August 19, 2018

Slice Sundays: East Coast Pizzeria

Just a few months after opening his first and very own pizza shop, Colin Gerhard, owner, was approached by the Slice of Columbus Committee. They asked if he would be willing to participate in the 2017 Slice of Columbus event in downtown Columbus, donating hundreds of pizzas to be served on at the Commons with all proceeds going to Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Without even a year of operation under his belt, he knew the answer. And the answer was yes.

Flash forward a few months to a soggy September Wednesday evening, and East Coast Pizzeria had the LONGEST line at Slice of Columbus.

East Coast Pizzeria, Clintonville — Fun Fact: I was a judge for Slice of Columbus 2017. That means we had to try 2 slices from each shop (1 traditional and 1 specialty). At the time I took this picture, I had no idea the slice was from East Coast Pizzeria. As soon as I took a bite of the Bourbon Chicken Pizza at ECP this week, I knew it was a match- even a whole year after blindly trying it!

“It might not have been an official award, but it’s something we’re pretty proud of considering most people didn’t know who we were yet.” -Oshen, ECP Manager

The Pizzeria

East Coast Pizzeria planted its roots in north Clintonville in January 2017, just across from the Graceland shopping center. Colin grew up in Columbus (we took a hint from the scarlet and gray walls and giant OSU mural), and eventually began working at a NY Style Pizzeria- staying there for nine years. During that time, he learned the ins and outs of owning a pizza shop.

“I decided that I wanted a place of my own, and I knew where it had to be.”

Colin created East Coast Pizzeria, bringing two friends with him to be his managers, Oshen and Chris. It was very clear the moment we walked in the front door that this was a team of hard working and passionate individuals who were driven to bring the best experience to anyone dining at East Coast Pizzeria. Although their first year of business started off a little slow, Chris mentioned that their second year is on the rise and they owe it all to organic growth, especially from the Clintonville community. The shop offers pizza by the slice at lunch, as well as a combo deal if you’re short on time. Delivery and pickup are two options rather than dining in, and this brings most of their business.

All pizzas are cooked in an authentic brick oven at 600 degrees for 6 minutes each. According to Colin, the brick oven is a very “east coast” trend. He mentioned that every once in awhile, he will have a customer come in who grew up in the New Jersey area and they claim that the pizza reminds them of home. Any idea where the name came from? 🙂

The pizza dough, the pizza sauce, and all topping combinations are made from scratch. Whenever there are any new pizza ideas that the team wants to test, it goes “up on the board.”

East Coast Pizzeria Menu Items

And this was how the infamous East Coast Bourbon Chicken came about. The combination stuck, people asked for more, and eventually it became a part of the real menu. It even came along with the East Coast team to Slice of Columbus as their “specialty”pizza! The Bourbon pizza starts with a slather of local bourbon sauce on the dough, followed by grande old milk mozzarella cheese, chicken, bacon, red onions, and finally drizzled with mild sauce on top.

Trust me when I say that you have NEVER had a pizza like this one before!

We were also blown away by the East Coast White Pizza. I’m not a huge fan of red sauce on pizza, and this was perfect for me! The dough is rubbed with garlic butter and topped with mozzarella, ricotta, tomatoes, basil, fresh garlic, and parmesan. We added some chicken as well, and it reminded me of fettuccine alfredo!

Okay – I have to side track just a little bit before closing out the post. I know that the “Slice Sundays” series is supposed to be focused on pizza, but I can’t NOT tell you about the extensive appetizers available at East Coast, and especially their one menu item that I’ve NEVER seen offered at a pizza shop before! So let’s start at the top.

Garlic knots. I’ve had ’em before, you’ve had ’em before. But you haven’t had THESE before. We were served the garlic knots straight out of the oven, so they were piping hot and loaded with melty cheese. You can get 5 of them for only $3.99 and trust me, you need them.

We also tried the pepperoni rolls, and I can’t begin to explain to you how much these little guys warmed my middle school heart. Did anyone else have pepperoni sticks in their cafeterias? Anyway, these were like the souped up, deluxe adult version of those pepperoni rolls. Their hand tossed dough folds layers of pepperoni rolled into a crescent shape, topped off with garlic butter, parmesan, and oregano. You can get 3 for $2.49 or 6 for $3.99, and you can add mozzarella cheese for $0.50/$1.00.

Add the cheese.

I mean, look at this pull and try not to drool.

And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for, the surprise menu item!

Queso

Why queso? I asked Colin about the surprising appetizer found on their menu board. His answer makes owning a restaurant sound like the coolest, most fun thing ever.

“We really like cheese and since I can put whatever I want on the menu, we decided to do it!”

Case in point – you never know what to expect from the team over at East Coast Pizzeria. Who knows, maybe we’ll stroll in for a slice during lunch next month and they’ll be serving something totally off the wall.

You’ve gotta find out for yourself! Until next Sunday!