Do you want to hear a love story? It’s a boy-meets-restaurant-meets girl story. For details, keep reading. Mark Gaspar started bussing tables at Pizzazz, an Italian restaurant at 839 SOM Center Rd., Mayfield Village, when he was 14. With eight siblings he knew he’d have to go out and earn extras if he wanted them. It was helpful that he loved everything about the restaurant, and gradually learned to do it all. Eight years later, when he was helping to launch Pizzazz at Fairmount Circle, University Heights, he met Val Vitantonio, a John Carroll University student hostessing at the restaurant. …

Lucky for Burt Morton, his taste for spicy Indian food can be appeased just down the street from Guitar Center, where he sells professional audio recording equipment. Since Taste of Kerala opened in June at 5850 Mayfield Rd., Mayfield Heights, he’s been a lunch hour regular, picking up one of his favorites, pepper chicken or chili chicken.    Those dishes happen to be the spiciest on the menu, owner Suchithra Pillai’s husband Anil Kumar said. "If you’re not used to it, you will sweat," he said, smiling. On a hotness scale of 1-10, the two menu items are 8s. But Morton also likes a mild dish …

Jurassic Aquatics & Pets owner Fred Boseman is not exactly sure how many fish tanks he has in his Mayfield Heights store. But his best estimate is about 150 tanks, neatly stacked on top of each other in several rows of 6-foot metal racks. The tanks are filled with all kinds of marine, saltwater and tropical fish as well as live corals. Other tanks not filled with fish are nests for reptiles and snakes that lie motionless under the light purple rays of UV lights. Boseman opened the pet store earlier this year at 1413 Golden Gate Blvd. in a building that also houses medical, legal and business …

If a 102-year-old company is doing everything right, it’s bound to thrive on repeat and word-of-mouth business. That’s been the formula at Herman Textile Window Fashions since Joel Herman’s grandfather founded the company in 1909. "My customers say, 'Why would I go anywhere else?'" Herman said with satisfaction. "They appreciate the value we can give them." His father handed him the reins in the mid-'80s, when they were still doing business at Cedar Center Plaza, but he’s been at the company since he gave up his paper routes 39 years ago. Herman moved the store to Alpha Park, Highland Heights…

Sisters Toni Rassi, 32, and Tina Pietrondi, 27, know how to share when it comes to responsibilities at the Highland Heights hair salon they co-own, Anthony Rocco Hair Salon. “I just come in to manage my clients and inventory, and leave the rest for Tina,” Rassi said.  For Pietrondi, that means managing and promoting the salon, including its presence on Facebook. The division of labor gives Rassi more time with her three children, ages 8, 3 and 2. “It’s getting easier. We’re almost out of diapers,” she said, smiling. “He’s fighting me.” Rassi always knew what she wanted to do. “I love the …

Brush High School graduate Tom Ball hasn’t strayed far from home – except for when he’s producing documentaries for Telos Productions, the company he founded in the mid-'80s. He’s worked extensively in Italy, China, France and England, as well as many U.S. cities, producing more than a thousand programs for a range of clients, including major corporations, nonprofit organizations, universities, museums, advertising and public relations agencies and national sports franchises. "The best part is meeting people at the height of their powers," he said. He’s interviewed businessmen Peter B. Lewis…

Maybe you’ve wondered what goes on behind the plain, locked door at 47 Alpha Park on Alpha Park Dr., Highland Heights. The only clue is the name "Saxon" emblazoned in large letters above the unadorned and anonymous window. It’s Michael Saxon’s jewelry store, Saxon Jewelers and Gemologists, where much of the business has come to involve custom jewelry design, like the micro pave diamond platinum wedding band he created for his daughter’s Sept. 2 wedding. "Only the best," Saxon said softly. "I’d rather have raw materials than have a ring in my case that I have to try to sell you," he said. "…

James Alfieri is all about hardscape – the patios, sidewalks and retaining walls that lure people outdoors to enjoy the landscape. He’s got the businesses to prove it. And by the time he’s finished, he’ll likely have more. "My problem is I’m too entrepreneurial," Alfieri said. "I want to do lots of things." He bought his first business, Pave Ohio Inc., in 2000, at age 30, after learning his business how-tos by working at his father’s company, Alfieri Trucking and Contracting, and getting a business degree at the University of Akron. "School gave me the organizational skills necessary to …

When LeBron James wanted new home lighting, merchants Barry and Susie Levett were flattered he chose their shop, the House of Lights, 5818 Mayfield Rd., Mayfield Heights. But they weren’t too surprised. The Levetts and their staff of certified lighting consultants are used to repeat customers of all persuasions, from people furnishing mansions and second homes to the renters down the street.   "We can cater to anyone regardless of income," Barry Levett said. They do so with award-winning pizzazz, according to Verandah, a Hearst home and home décor magazine. The store won the magazine’s Arts …

What’s a lawyer to do when his ideals are crushed, and his faith in the legal system has soured? He buys a nostalgia shop and closes his independent law firm post haste. In a nutshell, that’s the story of Ari Sudilovski, owner of North Coast Nostalgia, 5120 Mayfield Rd., Lyndhurst. He’d been practicing law since 1990, and in his experience "the prosecutors were more interested in convictions than getting justice and serving the citizens," he said. "Justice was irrelevant." After two years of mulling over his possibilities, he was pushed into action. As Sudilovski recalled, he was on a …

Alan Novello calls himself "old school" because he learned the jewelry business from the ground up, selling gold chains as a traveling salesman. Finding customers for his company, Cleveland Wholesale Jewelry, was no picnic. "I drove to Nashville and visited every jewelry store on the way, and didn’t sell a thing," he recalled. "I was new and people had to get to know me." It took a couple more trips before he made a sale. Fast forward 32 years, and Novello’s in the jewelry retail business with his daughter, Niki Alan Novello, 26, and the store is called Cleveland Jewelry Designs, 5148 …

Deadline pressure doesn’t even register on Brenda and Mike Myers, owners of Impressions, A Print Shop, 370 Alpha Park, Highland Heights. That’s the beauty of having newspaper backgrounds, 13 and 15 years, respectively, at Geauga Times Leader. "We’re used to deadlines," Brenda Myers said. "I was in composition, and Mike was in the press room, and I had to get things done for his department." It took Mike five years to ask her on a date. "And we married in four months," she said.  The couple would gladly be newspaper people still, but the paper ceased publication about 26 years ago, dumping …

Here are just two things you can learn from Harry Goodfriend and Steven Saks: • Regular paper cups are lined with a petroleum product to prevent leaking. They sell compostable paper cups lined with a corn product that also prevents leaking. • Styrofoam clamshells for your restaurant leftovers are made of petroleum and they will sit in landfills forever unchanged. Goodfriend and Saks sell compostable clamshells made from sugarcane refuse. The boyhood friends know all about such things because they sell biodegradable and compostable products through their online company, Green Paper Products, …

Listen up, Cleveland music buffs. Rick Sostaric, original drummer with legendary band Wild Horses during its Funky Poodle era is alive and well and still performing, now with The Blue Drivers, a jump swing band. Avid running keeps him in "fighting shape" for grueling weekend gigs. But most Saturdays you can find him behind the lens of a camera, perhaps focusing on a bridal party at Squire's Castle or beside the lagoon by the Cleveland Museum of Art. A professional photographer, Sostaric owns Highlights Photography, 5420 Mayfield Road, Lyndhurst, Suite 102. He got his start in the 1990s when …

New York transplant Amy Ryan came to Cleveland three years ago with a mission – to have a business in the dog industry, a field she’d learned well during her 22 years on Wall Street. She quickly settled on dog day care simply because she personally had experienced the need for such a service. "I used to travel a lot and had no place to put my dogs," Ryan said, her rascally four Cavalier King Charles spaniels, ages 7, 6, 5 and 4, resting at her feet. She opened her first Camp Bow Wow nearly a year ago in Alpha Park in Highland Heights, and plans to open a second, currently under construction …

Although Tanya Grinberg was a sewing teacher in her native Russia, she was eager to allow her entrepreneurial spirit to emerge. “There was no way to have a business there,” she said. “Everything was government regulated.” She got her chance after she emigrated here with her husband, his father and their two sons in June 1992, joining the rest of her family who’d emigrated earlier. She began sewing for other alterations shops, but after two years, she opened Fast Needle, a small alterations shop inside a Michelle’s Cleaners in Lyndhurst. “The first week I had one customer. I was terrified,” …

Sarah Fanger has an eclectic skill set, including IT support, office management, paralegal work and event planning.  But for the past two years she’s added “disaster cleaner-upper,” and she couldn’t be happier. “Of all my careers, this is the most satisfying,” she said. “I feel like I’m helping people in an immediate way.” Name a dirty job and her company, Restoration Express, will take it on: water or fire damage, mold remediation, biohazard cleanup, pet odor removal, sewage back-up and anything else that’s ruining your day. For example,  your basement den floods and Fanger and her staff can…

Deacon’s, “The dealership that service built,” dodged a bullet in May 2009, when Chrysler LLC decided to put a quarter of its dealerships out of business. “We were a little on edge in 2009. We were fortunate to survive that time,” president Jim Deacon said. “We’ve always taken care of our customers, and that’s what saved us.” Just two years later, expansion is the word around the 48-year-old Mayfield Village business. The dealership boasts 16 new models in the 2011 Chrysler and Jeep lines, and hopes to add Dodge cars and Ram trucks after renovations. “We hope to build a new showroom with …

The shoe repair business has its seasons, Gregory Goldberg said – the high (in fall), the low (in summer), and the in-between, which is pretty much the rest of the year. But after nearly 15 years repairing shoes in downtown Cleveland, the Russian emigrant found that low season was lasting far too long. “Cleveland was dying,” he said. It was time to relocate. That’s how his shop, David Shoe Repair, came to be at 787 Bishop Road, near the corner of Wilson Mills Road, in Highland Heights. That was eight years ago. “I’m closer to home,” Goldberg said with a smile, “and I’m doing much better than …

Don’t be shy. If you want to get up close and personal with ballroom dancing before committing to lessons, feel free to step into the American Dance Exchange, 767 Alpha Drive, Highland Heights, and watch awhile. They’re always happy to have prospective students visit first, co-owner Frank Allen said. Don’t expect the drama of a Dancing with the Stars rehearsal, where the stars intermittently break down in tears or break up in laughter. The school, also co-owned by Lisa Vegas and P.J. Navarro, is an oasis of calm – with, of course, a pleasant soundtrack. Do expect a very enriching experience…