St. Petersburg's Tyrone Square scored the third location for a Florida-based fast-casual pizza franchise.
Founded by St. Pete resident Troy Barton and childhood friend Johnny Peterson three years ago, Pizza@ opened in the Tyrone mall food court the first week in February. It's the personalized pizza concept's flagship store, with two more coming to West Melbourne and Titusville this month.
Pizza@ carries five sauces, five cheese blends and 40-plus toppings, ranging from traditional to seasonal, for its 13-by-6-inch, made-to-order pies. Cooked in 120 seconds, these build-your-own pizzas cost between about $6 to $8, depending on the number of toppings. But there's also a selection of creative signatures, including the Taste of Middle East (red chickpea sauce, grilled chicken, olives, red onions, chickpeas, basil, feta).
Additional items on the menu are salads, wings, stromboli and big brownies.
In celebration of National Pizza Day, the Pizza@ brand, which plans to franchise dozens of its restaurants in the upcoming year, will give out up to 200 two-topping pies to anyone who purchases a drink at the new Tyrone store from 3 to 6 p.m. Thursday.
Oh, and fun fact: Top Chef alum and local chef Jeffrey Jew, who Barton was associates with in Washington, D.C., consulted with the partners close to a year before their first location opened.
This article appears in Feb 2-9, 2017.