After a brief closure, Olio Pizza on Harvey Road is open for business again with a new owner and a new menu.
Trevor Hickey is out as proprietor as he explores some other opportunities, with Alex O’Rourke stepping in to take over the popular pizzeria that opened in February of last year.
It’s not new ground for O’Rourke, a native of Dartmouth who grew up in Branch on the Avalon’s Cape Shore. With informal training as a pizzaiolo and an extensive and varied background in pizzerias throughout Atlantic Canada, he helped Hickey establish Olio.
“I wasn’t ready to open my own pizzeria, but I was definitely ready to take over this one,” O’Rourke told The Telegram in between tossing dough and prepping toppings at the Harvey Road store.
“I know the back end of this, I helped build it, I’m familiar with the customers. It’s been really nice seeing all the regulars again.”
With a change in ownership comes a change in the menu. Instead of the build-your-own-pizza model that Olio has offered, O’Rourke is slimming down the menu to offer five staple basics — pepperoni and cheese, meat lovers, veggie, Hawaiian and the works, all available in 12-inch, 18-inch or calzone format and with the option for gluten friendly dough — and an evolving weekly list of signature and vegan pizzas.
“It’s only going to last for as long as the ingredients last,” O’Rourke says of the signature and vegan choices.
Among the signature pies on the menu for the first week and available until May 25 is a blueberries and feta cheese pizza with an extra virgin olive oil base with oregano and prosciutto, and topped with a balsamic reduction.
One of this week’s vegan items is a tomato-sauce based zucchini and mushroom affair, with Daiya cheese, peppers and olives.
O’Rourke also plans to transition Olio back to its origins when all dough and toppings are made in-house, including vegan cheeses and some meat substitutes.
“That’s the whole focal point of slimming down the menu. We can do what we do and when it runs out, we do something else, depending on what’s fresh and available,” he says. “I’m really looking forward to working with local people.”
The pizza scene in the metro region is largely divided into two camps: those who are content to get their ’za from national chains like Pizza Delight and Dominos, and those who are loyal to the locally owned and operated pizzerias like Olio, Pi, Venice Pizzeria and countless others.
O’Rourke feels there’s enough pie patronage to go around.
“It’s not the same kind of pizza. We’re kind of a very comfortable, high-end pizza,” he says.
“I don’t think, once people try it, that it’s really competing with Dominos.”
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