Zachary's Chicago Pizza has just debuted its fifth location the East Bay, bringing another deep-dish contender to the Grand Avenue environs that are already home to the Little Star-affiliated The Star.
The storied East Bay deep-dish specialists have been in the pizza game since 1983, when Wisconsin natives Zach Zachowski and Barbara Gabel opened their first Zachary's outpost in a former lampshade shop on College Avenue in Rockridge. They later expanded to Solano Avenue in Berkeley, and after the pair retired from the business in 2003, employee-owners opened two more locations in San Ramon (2006) and Pleasant Hill (2013). As of 2010, the company became 100-percent employee-owned.
Company COO Leandra Schuler announced the Grand Avenue opening a full year ago on Eater, snagging the space that was relinquished by the much loved Camino, which opened a decade earlier under chef Russell Moore.
As Berkeleyside reports, Zachary's on Grand softly opened on Monday night, and it remains unclear if the restaurant is making use of Moore's centerpiece wood hearth and oven — Schuler had previously suggested the new restaurant would offer some more small plates than other Zachary's locations.
But what is definitely new for Zachary's is a full bar, which the new location has, as Eater notes. The new spot is open 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday to Thursday, and until 10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
And while the place won't be engaging with third-party delivery apps (which the nearby Star does), pizzas should be available for takeout as the are at the other locations — though they sometimes just leave the phone off the hook in old-timey style when they're too slammed to take new orders.
