beach, is one of them.

“I’ve been to Italy six times, and I can tell you this food is authentic,” she said. “Everything is made from scratch. It’s absolutely delicious.

“I love the homemade, (8-ounce) meatballs and fried artichokes; I could eat three plates of them,” she added. “There aren’t many places with food like this in the Tampa area. I highly recommend this place to anyone who loves Italian food.”

Those dusted and fried artichoke hearts served with fresh citrus aioli that Bayruns mentioned are Shell Point Pizza’s best-selling appetizer. Other favorites include Uncle Vito’s hand-cut fries topped with crispy Italian meats, a special zesty sauce and cheese, and fresh garden salads of mixed greens, veggies and a homemade Italian dressing. Chicken or steak are available options.

All of its sandwich options are made with focaccia bread. Diners have their choice of meatball, Italian, bacon pesto chicken, and grilled steak or veggie.

Its calzones are filled with capicola, salami, pepperoni, ham, ricotta cheese and sauce.

SHELL POINT PIZZA PHOTOS
Shell Point Pizza, 302 Shell Point Road W, Ruskin, opened July 2, and folks are already raving about its authentic Italian foods. Shown here is one of its freshly prepared, 10-inch pizzas, featuring a thin, double-zero flour dough crust and pepperoni from New York.

Then there’s the pizza.

“We use a double-zero flour dough and pepperoni out of New York,” said cook and pizza connoisseur Tom Mastascusa, who co-owns Shell Point Pizza with his wife, Denise Sansosti. “Our pizza is traditionally made with influences from our families. Neapolitan-style is closest to it. The crust is thin with a slight chew. There’s nothing similar to it anywhere in the area.

Customers choose their own toppings to build their own 16-inch pies. A gluten-free pizza crust is optional.

“Both our families are authentic Italian, and that’s what we wanted to bring to this area,” Sansosti said.

“Everything is made in small batches, and the only things not ours are the pizza dough and pesto sauce. I bake the bread daily right here.”

A food truck experience

At Shell Point Pizza, diners can enjoy their food in open-air, covered and socially distanced seating or choose to take it home with them.

Both owners, who are from Pittsburgh, had previous experience in the restaurant business, especially Mastascusa. He grew up working in his family’s pizza shop, spending his days doing what he described as ‘forced labor.’”

Another popular sandwich item on the Shell Point Pizza menu is its grilled steak sandwich, which comes with onions, peppers, lettuce, tomato and special dressing.

“I grated cheese, blended tomatoes, put together boxes and broke others down,” he said. “It was basically grunt work.”

As time went by, he was taught to make pizzas and man the ovens. He swore up and down he’d never go into the restaurant business, he said. That eventually changed, and he ended up working with some talented chefs in fine dining restaurants in southwest Florida.

The couple moved to this area three years ago, got married and decided to start their own business. They originally looked at brick-and-mortar spaces, but none were available, and then they eliminated a mobile eatery, opting instead to go the food-truck route.

“We were sitting at The Dog House (And More) one day, and we thought, ‘We could do this,’” said Sansosti, citing The Fish House as another popular outdoor dining experience.

“We wanted a happy place, a neighborhood place for people to come to,” Mastascusa said. “It’s been amazing how this community has responded to our being here. We want to be an integral part of this neighborhood.”

Shell Point Pizza is open Tuesday and Wednesday from 4 to 8 p.m., Thursday through Saturday from 2 to 8 p.m. These hours will be adjusted seasonally.

For more information, visit Shell Point Pizza on Facebook or its website at www.shellpointpizza.com.

Call-in orders are encouraged. Place them by calling 813-296-7921.

Homemade desserts like this Zeppole stuffed with Nutella are featured daily at Shell Point Pizza. New ones are featured every week.