Tag: Anthony Spina

Spina Pizza has been “opening soon” for so long that owner-chef Anthony Spina Jr. can laugh about it now. After years of delays, the long-awaited pizzeria at Atlanta Dairies will open August 27.

The vestiges of Anthony Spina’s Italian American childhood, spent largely in New Jersey, are all over the 25-year-old chef’s first restaurant. That would be Small Fry, a tiny slip of a room at Atlanta Dairies on Memorial Drive, where Spina makes magic by embellishing deep-fried foods with Italian touches. The takeaway on Spina: Baby, he was born to fry.

Anthony Spina Jr. started testing the public’s perception of his pies in 2021 with pop-ups at the Dairies that aligned with concerts at the the Eastern. There, guests could purchase his margherita, funghi, and Hot Boy (pepperoni with hot honey) pies. These will headline the brick-and-mortar menu, along with five other varieties.

“Virginia-Highland just got stale; it needed a refresh,” says Gene Kansas, a cultural developer and founder of Gene Kansas Commercial Real Estate. “Atlantans wanted current places to go on dates and take their children. [Virginia-Highland] didn’t have what they wanted and needed, so the community went elsewhere.”

Atlanta's restaurant scene is a resilient one, and despite the pandemic, many still have plans to open their doors in 2021. Here are a few we're eagerly anticipating.

"My pizza is no longer available at Nina & Rafi," Spina said in a statement.

At Nina & Rafi, Anthony Spina’s Detroit pie (thick and square but light and airy) and his Super Margherita (a classic round) are meant to grab the spotlight.

O4W's biggest draw remains the game-changing pizzas: classic round pies, thick-crust Sicilians, thick-yet-airy Detroit-style, and, of course, the grandma pie.

ITP fans of Anthony Spina's grandma pie were heartbroken when he announced it wouldn't be served at Nina & Rafi. But the restaurant has promised to bring the grandma pie back for one-night-only pop-ups, the first of which is in March.

The Grandma Pie that made O4W Pizza is off the menu at Anthony Spina and Billy Streck's new restaurant, Nina & Rafi. Instead, the duo are focusing on the restaurant's other pizza styles and Italian-American comfort foods.