Archive for the ‘News’ Category
The Dons Pizza Initiation
Posted by Waleed | Filed under News
So you wanna join the family eh?
Step up and eat the whole famiglia size thick Sicilian style pie with any 4 of your favorite toppings in less than 20 minutes.
If you pass the test, the pizza is on the house and you become a member of the family. We’ll put your picture on “Da Wall.”
If you blow it, then you pay the boss $24.99 and he’ll forgetaboutit.
The Pizza Challenge Pie is made Sicilian Style
This is an actual sampling of what the Pizza Challenge entails. The pie is roughly 2.5 pounds of dough plus toppings. The picture above is configured as a meat lovers style, but the challenge dictates any 4 toppings of your choosing.
Sicilian Style is thicker than The Dons other slices
Welcome to Our New Website
Posted by Waleed | Filed under News
Welcome to new website for The Dons’ Pizza. We’ve created it with the intent of being more interactive. You can subscribe to us using our RSS feed in order to keep updated. We will be featuring articles describing the various menu items and providing further insight.
The new website accompanies the release of the new menu, which is featured in our navigation bar.
Don Corleone’s To Offer Free Christmas Eve Dinner
Posted by Waleed | Filed under News
Cascades’ Don Corleone’s Brick Oven Pizza will fill the bellies of area residents this Christmas Eve in a gesture of goodwill.
From 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 24, the restaurant will offer any and all members of the community free dinner. A local children’s choir will also provide a musical backdrop to the evening. The dinner is meant for whomever may like it, regardless of need.
Don Corleone’s Brick Oven Pizza is located in Cascades Marketplace at 21018 Southbank Street in Sterling. It can be reached at 703-444-4959.
Young Fan’s Wish Comes True
Posted by Waleed | Filed under News
By Lina Hashem, Loudoun Times-Mirror
Original Article – May 20, 2008
Kendric Golston
Scott Miller Jr. – who turned 12 on May 21 — got an early birthday surprise during a visit to Don Corleone’s Brick Oven Pizzeria May 15. As he sat waiting for pizza, Redskins defensive tackle Kedric Golston walked in. Scott’s parents had conspired with the pizzeria’s owners to arrange for the meeting.
“This had to be one of the happiest moments of his life,” Colleen Miller said. “He thought Kedric was an incredible man … and it allowed him to know how very special he is.”
Scott’s parents feel pressed to give him as many of these moments as possible, because they worry about how many more they will have time for. Scott, of Fredericksburg, has cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that causes mucous to clog his organs, including his lungs. He has to have breathing treatments three times a day and enzyme pills before each meal. Every morning and night, his parents have to pound on his chest and back and shake him while he coughs to dislodge the mucus. His treatments take 2.5 to 3 hours a day. They are vital to his life.
The median age of survival for CF patients is about 36.5, but Scott recently lost a 19-year-old acquaintance from his town to the illness.
Right now, there is no cure for CF, but the Millers aim to change that in time for Scott. They’re helping plan a June 8 walk in Fredericksburg. Colleen Miller’s Web page for the walk reports a goal of raising $10,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, with $1,094.59 pledged so far.
The Millers said CF activists struggle to get help because the disease’s sufferers look healthy.
“And then before you know it, they’re gone,” Colleen said.
Donations can be sent to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, 2727 Enterprise Parkway, Suite 104, Richmond, VA 23294 (attn: Amy McCracken, for team Scottie). For information about the walk, visit www.cff.org/Great_Strides/ColleenMiller.
You Really Can Make Pizza Anywhere
Posted by Waleed | Filed under News
By Jim Dees, PMQ Pizza Magazine
Original Article – November 12, 2007
Virginia pizzeria owner takes pizza to the bush
Pizza is indeed global, and Waleed Zarou of Sterling, Virginia, is doing his part to bring it to Kenya, Africa. After several missionary trips with his local church group, Waleed, who owns and operates Don Corleone’s Brick Pizzeria in Sterling, came back with a new sense of purpose. His mission? Help people in trouble while simultaneously teaching them how to fend for themselves.
Learning Independence
“If you visit Africa, you can’t help but notice the need,” Waleed says of the country’s crushing poverty and disease. “When you see people you know dying of AIDS, you think, ‘What can I do to help?’ ” While Waleed was busy with his church group, helping to build churches and Bible colleges, he thought, why not build businesses?
“They have so much time on their hands,” he says of the Kenyans. “There’s so much downtime because people don’t have any opportunities. They can’t be dependent on the U.S., but they can learn their own independence.” He says some might scoff at the idea of putting resources into such a foreign environment fraught with tribal warfare, but he sees it differently. “Where others see dirt, I see money,” he says. “Where they see destitution, I see opportunity.” Waleed did his homework, reading stories of business ventures that had taken place in the area. He even read African history dating back to the 1500s. “There are security issues; that’s certainly an important part of it. I’ve been visiting for eight years now and I know where not to go,” says Waleed.
After his fifth trip, Waleed began working with his brother who is a missionary and a skilled baker in the town of Eldoret. Their plan is to teach a group the baking and business skills necessary to open a bakery in town. Once open, the bakery will eventually expand into a pizzeria. Waleed plans to work through the churches (there are currently 45 congregations administered by the Calvary Temple of East Africa) and develop training programs to teach the congregants skills such as typing, accounting and running an office. “We need to teach them how to use a computer,” he says, “but also how to build one and take it apart.” Waleed foresees such training programs eventually being available online to reach the far-flung masses. “We’ll start the kids when they’re juniors in high school and bring them along until they qualify for on-the-job training.” Waleed takes teams of 20-30 people on each trip who also lend their expertise.
“I don’t have the skills necessary to give the kids a well-rounded education so I’m blessed that others will take the time to spend a few weeks in the jungle helping people to help themselves,” he says of his colleagues.
Jungle Boogie
It was in the jungle where Waleed got the idea to open a pizzeria. “I was visiting a friend of mine, another missionary,” he recalls, “and his wife told me that pizza was his favorite and that they really missed it. That gave me the idea that if I could round up the ingredients out in the countryside, where he lives, I could make pizza anywhere.” It was then that Waleed saw the idea of opening a pizzeria as a viable business to teach the Kenyans.
“I looked around at my options; saw what was available, and what was not. I found wheat flour, a little vegetable oil (though I preferred olive), tomatoes and tomato paste, and some garlic and onion at the little market in town—even oregano.” Waleed assembled a pie and instructed a small class in how to do it. He later made 10, 12-inch pies. He says the villagers gathered around him excitedly as the pies came out of the oven and he cut them on a wood table and handed them out.
“They all loved it but some didn’t like the cheese. They aren’t used to eating cheese,” says Waleed. The basic diet in the western provinces of Kenya where Waleed works is “ugali” which he describes as “like grits only more dense and made from corn. The corn they eat is basically what we feed horses in the U.S. It’s really big.”
Keeping the Dream Alive
Waleed’s next trip is in May 2008 when he will once again convene business classes and also secure a location for the bakery.
“We’re going to take this one step at a time and make sure we structure our training and implementation in such a fashion that it sets them up to succeed,” Waleed concludes. He’s taken “thinking outside the box” a whole continent further, he’s thinking outside the country. And he’s not just thinking about pizza. Ever the adventurer, he’s already dreamt up another business opportunity for the impoverished residents of Eldoret. “I’m thinking about raising chickens and starting a rotisserie chicken business. That would really do well over there.”
Kedric Golston Pizza Results
Posted by Waleed | Filed under News
By Dan Steinberg, Washington Post
Original Article – October 2, 2007
In the interest of tying up loose ends….
Kedric Golston and his team of “Pros” won the celebrity pizza eating contest Sunday at Don Corleone’s. By one slice. Professional eater Ian “The Invader” Hickman carried the team of pros, downing 32 slices, according to enthusiastic Don Corleone’s owner Waleed R. Zarou.
But Golston held his own, putting away 14 slices of pizza in 10 minutes (remember, they were double-cut, so that means he ate about 87 percent of one pie).
“He pushed himself to the limit,” Waleed told me. “He’s such a team player, he didn’t want to be the one to let his team down. That’s just so ingrained in him….I think he was glad to be done. He was concerned about going back to work the next day, all those extra carbs, but he just went for it. A true sport.”
(The third Pro, boxer Jimmy Lange, had six slices and then pledged never to eat Don Corleone’s again. Waleed told him he would be dreaming of his pizza in the middle of his training. The Joes had two teams, one with five people and the other with six, several of whom were getting themselves all fired up before the contest, determined to beat the Pros.)
“It was tremendous. It was amazing,” Waleed said. “Ian, he smoked about a 19-inch pizza in the first two minutes. I’ve never seen anything like that, it was almost like gagging.”
Wonder if Hickman can play wide receiver.
A Redskin Gets Stuffed
Posted by Waleed | Filed under News
By Dan Steinberg, Washington Post
Original Article – September 26, 2007
Redskins defensive tackle Kedric Golston is a big dude: 6-foot-4, about 315 pounds. “You think he’s just going to pick up his competitor and drop him in his belly,” is how Waleed R. Zarou put it.
Waleed is the owner of Don Corleone’s Brick Oven Pizzeria in Sterling, which is hosting this Sunday’s “Pros vs. Joes” pizza eating challenge. The team of “Pros” includes boxer Jimmy Lange, professional eater Ian “The Invader” Hickman and Golston. Waleed met with the second-year lineman to prep him for this weekend’s event, and even made him a pizza. You know, for practice.
“After like three slices I was stuffed,” Golston reported. “He was like, ‘Brother, you’re going to struggle in this competition.’ ” “I wasn’t too impressed,” Waleed confirmed. “I figure if I catch him after a practice, he’ll do more damage.”
“You know, I eat early and often, but not large amounts at one time,” Golston said. “I got guys on my team who just murder food. I don’t see how they do it.”
I mean, Golston has been a pleasant surprise on the line, but I really don’t think he’s cut out for this. He tried downing some Nathan’s hot dogs a few months ago, just to emulate the eating masters like Joey Chestnut and Takeru Kobayashi. “I ate like one and a half of them, and I was gonna burst,” he told me.
He’s careful about his health, so his meals are made up of chicken breasts and fish and protein shakes and broccoli, stuff like that. Not piles of pizza. “I’m totally going against everything I believe in,” he said.
Of course, this is all for charity–in this case, East Africa Missions, which concentrates on economic development in Kenya. And of course, Golston will be carried by his professional-eating teammate The Invader; the other two teams will be chosen from the “Joes,” or maybe “Janes,” who pay to enter the event’s raffle.
And even though Golston is presumably not hurting for money, he’ll be eligible for the more than $1,000 worth of exciting cash and non-cash prizes, including Redskins tickets, “if he wants to go see himself,” Waleed said.
Golston admitted that some of his football teammates might be more suited to this happening, which is 10 minutes long and will feature 18-inch pies, double-cut into 16 slices (to make the competitors feel better about their stats). (Also, the event will be emceed by someone dressed like Don Corleone, which might make for a good Golston photo op, if nothing else.)
Guard Randy Thomas has entered eating contests before; Golston labeled him “a legend” and said “I need to call him and figure out how to warm my stomach up.” Former D-linemen Renaldo Wynn and Joe Salave’a were “definitely in the top five” of Redskins eaters, but they’ve both been released. (Demetric Evans, though, is not an eating star; “he’s too pretty,” Golston said.)
He’s thinking maybe he should use scare tactics, try to intimidate his average-Joe opponents. He’s worried he might be his team’s weakest link. “I’ve been trying to drink a lot of water and a lot of bread to stretch my stomach, but it just ain’t been working,” he said. “You know, I’m going to try. If I can do three-fourths of one [pie], I’ll be pretty proud of myself. I don’t want to eat myself into a coma.”
Redskin Comes Out for Pizza-Eating Contest
Posted by Waleed | Filed under News
By Kim Centazzo, Ashburn Connection
Original Article – September 26, 2007
Don Corleone’s Brick Oven Pizzeria will hold a Pros vs. Joes Pizza Challenge Sunday, Sept. 30, at 2 p.m., at the restaurant, in Sterling.
Waleed Zarou, owner of Don Corleone’s Brick Oven Pizzeria, is looking for average men, women and children to compete against three celebrity guests including World Boxing Council (WBC) champion Jimmy Lange, who was featured on NBC’s reality television show The Contender, Washington Redskins football player Kedric Golston and professional eater Ian Hickman, who was featured on MTV’s True Life: I’m a Competitive Eater.
“I’m hoping a lot of people will come out and challenge these guys,” Zarou said. Tickets will be sold at the door for $5, and each ticket includes a slice of pizza and chance to compete against the professionals. Raffle tickets will be sold for a chance to win more than $1,000 in cash and prizes, including two memberships to Gold’s Gym and Washington Redskins tickets and parking passes.
ALL PROCEEDS from the event will go to East Africa Missions, something Zarou and his family have been involved with for almost a decade. Zarou leads mission trips to East Africa through his church, Calvary Temple Church in Sterling. While he is in Africa, he helps men and women with a number of tasks, including economic development.
“The money goes so far there,” he said.
Waleed Zarou teaches a Kenyan woman to make pizza
Zarou recalled one his most memorable trips to Kenya, when he taught women there to make pizza, using what little they had to make the dough and cook the pizza. “I taught them how to make it so they could sell it in bakeries and shops, maybe open a café,” he said. This is not the first time Zarou has raised money for East Africa Missions. He has held similar fund-raisers over the years, for the same cause. “I’ve always tried to use my business in creative ways,” he said. Zarou will return to Kenya in May.
Kenyan women learn to make pizza
Waleed Zarou, Finalist in Fastest Pizza Maker Competition
Posted by Waleed | Filed under News
Waleed Zarou, owner of Don Corleones Brick Oven Pizzeria places 3rd in national pizza event at the Orlando Pizza Show.
Here are the official results (see original article):
Fastest Pizza Maker
1st Place: John Howe, Domino’s Pizza, Orlando FL
2nd Place: Roger McColly, Domino’s Pizza, Upper Sandusky OH
3rd Place: Waleed Zarou, Don Corleones Brick Oven Pizzeria, Sterling, VA
Pizza competition runs in the family, Waleed’s daughter Juliana participated in the the Throw Dough competition.
Also see original article
Dough Girl Defends Her Title
Posted by Waleed | Filed under News
By Kim Centazzo, Ashburn Connection
Original Article – September 05, 2007
Juliana Zarou will return to Orlando, Fla., Saturday, Sept. 8, to defend her title as “Dough Girl.”
In July 2006, Zarou was the first girl to compete in the Throw Dough National Finals Junior Division for the under 18 division. She placed third for tricks, like the “whip,” when she tosses throw dough in the air, catches it, brings the dough down to her bellybutton and makes a figure eight, rolling the dough over the palms of her hands and back to her fingertip. “I was the only girl in the place,” she said.
On Friday, Aug. 31, Juliana Zarou tossed a piece of practice dough made of rubber and sprinkled with flour, called throw dough, outside of her father Waleed Zarou’s restaurant, Don Corleone’s at The Cascades Marketplace in Sterling.
Juliana Zarou practices for the Throw Dough National Finals Junior Division for the under 18 division.
Her sisters, Nina, 8, and Sophia, 5, watched her toss throw dough high above her head, under her leg and back above her head again. “That one’s called the ‘under-whip,’” she said. “I made it up.” Although the 9-year-old has been practicing for a couple of weeks now, she said she has a long way to go. “I haven’t practiced as hard as I could,” she said, “but I’m going to work hard over the next few days.” This year, Juliana Zarou is sponsored by Antico Mulino Caputo pizza flour, from Naples, Italy.