Pie Hole opened Wednesday at 412 England St. (J. Elias O’Neal)
A local restaurateur is ready to deliver a new pizza joint in Ashland.
Karen Verdisco, who owns Brew Gastropub in Chester, is set to open Pie Hole today at 412 England St.
It’s the restaurant group’s first venture in Ashland, replacing the former Glass America business that once occupied the 1,800-square-foot space.
Verdisco invested about $60,000 to renovate and furnish the 89-seat restaurant, hiring 20 full- and part-time workers.
“We’ve got an experienced team,” Verdisco said. “Some of the people we’ve hired are students that attend Randolph-Macon College.”
A Neapolitan pizza concept, Pie Hole will serve pizzas cooked in a custom brick oven made in Italy.
“It’s a gas oven that can reach 1,000 degrees,” Verdisco said. “We’re going to cook the pizzas at 900 degrees, because that’s the temperature that works best for us… we can get about five pizzas in at a time, but they cook in about 65 to 70 seconds.”
The menu also includes salad with house-made dressings, and appetizers that include bruschetta with roasted red pepper and fire-roasted brussels sprouts with sea salt, olive oil and pancetta.
Maintaining her long-standing business relationship with Richmond-based Gelati Celesti, Verdisco said Pie Hole will serve the company’s ice cream at the Ashland location. She said it will add a Nutella Pizza to its dessert menu, topped with strawberries and cinnamon sugar.
Pie Hole also will offer 24 craft beers from local and state breweries on tap, Verdisco said.
Raffi Bandazian, principal broker and president of Richmond-based Bandazian & Co., represented Verdisco in the Ashland lease. Barry Hofheimer, a broker with CBRE | Richmond, represented the landlord.
Pie Hole opened Wednesday at 412 England St. (J. Elias O’Neal)
A local restaurateur is ready to deliver a new pizza joint in Ashland.
Karen Verdisco, who owns Brew Gastropub in Chester, is set to open Pie Hole today at 412 England St.
It’s the restaurant group’s first venture in Ashland, replacing the former Glass America business that once occupied the 1,800-square-foot space.
Verdisco invested about $60,000 to renovate and furnish the 89-seat restaurant, hiring 20 full- and part-time workers.
“We’ve got an experienced team,” Verdisco said. “Some of the people we’ve hired are students that attend Randolph-Macon College.”
A Neapolitan pizza concept, Pie Hole will serve pizzas cooked in a custom brick oven made in Italy.
“It’s a gas oven that can reach 1,000 degrees,” Verdisco said. “We’re going to cook the pizzas at 900 degrees, because that’s the temperature that works best for us… we can get about five pizzas in at a time, but they cook in about 65 to 70 seconds.”
The menu also includes salad with house-made dressings, and appetizers that include bruschetta with roasted red pepper and fire-roasted brussels sprouts with sea salt, olive oil and pancetta.
Maintaining her long-standing business relationship with Richmond-based Gelati Celesti, Verdisco said Pie Hole will serve the company’s ice cream at the Ashland location. She said it will add a Nutella Pizza to its dessert menu, topped with strawberries and cinnamon sugar.
Pie Hole also will offer 24 craft beers from local and state breweries on tap, Verdisco said.
Raffi Bandazian, principal broker and president of Richmond-based Bandazian & Co., represented Verdisco in the Ashland lease. Barry Hofheimer, a broker with CBRE | Richmond, represented the landlord.
This is bad news for Pepicelli’s. They were the only game in Ashland for a long time (not counting Pizza Hut). Then Little Ceasars opened up and now Pie Hole. That means lower prices and better quality pizza for everyone in Ashland.
Pepicelli’s was the only game in town for years? Anthony’s has been in business in Ashland for around 40 years now. Dominoes around 30 years, just saying. They might now be everyone’s cup of tea but we’ve had other options. It will be interesting to see how well they do and if they put a squeeze on other pizza places in the town.