Hold on, pizza is on the way -- Pacci's

For all those who’ve moaned and groaned about not having anywhere to turn for really good thin crust pizza in the ‘hood (although I still think Vicino bakes a good pie – ask for it extra crispy), it appears your prayers will be answered soon. You’ll no longer have to trek into town to 2 Amy’s or RedRocks, you’ll now have Pacci’s.

As I wrote back in July on the blog, Pacci’s will open up shop at 8113 Georgia Ave, just south of the World Building. Anyone who walks/drives by at the moment certainly won’t see a place that’s ready to throw open its doors, but I have been told that as soon as the necessary approvals are secured from the County (and that may be this week), then you’ll begin to see some serious work taking place.

Pacci’s will be run by Spiro Gioldasis, currently the GM at Mrs. K’s Toll House. The longtime establishment at the corner of Dale Drive and Colesville Rd. Spiro is hopeful to begin serving pizza as early as mid-November. Pretty exciting, huh?

And although mid-November is not that far away, I think we can be confident that the place will be up and running shortly since all the furniture and equipment they need has already been purchased and is being warehoused close by for quick delivery and installation. This is not to say there’s not a fair amount of exterior (and interior work) that will be need to be completed beyond furniture and equipment. But, I am holding out hope they have a good contractor lined up to do this work.

Besides wood-fired brick oven pizza, Spiro says they’ll also be doing salads, appetizers and, I hope you’re sitting down, gelati. If I can get maybe some good cured meats or perhaps some marinated veggies to start, then a nice funghi pizza and to end a pistachio gelato and of course an espresso, I may never leave. And for us drinkers, we’ll also be able to quaff beer and wine (no hard stuff yet). I'm hoping that Spiro serves some decent Chianti and Montelpuciano D’Abruzzo.

It’s also worth noting that Pacci’s plans to have an outdoor patio - by the looks of it on the north side of the building. It will seat 60-80 people. This seems pretty big to me. It’s likely they’ll need this since it doesn’t look terribly roomy on the inside – although the place is quite deep. Not sure what the plans are for the south side of the property with the huge awning. Maybe that goes? What else, turned into a drive through window?

And while Spiro did not mention any local vendors in particular, he did inform me that he will try to support our local farmers. This is certainly good news in my book. So I am hopeful we’ll see cheeses, veggies and meats from around the area. That’s not to say I’ll turn down a fine Italian cheese, but we’ve got some kick-ass cheese producers locally. Has anyone tried Blue Ridge Dairy’s fresh mozzarella or ricotta? Both are excellent. Let’s hope these make it on the menu.

OK, I’m ready to order.