1556 Stockton St San Francisco, CA 94133-3306 | 415.835.9888 | website

Hours: 12pm to 11:30pm, Wednesday through Sunday.

Mr. K and I are fans of Tony’s Pizza, or more specifically the owner Tony Gemignani.  He runs our favorite pizza parlor, Pyzano’s Pizzeria in Castro Valley.  And he has expanded his pizza empire with his International School of  Pizza and flagship restaurant Tony’s Pizza Napoletana in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood, which used to be my lunchtime stomping grounds back in the day…  I enjoyed checking it out when it first opened in 2009 (read about it here).  You can find every variety of pizza on the menu – thick Sicilian, thin-crusted Romana (sold by the meter), classic American (including New Haven  and New York style), classic Italian, and his special award winning margherita that he limits to 73 a day.

Last year, he opened Tony’s Coal-Fired Pizza and Slice House next door to the restaraunt, which offers take out fare like sandwiches and slices of pizza which are finished in the only coal-fired oven in Northern California.  The slices are dense and chewy, gently charred and are wide because they are meant to be folded in half down the middle.

It’s a small shop with only a couple of tables, but is brightly lit with tiled walls, a lovely embossed ceiling and eye catching overhead fans with shiny propellers that are a blur of motion.

The glass shelves on the counter display the current offerings.  There are a lot of options: New York-style pizza, Roman-style pizza, Chicago-style Italian Beef Sandwiches, and New York deli sandwiches.

I thought about the Prosciutto Panini…  I just love that combination and especially in a panini, but we decided to stick to pizza by the slice for this visit.

There is a menu on the wall that lists meats and cheese by the pound, hmmmm, housemade pastrami?  Definitely must come back to check out these and the sandwiches!

Coal fired pizza has a  chewy pliable crust and a gentle charring which provides some crispness.  Here’s a slice of Tomato Pie with Cheese($3.50).  The delicious crust is topped with a good dose of savory tomato sauce; and is held together by a molten crust of cheesy mozzarella.  The slices really do invite folding over, but I resisted because I wanted it to last longer…

The Pepperoni ($3.95) was a most excellent slice of pie.  Crisp chewy crust, spicy pepperoni, lightly charred…

We split the special, which was sliced meatball with ricotta cheese, red onion and garlic ($5).  It was surprisingly full of flavor and was a fine partner with the spicy pepperoni.

Everything we sampled was delicious, best pizza by the slice I’ve had in quite a while!  And with so many varieties of pizza, there’s something for everyone.  Definitely worth stopping there for a quick meal, on a nice day you can take your meal across the street to the park.  Next visit I’ll be checking out the sandwiches…

Tagged as: tony gemignani, Tony's Coal Fired Pizza & Slice