Upper Crust Pizza coming to Solivita’s Gateway Café

November 07, 2006

A limited service pizza café featuring both New York and Sicilian style pizza is coming to the Gateway Café in downtown Solivita, the award-winning active adult community being developed by Avatar Properties Inc. in Poinciana.

Upper Crust Pizza is expected to open early in 2007 and offer whole pizzas, pizza by the slice, and a wide variety of open-faced signature sandwiches called “Crustis” that are hand made and stuffed with meatloaf, steak, Greek salad and other made to order items.

“It will be a little like a walk-in Sbarro emphasizing a quick-service concept,” said Eric Sheen, vice president of operations for Orlando-based Restaurant Partners, Inc. (RPI), one of America’s top-rated “boutique” restaurant companies which will manage Solivita’s Upper Crust operation. RPI currently manages Solivita’s Gateway Café, the Grille at Stonegate, and Mosaics restaurant.

While not yet finalized, Solivita’s Upper Crust menu may also include a variety of Pannini sandwiches, chicken and eggplant parmagiana, meatball subs, chicken wings, pastas, fresh salads, beer and wine, and a rotating menu of dessert pizzas including chocolate and apple cinnamon.

“All our dough and sauces are made daily from scratch,” according to Sheen, and “we use Grande cheese which is low in moisture, healthy and has a natural flavor.”

Approximately two months after opening, Sheen said Solivita’s Upper Crust Pizza is planning to provide home delivery within Solivita after 5 p.m.

RPI’s stable of restaurants also includes an Upper Crust Pizza Café in nearby Celebration, Market Street Cafes in Orlando and Celebration, the upscale Grille 29 in Tampa, and Sloppy Joe’s in Treasure Island, Florida, which is operated under a licensing agreement with the world-famous Key West restaurant of the same name. RPI also has a second Grille 29 and a third Market Street Café scheduled to open in Huntsville, Alabama early next year.

For more information about Solivita’s Upper Crust Pizza, contact John Corners, Vice President of Administration at 863-427-7121, or Eric Sheen, vice president of operations for Restaurant Partners, Inc., at (407) 839-5070.

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