Food

Opening Alert: &Pizza Debuts in Bethesda

It’s the first Maryland location for the local pizza chainlet.

The first Maryland location opens with signature pies like the “kiss & fire” topped with meatballs, mushrooms, and strawberry balsamic. Photograph by Jeff Elkins

Pizza-loving Bethesdians, take note: There’s a new pie in town. A branch of &Pizza, a local chainlet with three current locations in the District, opens Monday. The shop at 7614 Old Georgetown Road is the first of three locations planned for Maryland, with future sites in Gaithersburg and Germantown.

The formula is the same across the board: fast-casual pizzas—both savory and dessert—that can be ordered from a menu of eclectic “signatures” or customized to personal taste. Should you decide on a DIY pie, choices start with the dough (traditional or multigrain) while toppings vary from tomato sauce and veggies to the more unusual red-chickpea spread, falafel crumbles, and a strawberry-balsamic finishing vinegar. Craft beers and house wine (all a moderate $5.45) are available for those looking to linger.

While the menu remains the same at each location, the design varies: Here you’ll find a one-room schoolhouse theme with illustrations nodding to the late-’70s flick Rock N’ Roll High School.

&Pizza. 7614 Old Georgetown Rd., Bethesda. Open Sunday through Thursday 10 to 11 and Friday and Saturday 10 to midnight.

Food Editor

Anna Spiegel covers the dining and drinking scene in her native DC. Prior to joining Washingtonian in 2010, she attended the French Culinary Institute and Columbia University’s MFA program in New York, and held various cooking and writing positions in NYC and in St. John, US Virgin Islands.