Over a year after Truly Pizza owners broke ground at the site of the new restaurant on Del Prado Avenue, the new, open artisanal wood-fired pizzeria is celebrating its soft opening on Monday, June 12.
From Monday until the pizzeria’s grand opening celebration on June 22, Truly Pizza will feature a limited menu of classic 12-inch square and round pizzas, sold both whole or by the slice, as well as a selection of focaccia, sandwiches, salads and desserts.
Truly Pizza owners Chris Decker, John Arena, Michael Vakneen, Steve Muller and Donna Baldwin-Muller share a mutual love of pizza. They looked to combine Baldwin’s background in hospitality, Muller’s real estate development experience and Arena, Decker and Vakneen’s professional pizza-making to create the artisanal pizzeria.
“Our Truly Pizza team has worked passionately and enthusiastically to create a neighborhood pizzeria that is welcoming, service-oriented and thoughtful to our customers throughout the entire guest experience,” Baldwin said in a media release.
“Our collective love for great pizza is what brought us together, and we’ve all added our own flavor and expertise to create a culinary experience only found at Truly Pizza.” Baldwin continued. “I’m very proud of everyone’s contributions, from the building design to the menu development, and I’m excited to share Truly Pizza with our community.”
The new restaurant, designed by Ted Berner and Dayna Lee of Powerstrip Studio, offers guests a dine-in garden piazza with a rooftop wine bar. Truly Pizza also features an exhibition kitchen to showcase the process of creating hand-crafted pizzas.
“I’m thrilled to be opening Truly Pizza with such a passionate team who continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible with pizza and hospitality,” Decker said in the release.
Decker is a renowned World Pizza Champion—a collaboration of professional pizzamakers— who has a reputation for an imaginative approach to pizza making that respects long-standing traditions, according to the release.
Arena, a third-generation Pizzaiolo, is known for his Food Network appearances, making pizzas for five U.S. Presidents, and his Metro Pizza Las Vegas restaurants.
Vakeen recently took home a top prize in the 39th Annual International Pizza Expo and Conference in Las Vegas, with the assistance of fellow World Pizza Champions Decker and Arena.
“Dana Point is a community that we believe will appreciate the quality and craftsmanship that goes into our pizzas,” Decker said. “We’ve dedicated ourselves to perfecting our dough, which is the foundation for quality pizza, and we can’t wait to share it with the people of Dana Point and beyond.”
Truly Pizza, located at 24402 Del Prado Ave, Dana Point, will celebrate its grand opening on June 22 with a ceremonial pizza cutting and champagne toast.
The Dana Point Chamber of Commerce, that same day, will welcome the restaurant into the local business community with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 11 a.m. Artist Napkin Killa will provide personalized cocktail napkin portraits for guests from noon to 3 p.m.
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