It was during a road trip to get an oven when a song came on the radio, and an idea suddenly hit Dax Guest Ross – no, not in the eye, but That’s Amore made him think of the perfect slice of pie, which made him think of the perfect name for his new business.

Pizzamoreh is a place where local ingredients, a wood-fired oven and the mom and son team of Dax Guest Ross and Patricia Guest make their culinary magic.

“It all happened really fast – we were operating about a month after we got home from that trip,” says Dax. And while making a living in the restaurant world wasn’t always his dream (“there was a time when I said I never wanted to set foot in a kitchen,” he laughs), he comes from a culinary family. Patricia has been a chef for almost 40 years, and the longtime Peachlanders owned the restaurant L’Oven at Pizzamoreh’s current location – 2565 Main St. In West Kelowna. Dax has taken over the new place, and despite being open only since February 2019, Pizzamoreh has become a popular spot.

He says it’s all in the crust – a blend of whole wheat and white flour makes for a unique texture and taste, and when you add the freshest ingredients with some imagination – well, you fall in love.

“So many people love pizza and that’s one thing we like to do is stick with really good pizza using local ingredients,” Dax says.

Pizzamoreh owner Dax Guest Ross says one secret to Pizzamoreh’s success is their steel pizza pans. It’s preferred over a stone – and you can buy one to take home! Check out their website..

“It’s hard to make a bad pizza, but it’s also super hard to make a really excellent one.”

Whether you want to try something completely different (The Okanagan Classic, for example, has a pizza sauce / pesto mix as the base, followed by a three-cheese medley, pears and ham), or the kids just want a plain ol’ pizza with just cheese, Pizzamoreh has something for every palette. Salads and desserts – limoncello tiramisu, anyone? -are made fresh and in-house.

From opening their drive-thru (where you can order your crust crispy or more chewy, depending on preference), to offering frozen take and bake pizzas, to coming up with some cool contests on their Facebook page, Dax (who has lived in Peachland since he was three years old) says being a business owner has been an adventure so far.

“For the past year or so we’ve been offering fresh pizzas, salads and desserts, and then we started getting into making frozen pizzas. Then COVID hit and we opened up the drive-thru. It was actually my mom’s idea when we first opened, but we never used it,” says Dax.

“Dax actually said ‘drive-thru pizza is stupid, mom,” Patricia adds with a laugh.

Right now, both Patricia and Dax are focussed on Pizzamoreh’s growth.

“We take pride in our premium ingredients, sourced from local businesses,” Patricia says.

She’s also pretty proud of her son – and it goes beyond pizza.

“Dax has a real passion for helping people and inspiring them to be the best that they can be,” she says.

You can order a freshly-made or frozen pizza to enjoy at home (they’re even hitting local store shelves!), or starting Oct. 9, the restaurant will be open for sit-down service with COVID protocols in place.

Want to order? Visit Pizzamoreh’s website at https://pizzamoreh.ca/ or call (250) 707-3988.