Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza: My endless love since the summer of 2006

By Fernie Ruano Jr.

From Ft. Lauderdale to Pinecrest, I’ve covered lunch, dinner, dates, birthdays and family outings approximately 60 times over the past eight years at Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza.

I’m always in the mood for a buzzy atmosphere, sports and pizza… Did I write I love pizza?

I LOVE PIZZA!

I originally fell for Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza, Anthony Bruno’s pizzeria which earlier this year opened up its 46^th expansion with a location in South Beach, during the summer of 2006, four years after Bruno launched his first Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza, and right about the time my saliva was hijacked by a Colombian-Lebanese woman that shared my passion for pizza, chicken wings and yoga pants.  

I lived in Aventura at the time, so getting to Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza wasn’t much of a hassle, because well the establishment (17901 Biscayne Blvd., 305-830-2625) was less than 400 feet from my apartment. We had a friendly deal: Friday nights were all about movies, beach walks and Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza.

Besides, after a long workweek, what’s not to love about Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza, especially when you’re sitting at a high-end bar (fully-stocked), surrounded by plasma TVs (showing a variety of baseball games) and vintage photos of Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Joe DiMaggio (to name a few), listening to the Beatles (over the speaker system) and in the company of your beautiful girlfriend.

And that’s just for starters, aside from the beautiful Colombian-Lebanese woman who is now my ex-girlfriend. But little has changed since 2006 at Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza, and that’s why I keep going back, including for a recent, mid-afternoon lunch feast with friends at Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza in Coral Gables.

                    Even Mimi would love them: Coaled-chicken wings topped with onions and Focaccia bread.

 

We got things going by ordering 20 chicken wings, my favorite item on the menu not named pizza, from a friendly, black-clad female waitress. Delish as usual, I beat my female companions to six of the moist and crusty-coaled, lemon-touched wings, which were topped with sweet, cooked down onions and Focaccia bread. The chicken was flavorful and the crust added an extra kick that even the girls enjoyed.

One of the girls added a hearty and ample-sized fresh mozzarella and tomato salad which came with a generous portion of fresh basil and was enough to serve all three of them. The girls opted for a large specialty ricotta and meatball pizza, while I decided on a thin crust-cheese and meatball pizza.

                  Yummy: A ricotta and meatball pizza right out of the coal-fired oven.


The pizza was so good, I thought I was in heaven, not Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza, where on this day – just like any other day - the sauce was savory, the dough was soft and the  herbs, visible on the pizzas, spiced it up a bit. Needless to say, the ingredients, plentiful on both pizzas, were fresh and tasty.

Unfortunately for the girls, I was at one of my favorite places to eat, Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza, so there were only three slices of pizza and two chicken wings leftover.

And it was closer to a coffee break than happy hour, so we opted for more water (tap and bottled) and soft drinks (can), while killing time – alright, we were actually making room in our respective stomachs – before a big slice of creamy and soft cheesecake arrived at our table.

A New Yorker might say furgidabowdit if you dared comparing South Florida to Big Apple pizza, but they probably wouldn’t argue that New York meets South Florida at Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza, a can’t miss old-world Italian pizzeria.

Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza: 2626 Ponce De Leon., Coral Gables, FL 33134, (786-456-9200)