'You don't come here because it says Yala's Pizza:' Fran's Pizza is next chapter for family restaurant

LORAIN – The well-known establishment Yala's Pizza is going by a new name, but the name and phone number are the only things that are changing, owner Frank DeSantis said. It's the same pizza that's been bringing customers in from across the country, he said, no matter what name is on the box. "People are like 'You're taking away from the original,'" Frank DeSantis said. "We're not. We're still honoring them … the history will still be here. The memories are still here, but you make new memories. You now have the Guardians, it's Lorain High instead of Admiral King. … It's change, which nobody likes." The change is in honor of his mother, Fran DeSantis, who can still be found in the back of the shop most days, rolling dough and ordering staff around. Yala's started in 1954 on Oberlin Avenue, owned by the Telloni and Armelie families. Eliseo and Fran DeSantis started their own pizzeria in 1976, Eliseo's Pizza, and went on to purchase Yala's in 1989. But that didn't mean closing Eliseo's. Instead, the two pizzerias combined to operate in the same space on Oberlin Avenue – with Eliseo's closing its eastside shop on G Street and a location across from Rebman's Recreation. The family expanded to Vermilion and Elyria but later shrank back to just the Oberlin Avenue space. After Eliseo DeSantis' death in July, Frank began thinking about the pizzeria's history, and honoring the International City icon. "It was kind of one of those things like, they opened the shops together," he said of his parents. "They both busted their a** making it what it is today. They're the ones who introduced Yala's to the east side, to Vermilion and Elyria when they opened up other locations." And as he thought about his childhood, watching his parents work, he thought of his mother perfecting the Yala's recipe — a traditional flat pan pizza with toppings on top of the cheese — while keeping track of the young adults working in the kitchen. She joked she had to teach some of them to do the simplest tasks, but over the years every teenager to work after school or young adult putting themselves through college has been an addition to the family. And for her years spent in the kitchen, while Eliseo was the well-known face behind the counter, Frank DeSantis decided to start the next chapter of the family business by renaming the Oberlin Avenue restaurant after her. "He did everything for her," Frank said, speaking of his father. "And she was always in the back busting her a** making everything." Fran didn't know the business would bear her name until after her son had made the change on Facebook last week. "She was going to find out one way or another," Frank DeSantis said. She was shocked, and then the tears came. Her eyes welled up talking about the change, and her late husband, on Monday. She said she'd talked with Frank about maybe putting his name on the building, or some other change to mark the business' new chapter, but she'd never expected to see one half of the family business named after her. "It's not (Frank's pizza), she created it," Frank said. On April 5, he announced the change on Facebook, including a new phone number. And the comments poured. "I was surprised at how negative and mean people got," he said. "Especially from some of the ones where I actually know the people and they're saying the things that they're saying. They're still going to get the pizza that they remember, just in a different box." The new phone number is one the business has had for years, but wasn't advertised publicly, he said. The old phone number – for the fans who know it by heart or have it programmed on speed dial – will still be available through June 1. Those memories aren't going anywhere, Fran said. "Now the (next generation) is going to have those memories," she said. And that next generation will grow up with Fran working alongside her son, still helping make pies more often than she should, Frank joked. "You don't come here because it says 'Yala's pizza,' you come here because the pizza is good, because we give you good service, we give you good quality pizza," Frank DeSantis said. "Whether it's Eliseo's or Fran's." To order a Fran's or Eliseo's pizza, call (440) 282-7544 or visit Frank and Fran DeSantis at 3352 Oberlin Ave. 3 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.