Alex's Pizza, the humble Roxborough shop that's stood at the corner of Pechin Street and Leverington Avenue since 1961, will expand next year with a new location on the Ocean City Boardwalk.
Known for thin crust pies baked with a swirl of red sauce, the restaurant passed between several owners before it was purchased and renovated a few years ago by a team of investors who grew up in the surrounding neighborhoods. The same group owns Manayunk's the Rook bar and restaurant, which replaced the former East End Tavern on Cresson Street in 2020 and expanded to Wildwood earlier this year.
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"Our core group grew up on Alex's Pizza," said Rich Ennis, one of the five partners in the restaurant group. "We see so much development going on in the Roxborough, Manayunk and East Falls areas and the last thing we wanted was for a staple like Alex's to get in the hands of a developer and just become another rental unit."
During a recent trip to Ocean City, Ennis and business partner Dylan Bear started tossing around the idea of expanding Alex's to the boardwalk. Without much planning, they checked out a few available spaces.
"There's not a lot of opportunity there," Ennis said. "You have tenants that stay for a long time and people that have been vacationing there for years realize that they don't leave."
The group decided to buy out the business of the former Pizzeria Eataly on the boardwalk between 12th and 13th streets. They'll spend the next few months renovating the space and getting their menu together for an opening ahead of peak shore season next year.
Ennis said the shop in Ocean City will tweak the original Alex's recipe to tailor their pies for selling individual slices, which they don't do in Roxborough. They will be a bit bigger, but they'll still have the signature thin crust and swirl that's also done by boardwalk titans Manco & Manco Pizza and Prep's Pizzeria & Dairy Bar.
"I guess the swirl has its place in Ocean City," Ennis said. "Our pie may change a little bit, but nothing drastic. We still want to go with a light, thin crust pizza that's a little different from your traditional boardwalk pie."
With a bigger kitchen, Ennis also anticipates the shop will sell smash burgers and fries that are popular at the Rook.
In addition Alex's Pizza and the Rook's sit-down locations, Ennis and his partners own the Rook on 4th takeout spot in Olde Kensington and the Rook Catering Company. At Alex's, the group is closing in on selling its 100,000th pizza since taking over in 2023.
"I know that's not a lot to some places like the Angelo's and Del Rossi's of the world, but we're a small little pizza shop in Roxborough which has just been around for a long time," Ennis said. "There's a tradition of repeat customers — old neighborhood people that have always gone there for their Friday night pie. We really just wanted to bring that business back to life, which I think we've been able to do."
Bear will take the lead at the shop in Ocean City, where renovations are expected to be finished in January. Ennis hopes to keep the shop open most of the year.
"From our experience just being down there in September and a little bit of October so far, weekends still have some pretty good traffic," Ennis said. "I think the first season for us is going to be kind of getting our sea legs to see what makes the most sense. We envision being open on the weekends at least through the (winter) holidays."