Bagby Pizza will be making the rounds (as in circular rounds of perfection) in Pikesville tomorrow, as the gourmet pizza place expands into Baltimore County.
The new location will serve its first-ever lunch at 11 a.m. on Thursday and will continue lunch and dinner service seven days a week.
“We started writing the plans two years ago when [Bagby Pizza brand’s president] Blake Smith said he wanted to open a new Bagby,” says Chris Becker, corporate executive chef for the Bagby Restaurant Group. “But with Cunningham’s opening, we had to put it aside. It was a blessing in disguise, because it gave us an opportunity to define the brand a little bit more.”
Like the original location on Fleet Street, this spot, located in the Festival at Woodholme Shopping Center at 1809 Reisterstown Road, will be a fast-casual restaurant.
The Pikesville place has 50 seats and includes plenty of communal seating.
Unlike the Fleet Street location, this locale will take a DIY, build-your-own approach, with patrons picking either a salad or pizza path.
“A lot of ingredients you see on a pizza, you can also put on a salad,” says Becker, who describes the concept as “Chipotle-like.” (The new location is, in fact, next to a Chipotle and is hoping to capture the same share of the market.)
Tapping into the trend of giving patrons options, there are choices for every imaginable component whether you’re having a pizza or grazing on greens. (Pick from regular or gluten-free dough if you’re having pizza, for instance, or seven different greens or grains for a foray into salad).
Many of the toppings, including an array of cheeses, vegetables, and proteins, can appear on a pizza or in a salad. (We’re particularly psyched about having the house-made sweet fennel sausage in a salad.)
Unique specialty items are also available, such as truffle oil for the pizza and vegan cheese for those with dietary requirements.
“We’re not an Italian restaurant but given that we’re serving pizza, we have an Italian flair,” says Becker. “We’ll also have cannoli cake, house-made lemonade and craft sodas.”
We’re sold.