Portland’s Newest Pizza Place Is Open And It Serves Grilled Pizza

Portland's newest pizza place opened on Wednesday, June 12th and it's hoping to carve a spot amongst food lovers by offering up grilled pizza. According to Portland Food Map, Coals Pizza, which has two popular location in New York, took over the restaurant space left behind at 114 Preble Street by Portland & Rochester. Longtime Portland residents may remember the space as the home of G&R DiMillio's and the sports bar Bleachers.

Coals became an instant favorite in New York because of their handmade pizzas that were then grilled over an open flame leaving a crisp but tender crust. Coals offer up several different signature pizzas at their New York locations, and presumably will bring most of that menu to their Portland one. They did a soft opening on Tuesday night and here's a quick look inside via Instagram.

So why a location in Portland, Maine of all places? Well, the story behind that decision is pretty incredible. According to Portland Food Map, Coals Pizza owner Billy Etzel was adopted as a child. He spent time visiting Maine since he was three years old and fell in love with the state. After some research a few years back, he discovered that his biological parents were actually Maine natives. For Etzel, a new location of his popular pizza chain in Maine just made sense.