In a matter of 12 hours, Walnut Creek’s Pizza Oliva was transformed into Ellie’s Pizzeria, and a new era began.

This summer, Pizza Oliva, which had been in operation for 23 years, was sold to a local couple, Karina Rosselli and Jonathan Waite, and renamed after their dog, Ellie.

In the month since it changed hands, Ellie’s Pizzeria has changed the chicken wings recipe, added new menu items, created a 12-flavor hand-scooped ice cream counter and generated a perfect 5-star rating with more than 100 reviews on Google.

But most importantly, Rosselli said, is the pizza recipe hasn’t changed at all.

“Everything is homemade,” she said. “And when we bought the place, the previous owners showed us how to make everything exactly the way they did it.”

The couple has no restaurant experience, but

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