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New joint serving traditional Italian pizza

'We do it in the traditional style. We don’t have a rotating oven, we wanted it to be very authentic so we have somebody turning the pizzas, ensuring they cook consistently, that they have that beautiful char on it just like they do over in Italy'
Maija Hoggett
Maija Hoggett

A new family-run restaurant is slingin' pizzas in downtown Timmins. 

Lisa and Tim Jamieson and their children Sunny and Joey are behind Sparks Pizza at 206 Third Ave. 

The authentic Italian pizza is all handmade, from the crust to the sauce and toppings, said Tim. 

'"And when I say handmade, we buy the raw ingredients, actually make it. The dough — it’s cold fermented for 24 hours," he said. 

Working with Italian pizza masters, he created his own dough. 

The open-concept restaurant lets people see the pizza-making process from start to finish.

"You get to watch it being cooked in an Italian pizza oven. The oven itself is imported from Naples, Italy. Two lovely Italian gentlemen came and assembled the entire oven on-site. It’s specially made to make this style of Italian pizza,” he said.

The oven runs between 700-800 C and it takes about 60 to 90 seconds to cook a 12-inch pizza.

“We do it in the traditional style. We don’t have a rotating oven, we wanted it to be very authentic so we have somebody turning the pizzas, ensuring they cook consistently, that they have that beautiful char on it just like they do over in Italy,” said Tim.

Sparks Pizza has been about two decades in the making. 

It took shape when Tim was working in corporate business.

“I took a step back and said when I’m 45, I’m done. I want to open my own restaurant. To me, that’s retirement,” he laughed.

Two years ahead of the milestone birthday, he decided it was time to do it. 

In 2022, he entered the Downtown Timmins BIA's Win This Space and was finalist in the competition. During the process, he decided that he was following through with the business whether he won or not. 

“Today is that day,” he said. 

To start learning the ropes, Sparks Pizza had a soft launch earlier this week. 

The response was overwhelming.

"We ran out of dough our second day and we have a capacity of about 300 pizzas right now a day, so that just gives you an idea. We ran out on Wednesday I think after two hours. It was a hot day, we were learning the ropes," he said.

"We’re getting better each day, we’re hiring more staff. But the overall response was excellent. The response from all the people who had pizza, all the customers has been fantastic."