Fire’d Up About Pizza!

Pizza fans are in for a treat today in Orange County with the opening of two new pizza joints: Fresh Brothers Pizza is celebrating its first Orange County location today at Harbor View Center in Newport Beach, and Blaze Pizza is opening at The Shops at Mission Viejo.

At Fresh Brothers Pizza today you can stop in for samplings of ooey, gooey, delicious pizza (including gluten and vegan) fresh salads and finger-licking-good wings. Fresh Brothers offers a twist on a traditional pizzeria with family recipes, featuring a thin crust, a skinny crust and a deep-dish pizza. Their Buffalo chicken wings are baked, and never fried. Fresh salads are hand-chopped and tossed, with more than 45 ingredients and 15 dressings that you can mix and match..

For those following special diets, Fresh Brothers offers a gluten-free menu, as well as vegan options, including vegan cheese, vegan “chicken” bites and even vegan ranch and blue cheese dressing.

Fresh Brothers already boasts more than 10 locations throughout the Los Angeles area, and this one features a large exterior dining area, curbside pickup and a full beer and wine license in the near future.

Fresh Brothers Newport is in the Harbor View Center at 1616 San Miguel Drive in Newport Beach. 949.759.1212.

Blazing Through Orange County

Irvine based Blaze Fast-Fire’d Pizza, the leader in the fast casual build-your-own artisanal pizza concepts, is opening six new locations in Orange County.

Starting today Blaze opens at The Shops at Mission Viejo (in the mall’s high-traffic food court), and next up at Laguna Niguel’s Plaza De La Paz Shopping Center, and La Habra’s Westridge Plaza. In early fall, Blaze Pizza will open in Westfield’s Mainplace Mall in Santa Ana, followed by one in Brea and at Fashion Island in Newport Beach.

Blaze Pizza follows an assembly-line format (think Chipotle, but for pizzas) where you can customize a pizza or order from the signature pizza menu, all pizzas are prices under $8.

The 11-inch thin crust pizzas are fast fire’d in a blazing hot open-flame in about 180 seconds. The pizza dough is made from scratch using Executive Chef Bradford Kent ("The Pizza Whisperer") famed recipe. It requires a 24-hour fermentation process to perfect the light-as-air, crisp crust.

Blaze Pizza's menu also features signature salads, fresh lemonades, craft beer and wine and house-made S'more Pies. For pizza fans with specific dietary needs, Blaze Pizza offers gluten-free dough and vegan cheese.

Blaze Pizza is at 555 The Shops at Mission Viejo in Mission Viejo.