Crozet Pizza Expands with Pourhouse

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Inside the new Crozet Pizza Pourhouse space
Inside the new Crozet Pizza Pourhouse space

Now hear this: Crozet Pizza accepts credit cards! A 38-year tradition of being only a cash or check place ended March 27 when the iconic pizza landmark added its new Pourhouse room.

Crozet Pizza expanded into space formerly occupied by Maupin’s Music and Video, which had shifted one door down into a former tile shop earlier in the year.

When workmen opened the wall to make a passageway to the Pizza’s original dining room, they discovered an earlier door in the same location that had been closed off.

The new Pourhouse room adds four high-top tables and four booths as well as a 12-seat bar, four large TVs, two handicapped-accessible bathrooms and a storage closet. The floor of the room was found to have a double layer of wide-plank oak flooring and the top layer was removed and used to line the new space’s walls and build the bar. Collectable posters announcing band concerts line the walls.

The original area of the shop, which has seven tables, is unchanged except for a few repainted walls, the addition of track lighting in the main space and the removal of the gas stove (which once replaced a Victorian-style wood stove) that sat in the middle of the room. The booth arrangement is slightly altered and there’s also a bench for those waiting for a table or take-out orders.

The shop has added a manager, bartender, and two wait staff. A computerized ordering system has been installed.

“It feels like it has always been here. The wood has been here since the 1890s. It’s got the old pub, neighborhood feel to it,” said new manager Pete Kooken, who also worked on the renovation of the Pourhouse room. “What’s cool about it is the niche areas where you can get the ambiance you want. It just has a unique history and feel that you can’t get anywhere else.

“It seems like Crozet is big enough for a couple of bars now,” said Kooken. “We’re often full, so now we have space. People come from all over who have heard about us and they want to try us.”

Beer selection will be “predominately crafts and locals, with six on draft,” said Kooken, who added that wine and liquor offerings are coming soon. The menu is mainly Crozet Pizza’s traditional pies, but they are developing an offering of appetizers and sandwiches as well.

Kooken said the Pourhouse will host musical performances twice a week.

Crozet Pizza’s new hours are 4 to 10 p.m. Mondays though Fridays. It will open for lunch on weekends, from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturdays, and from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sundays. Parking is also available behind the store, Kooken noted.

1 COMMENT

  1. Wow I believe I’ll be taking another vacation to C/ville to visit this place. Esp. since you now have the most amazing manager ever, Pete Kooken. And I want to see his handy work in person. he is a true craftsman and I know it is beautiful.
    Be sure to get the liquor there before I arrive,
    Anne C.

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