South Florida-based Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza will open its first location in the Washington area in Bethesda, Maryland, on Jan. 29.
And the chain flies in tomatoes from Italy for its sauce.
The Bethesda location is at 7776 Norfolk Avenue, the former site of Community Diner, and then briefly burger joint One Scotch, One Burger, One Beer, which closed two years ago.
The first Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza opened in Fort Lauderdale in 2002. The Bethesda location will be its 67th location, with others in Florida, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Anthony’s bakes its pizzas in a coal oven stoked for three hours every morning until the oven reaches 900 degrees. The menu includes traditional and specialty pizzas, roasted chicken wings, meatballs, ribs, chicken parmesan, roasted vegetables and salads.
“As Bethesda’s only true coal fired oven pizza experience, Anthony’s will provide a signature approach to this natural and healthy cooking method,” said Ian Baines, CEO of Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza.
Per the chain’s website, founder Anthony Bruno flies in hand-picked tomatoes from 19 different farms in Italy once a year and blind tastes all of them. When Bruno finds the perfect tomato, he buys the entire crop from that farm and the tomatoes are canned exclusively for the chain.
The Bethesda location will be open seven days a week with weekday happy hours.
