Restaurant Review: Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza

Pizza, in all its forms, may be the most popular food invention in modern history, at least in the West … and especially in the U.S.  So it’s no wonder why a new chain, Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza, a sensational success in South Florida where it originated, is attracting crowds of pizza lovers to its slightly over one-year-old franchise in the Horsham Gate Shopping Center on Welsh Road. Another opened in Wayne last September.

I first encountered Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza when I was down in Boca Raton, FL, recently, and could not help but notice the small crowd waiting outside its doors every night of the week. I decided to give it a try at its new Horsham outlet back home.

I first went on a weekend night, and here, too, the crowd waiting to get a table was enormous, and the noise as well; so as is always best with popular hot-spot restaurants, I returned on a quieter, early midweek night and was seated promptly.

Seeing the words “coal fired,” you might think of black soot and unpleasant combustion products tainting the pizza—but you would be wrong. Anthony’s burns the more expensive and pure anthracite coal, which brings its ovens to higher temperatures—800 degrees— than standard pizza ovens, with lower combustion byproducts than wood-burning ovens.

The result (in four minutes!) is pizza with the chain’s trademark thinner, crisper, more well-done crust. It is indeed charred around the edges. A large sign on high over the oven reads, “Warning! Our pizza is ‘WELL DONE.’”

The 12-inch “traditional” pie with mozzarella, plum tomatoes, Romano cheese, basil and olive oil ($12), plus toppings of Italian sausage and mushrooms ($1.50 per additional topping), was truly excellent, even after reheating leftover pieces at home the following day. The freshness and quality of the ingredients was outstanding.

The choice of toppings also includes Kalamata olives, prosciutto ham, long hot pepper fingers, onions, anchovies, pepperoni, cheese, eggplant, broccoli rabe, and arugula. You can have a Philly cheesesteak pizza, combining two immortal culinary greats in one, and even a Mexican-style frittata pizza with peppers, onions and eggs.

There is more to enjoy at Anthony’s than just the excellent crispy pizza. For example, we ordered Anthony’s Original Coal Oven-Roasted Chicken Wings ($9 for 10 pieces, $15 for 20 pieces). The non-breaded wings are served with caramelized onions and wedges of foccacia bread. The small order was delicious. The meaty wings, slightly burnt at the edges with a great roasted peppery taste, were more than enough to have half to take home. The dish was a bit oily, which the wedges of bread only partially helped to reduce.

The one-page menu offers a few salads, sandwiches, calzones, and shareable “Italian soul food" such as spare ribs, meatballs, eggplant and broccoli rabe with sausage, all for under $10. One dessert, a New York-style cheesecake, is also listed.

On a lunchtime visit, we ordered two sandwiches, an “Anthony's Favorite,” prosciutto, mozzarella and arugula ($6), and the “Coal Oven-Roasted Beef Sandwich” ($7), both served on foccacia bread, and both enjoyable, except for the skimpy amount of prosciutto in the former.

We also had a small side of Anthony's Italian Soul Meatballs ($5), which were hand-rolled and slow-cooked in fresh tomato sauce.

Our lunch server, a new hire, Crys, was exceptionally thoughtful and helpful. 

[These dishes, and Crys, are featured in the photos.]

Raised in a traditional Italian family in Brooklyn, and later moving to South Florida, founder Anthony Bruno opened Anthony’s Runway 84, a full-service, classic Italian restaurant, near the Fort Lauderdale airport in 1982. It soon became a mainstay of the South Florida restaurant scene.

Then, in 2002, Bruno opened his first Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza just a few miles away. His goal was to bring the pizza he remembered from his boyhood in Brooklyn to South Florida.

The rest, as they say, is history.

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Overall rating:  mmm 1/2  (out of 5 m’s) - A reasonably priced, yet upscale pizza-parlor-with-bar venue. 

To contact Mitch Davis, you can e-mail him at MdavisMainCourse@aol.com.

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The Main Course at Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza:

Location: 100 Welsh Road (Route 63), Horsham

Phone: 215-657-1113

Website: www.anthonyscoalfiredpizza.com

Cuisine: Pizza, sandwiches, wings, Italian specialties

Hours: Sunday to Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m.,

Dinner prices: Appetizers, salads, pasta entrees, $6.50 to $8.95; pizzas, $11.75 to $19.25; plates, sides, $6.50 to $14.95.  

Ambiance: Single, big box dining room can be noisy, walls hung with framed large photos of Marilyn, Frank & the Rat Pack

Reservations: No

Credit cards: Visa and MasterCard

Alcoholic beverages: Full-service bar, beer and wines