After some trials and tribulations related to the worldwide pandemic, Safety Harbor’s Pizzeria Gregario has reopened for outdoor dining.
As Creative Loafing Tampa Bay pointed out last October, for the last year Pizzeria Gregario owner Greg Seymour has been baking bread and offering takeout to customers to get by during the pandemic.
But now Safety Harbor’s artisanal pizza restaurant—located at 400 2nd St N—will let you eat your takeout on the outdoor patio. Service is Thursday-Saturday, 5 p.m.-9 p.m. or until the dough is gone.
In most pizza shops dough is somewhat limited, but even more so with Pizzeria Gregario, which opened originally in May of 2013.
Seymour mills and sifts the grains in house, a much more intensive process than other pizza places. “I’ve always made a limited number of dough, it’s so labor intensive,” Seymour said in a phone call with CL. And he doesn’t cheat by using another day’s dough.
“By the time it’s become pizza dough I’ve handled it so many times that last thing I want to do is have some left over and turn it into something else,” Seymour said.
The menu is the same all four days: 9 pizzas ranging from staples (margherita/spinach with feta) to an upscale take on another staple (“Not Roni” made with Spotted Trotter calabrese salami) to a daily vegan pie. Ingredients are locally, or regionally, sourced including meat products that come from “animals (living) as nature intended and processed as humanely as possible.”
And yes, you can still get Gregario’s famous “garlic schmoo” (garlic, olive oil, salt, lemon) to dip your crust in.
Since Seymour has reopened, business is unpredictable and “the weather plays a role.” He had dough left over last Friday because of the rain, but the next night during the Safety Harbor Wine Festival “I was sold out by a quarter of 8,” he said. He normally likes to have enough dough until at least 8:30 p.m. but he makes it days in advance, so he has to guess-timate how much he’ll need.
Seymour is not sure what the future for his restaurant looks like, but his dream is to have it be seasonal. Originally from New Hampshire, Seymour moved to Safety Harbor because of family but would like to spend part of the year in Maine and the winters in Florida.
Seymour would love to eventually find a spot in a Tampa Bay restaurant to have a “ghost kitchen” type deal—so he can “offer pizza in their restaurant...four nights a week November through April” he said.
Until then, Pizzeria Gregario is open for business three nights a week. Just get there before 8:30 p.m. or you may be out of luck.
Send anonymous news tips to [email protected]. Support local journalism in these crazy days. Our small but mighty team works tirelessly to bring you news on how coronavirus is affecting Tampa and surrounding areas. Please consider making a one time or monthly donation to help support our staff. Every little bit helps.
Subscribe to our newsletter and follow @cl_tampabay on Twitter.
