Come June, restaurant owner Dennis Sharoky won’t have to travel far to enjoy his own pizza.
Sharoky is spending $750,000 to open his fifth
Coal Fire Pizza at Hunt Valley Towne Centre, not far from his northern Baltimore County home in Sparks. Sharoky says the 3,500-square-foot location will be completely renovated, and will feature a coal-burning oven made in Washington state and shipped to Hunt Valley. The restaurant will seat 80 and employ 30.
“I live in that area. Everyone I know asks ‘Why do I have Coal Fire’s everywhere else and not where I live?’” Sharoky says.
Sharoky owns Coal Fire restaurants in Ellicott City, Gaithersburg, Frederick, and Gambrills. Coal Fire is taking over the spot previously occupied by Carmine’s NY Pizzeria, which has closed. Anchored by Wegmans, Hunt Valley Towne Centre's tenants include Calvert Wine & Spirits, DSW Shoe Warehouse, Dick's Sporting Goods and Plow & Hearth.
Coal fire has a 900-degree oven that chars the pizza.
“It’s a lot of work to get it charred," Sharoky says. "It takes a lot of training to work a coal oven. There’s a lot of hot spots in the oven, you have to rotate it. You have to pay attention to it,” says Sharoky, who trains his pizza chefs in house.
In addition to the pizzas, Coal Fire also uses the coal ovens to bake chicken wings.
Coal Fire features fresh mozzarella, made in-house daily, and a choice of three homemade sauces, a traditional Italian plum tomato sauce, a signature sauce sweetened with a little honey and with just a touch of heat, and a spicy sauce.
Writer: Amy Landsman
Source: Dennis Sharoky, principal owner of Coal Fire Pizza