pizza

Pupatella Pizzeria Opening Tonight

By ARLnow.com

Pupatella, the pizza cart turned brick-and-mortar restaurant, will be welcoming its first sit-down customers around 6:00 tonight. Tomorrow is the official opening, but management says they’ll start serving anyone who comes in today.

Owner/couple Enzo Algarme, 30, and Anastasiya Laufenberg, 29, started selling made-to-order pizzas from a cart near the Ballston Metro in September 2007. Pupatella won praise, gained loyalty and made money, but it was their dream all along to open a real restaurant.

After saving up some money, the couple started looking for a storefront in February. They found 5104 Wilson Boulevard. Now they have parking, art on the walls, and a custom-made pizza oven from Naples, Italy. Oh yeah, and there’s gelato.

“It’s cool, it is a dream come true,” Algarme said.

Consistent with Algarme’s Italian roots, the restaurant is a family affair. The “Pupatella” name was actually the nickname of Algarme’s grandmother and the pizza boxes feature a prominent photo of Algarme’s one-year-old son.

The pizza cart will be out of operation while the couple focuses on the restaurant, but Algarme says he hopes to eventually get it back out on the street.

More photos after the jump.

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Pete’s New Haven Apizza Coming to Clarendon

By ARLnow.com

We just told you about Fire Works Pizza, the huge new wood-fired pizza restaurant that’s coming to Courthouse. Now, a tipster tells us that yet ANOTHER specialty pizza restaurant is on the way.

Pete’s New Haven Apizza, currently of Columbia Heights in the District, will lease a storefront in the new Clarendon Center development. Co-owner Joel Mehr confirms that Pete’s is hoping to open the Arlington restaurant — its third in the D.C. area — at some point this winter.

Washingtonian said the slices at Pete’s are “not only the best in town; they’re worthy of comparison with the best in the country.” Pete’s even got a glowing endorsement from President Obama last fall… seriously.

Mehr says the new Pete’s will likely feature a larger beer and wine menu than the Columbia Heights location.

Between American Flatbread, Faccia Luna, Liberty Tavern and — soon — Fire Works Pizza and Pete’s, locals will have plenty of pizza options.

Writes our tipster: “Clarendon will be the pizza capital of Arlington…  I hope there are enough eaters to go around.”

Fire Works Pizza Bringing the Heat to Courthouse

By ARLnow.com

Watch out, American Flatbread. Another wood-fired pizza place is coming to the area, and it’s bringing the heat.

Fire Works Pizza is moving into a large 5,500 square foot space at 2350 Clarendon Boulevard, within walking distance of American Flatbread’s Clarendon store, which opened just a couple of months ago.

Fire Works is setting up shop in Courthouse after the concept proved to be “wildly successful” in Leesburg, Va. But the Leesburg location won’t hold a candle to the Courthouse iteration. The new Fire Works is promising more of everything — more seating, more beers and more pizza.

Management expects a seating capacity of 276. There will be a huge 112-seat patio, complete with a fire pit (assuming the county permits go through).

“This space is amazing, everything about it is perfect,” said general manager John Hoffmeyer.

A 26-seat bar will feature 31 beers on tap, two cask-conditioned ales, more than 100 bottled beers and a full wine list. Fire Works will have “a great selection of American craft beers” and hard-to-find specialty beers. It’s also billing itself as “Belgian beer heaven.”

An exposed, walk-in beer cooler near the front of the store may eventually host tasting events.

Many of the signature pizzas will be the same as in Leesburg, but they’ll be made in a much larger wood-fired oven (which will be installed in dramatic disassemble-the-front-of-the-store fashion in about two weeks).

Unlike Leesburg, the new Fire Works will also boast a full kitchen, which will allow them to offer more salads, appetizers and other non-pizza items.

The folks behind Fire Works, who also run Magnolias at the Mill in Purcellville, say they’re excited about their inside-the-Beltway foray. We imagine American Flatbread’s owners are considerably less excited.

Expect Fire Works to open in mid- to late-June.

Deal: Really Good Pizza for Less

By ARLnow.com

Via Shop Arlington: Get a great deal on food and drink at American Flatbread in Clarendon. The offer, from collective buying site Groupon, is for $25 worth of all-natural, locally-sourced pizza for $12.  The deal also applies to American Flatbread’s well-curated beer and wine list. The “Groupon” can be used anytime between now and August, but you have to sign up by midnight tonight.