The West is Won
Picazzo's Gourmet Pizza & Salads originated in Sedona, Arizona, in 2002 and has since branched out to other locations around the state, including Scottsdale, Tempe and Flagstaff. The company's gluten-free pizza crust, which contains rice flour, tapioca flour and xanthan gum, was created by Picazzo's operations manager Dennis Daniel and Sedona resident Tom Sawyer, a gluten-intolerant gourmand who spent years experimenting with alternative ingredients in his own kitchen. (Sawyer and his stepson, Erik Sekayouma, head up their own company, selling their flour on the Internet under the label Tom Sawyer Gluten Free Products.)

Picazzo's gluten-free offerings go beyond pizza to include appetizers, desserts, and beer, obtained from several small U.S. brewers who use ingredients like buckwheat, honey, molasses, rice and sorghum.

To guarantee that menu items would be completely gluten free, Daniel consulted a nutritionist from Arizona State University to identify every potential offending ingredient in Picazzo's kitchens. He then worked with vendors to find substitutes for products that were problematic. Picazzo's  also protects its gluten-intolerant patrons from cross-contamination by preparing gluten-free menu items in isolated kitchen areas, baking pizzas on separate stones in dedicated ovens and educating staff members, says general manager James Monaci.

Such practices are important to diners whose health depends on adherence to a strictly monitored diet, says Larry Schneider, a Scottsdale resident and board member of the Celiac Sprue Association, a nationwide support network for people with the disease. Diagnosed in 2000, Schneider is a regular at Picazzo's , where his favorite pizza is The Vortex, a pie topped with red sauce, mozzarella, salami, Canadian bacon, pepperoni, mushrooms, red and yellow bell peppers, red onions, black olives and Italian sausage.

Monaci says the niche market has turned out to be bigger than the company ever expected.

"When we first started, we thought we might sell four or five gluten-free pizzas a week," he says. Instead, each Picazzo's  location currently cooks up 500 of the specialty pies each week.Three more Arizona restaurants, including the first franchise operation, are in the works this year. The company hopes to carry the concept across the country, as well.

Picazzo's  is working on a process to flash-freeze its gluten-free dough for shipping nationwide. Locals already purchase the dough and take it home to make their own creations, and not just pizza. Gutierrez, for example, says he's used the dough to bake cinnamon rolls.

"I put a lot of time and effort into this, and it's totally paid off," Daniel says, adding that the comment cards from Picazzo's  patrons sum it up. "Six out of ten are from gluten-intolerant people who say, 'Thank you. You don't know what you've done for our family and our lifestyle.'"