Laurent Tourondel, an acclaimed chef whose former New York seafood restaurant once won a Michelin star, is opening a pizzeria in Northern Liberties on Nov. 21. It's the first of two restaurants he plans to open in Piazza Alta, a residential building next to The Piazza apartment complex.
Scusi Pizza, will serve pizzas with a range of toppings — from pepperoni to anchovies and olives to mushroom and prosciutto cotto, a cooked ham. Diners can dip their pizza crust in pesto, truffle aioli, hot honey or ranch dippings.
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The menu also includes salads and Italian sandwiches served on pizza dough, ciabatta or focaccia and small plates such as charcuterie, whipped ricotta with rosemary focaccia and stromboli. There is a rotating selection of soft-serve ice cream flavors, including chocolate hazelnut with butterscotch and vanilla with candied orange and pistachio.
Scusi Pizza, at 1099 Germantown Ave., also serves small-produced Italian wines, which are available in house or to go, and a selection of draft beers.
Tourondel operates several restaurants in New York and Miami. This is his first in Philadelphia, but it's not his first pizza shop. In 2018, Tourondel opened Sag Pizza in Sag Harbor, New York. Tourondel's website touts that pizza as blending "the coastal charm of the Hamptons with the flavors of the Amalfi Coast."
"Each wood-fired pie features dough perfected over years…chewy and slightly charred…with premium San Marzano tomatoes, real mozzarella, and house-made toppings," his website states.
Tourondel, a French native, won a Michelin star for BLT Fish in New York City in 2005, though the restaurant lost it the next year. His other accolades include being named Restaurateur of the Year by Bon Appétit in 2007 and being included on Food & Wine's list of the top 10 best new chefs in 1998.
Tourondel plans to open Terra Grill next door to Scusi Pizza. That restaurant is expected to have an elevated grill concept, but it does not have an opening date.
At Scusi Pizza, Georgeann Leaming will serve as executive chef. She has headed kitchens at Gordon Ramsay Pub & Kitchen and Gordon Ramsey Steak in Atlantic City. She once won an episode of the Food Network's "Chopped," and opened a pair of sandwich shops in Northern Liberties — Suppa and Samwich — that have since closed. She also worked at R2L, the former bar at Two Liberty Place, and was the culinary director at FoodieHall in Cherry Hill.
Scusi Pizza will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.