A new pizzeria is opening its doors for business in downtown Knoxville this week.
A Dopo Sourdough Pizza opens Thursday. The name comes from an Italian phrase meaning "See you later," said owner Brian Strutz.
Strutz said his restaurant is locally-sourced, and what sets his pizza apart is the dough.
"We've found that we could improve upon pizza by spending a lot of time on our dough. The dough of our pizza is the king of this restaurant," he said. "It's a sourdough. I've kept a sourdough starter alive for three years. I use that to naturally leaven the dough. We have to feed that daily otherwise it dies, it's a living thing.
Strutz, who is originally from Farragut, learned about wood-fired pizza during his first job working at Kalamata Kitchen when he was a teenager. He also backpacked through Italy for about six months after college, and spent two years working at Blackberry Farm.
A Dopo is located at 516 Williams St. near downtown Knoxville. The pizzeria will be open from 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.
The pizzeria also serves salads, seasonal vegetable dishes and gelato made with Cruze Farm milk.
"What people can expect when they come in is to have a really fun, lively experience with great pizza, a really good wine list and scratch-made gelato," Strutz said.
