Falls Church’s eagerly anticipated pizza restaurant, Pizzeria Orso, is scheduled to open next month in Pearson Square, the company stated in a press release today.
The team behind the critically-acclaimed 2941 Restaurant in Falls Church, husband and wife Edan and Thea MacQuaid will run the 117-seat restaurant. Edan is a trained pizzaiolo who has cooked at popular D.C. restaurants 2Amys, Pizzeria Paradiso and Red Rocks.
Sources tell the News-Press the opening is set for the beginning of June.
Pizzeria Orso will be located at 400 South Maple Ave. in Falls Church.
The press release is as follows:
The team behind 2941 Restaurant in Falls Church is launching their newest restaurant, Pizzeria Orso, in June. The 117-seat restaurant, run by the husband/wife team of Edan and Thea MacQuaid, will specialize in traditional Neapolitan pizzas, a selection of antipasti, house-made salumi and traditional desserts. Pizzeria Orso features a handmade, bell-shaped volcanic brick oven by Forno Napoletano, third generation oven builders in Naples, Italy. True to traditional Neapolitan technique, the pizza dough at Pizzeria Orso will be naturally leavened, never refrigerated, and baked in the wood-burning oven at approximately 800 °F for 90 seconds. MacQuaid credits his Pietro Berto diving arm dough mixer as one of the keys to creating the unique dough at Pizzeria Orso. The Pietro Berto gently folds the dough rather than mixing it; he says it simulates the action of a person kneading the dough, not heating it as done in other dough mixers.
Edan MacQuaid, a trained pizzaiolo, has cooked at 2Amys, Pizzeria Paradiso, and Red Rocks, all acclaimed pizza restaurants in Washington, DC. He was highlighted in the pizza book Pizza: A Slice of Heaven by Ed Levine as “the best pizza guy on the East Coast.” MacQuaid said “I’m looking forward to making pizzas with the traditional tools and methods reflecting the best pizzas in Naples.”
Pizzeria Orso will offer Neapolitan pizzas such as the classic Margherita, with San
Marzano tomatoes, Italian buffalo mozzarella and basil (Edan’s favorite); the Vera Orso topped with five Italian cheeses, and with fresh shaved white or black truffles (in season); and the Filepto (Thea’s favorite), a Margherita with sliced fresh cherry tomatoes instead of the San Marzano variety. The other two traditional Neapolitan pizzas are the Marinara, with San Marzano tomatoes, sliced garlic, and dried Sicilian oregano and the Ripieno, a stuffed pizza similar to a calzone with ricotta and mozzarella cheeses, ground black pepper, grana, and a dollop of San Marzano tomato. In addition to the traditional Neapolitan pizzas, Pizzeria Orso will offer antipasti options, such as oven baked eggplant parmesan; and Neapolitan fritture, such as potato crocche, a seasonal frito misto, arancini, and suppli a telefono, a smaller Roman fritter.
Pizzeria Orso’s excellent wine and beverage program will be headed by Thea MacQuaid. Thea plans to create a wine list introducing exceptional, value-oriented Italian wines from Campagna and Sicily such as Grotta del Sole’s Gragnano, the Neapolitan fizzy red pizza wine, and San Marzano’s Negroamaro, as well as a number of craft beers, such as Session lager, and Good JuJu on draft.
Pizzeria Orso is located at 400 South Maple Street, Falls Church, VA. The restaurant will be open daily from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. For more information please call 703-226-3460 or visit the website at www.pizzeriaorso.com.
