A good family meal should feel like a chance to exhale — and that’s exactly the philosophy behind Port Orange’s newest pizza joint.
Zen Pizza, located at 201 Commonwealth Blvd., opened just weeks ago at the former location of JoJo’s Tastes of Chicago, which recently relocated to the city’s Park Place Plaza off Nova Road.
Drawn from the last name of owners Akim and Hope Zendeli, “Zen” shaped everything from the concept’s branding to the atmosphere they hope create — a mom-and-pop spot built around fresh food, family and connection.
What is Zen Pizza in Port Orange?
“This is our first restaurant together, and it’s actually my husband’s dream come true. He’s always wanted to have a pizza place,” Hope said.
For more than 12 years, Akim, an Albanian native, has honed his craft in Volusia County’s local pizza kitchens, from Luigi’s to Alberto’s, where hand-stretched dough and fast-paced dinner rushes have become second nature.
His background in the industry, he says, gave him not only technical skills, but perspective — what customers loved and where there was room to innovate.
Yet even with years of experience behind him, one goal remained just out of reach: a restaurant to call his own. That is, until recently.
Rather than start fully from scratch, the Zendelis spent more than a year scouring the local dining scene for a second-generation restaurant space before coming across the former JoJo’s location, which closed in May.
By the final week of June, Zen Pizza was serving its first guests.
“(Akim) takes his pizzas to heart, you know? He’s very picky about how they turn out — what they look like and what they taste like,” Hope said, inspiring a menu that blends time-perfected favorites with ideas uniquely his own.
What’s on the menu at Zen Pizza in Port Orange?
Fourteen- and 16-inch New York-style pizzas, available by the slice for $3, center the menu, with dough and sauce scratch-made daily, Akim noted, using a secret recipe that dates back more than 50 years.
Alongside your classic Buffalo chicken and meat lovers pie, the restaurant features the Mediterranean Calm — feta, spinach, olives, tomatoes, red onions and mozzarella; the Ocean Breeze White Pie with ricotta and garlic butter; and the top-selling Zen Special, which layers pepperoni, sausage, ham and bacon with onions and green peppers, black olives, tomatoes, spinach and mozzarella.
Guests can also build their own standard or cauliflower crust pie and choose from more than 20 different toppings.
Beyond pizza, the eatery offers several calzones, stromboli and handhelds, from the Zen Burger to lamb and chicken gyros, as well as salads and 10-to-100-count wings — a variety Akim said he’s confident the community will crave.
“I worked in the area, and I know what people like,” he continued.
“And he’s very passionate,” Hope added. “… So, he wanted to incorporate not just pizza, but add to the menu so that if somebody comes in, everybody can find something that they like and eat together as a family.”
Among the restaurant’s sweetest offerings are homemade rice pudding and flaky baklava — crafted from the treasured recipe of Hope’s late mother, keeping her memory alive with each serving.
Looking ahead with Zen Pizza
While guests are already filling the dining room, the Zendelis say the restaurant is still taking shape as they continue to add décor, signage and small finishing touches.
“It feels good (to be open). I was looking for a long time,” Akim said.
“And we’re very grateful,” Hope added. “We’ve had really great support and really good reviews. So, hopefully we can continue to deliver.”
Zen Pizza offers dine-in, pickup and delivery through DoorDash and Uber Eats and is open from 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. Tuesday – Thursday, 11 a.m. – 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. Sunday. For information, call 386-944-9162 or visit facebook.com.
— Helena Perray is the food and dining reporter for The Daytona Beach News-Journal. Follow her on Instagram, and support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Local family opens New York-style pizza restaurant in Port Orange
Reporting by Helena Perray, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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By Helena Perray, Daytona Beach News-Journal | USA TODAY Network
