September 26, 2017

New pizza restaurant to replace Joe Squared at Power Plant Live!

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A slice of Power Plant Live will once again be devoted to pizza starting this fall.

Charm City Pizza will open in the former Joe Squared space at the downtown dining and entertainment hub on Oct. 24.

The 110-seat restaurant will be open for lunch and dinner, specializing in 12-inch pizzas with a variety of toppings. It will also feature a Baltimore theme in both its decor and its menu, which will offer options like crab artichoke pizza, salads with Old Bay croutons and crab pretzels.

Other menu items will include comfort food like chicken wings, pizza sliders, subs and meatball "lollipops" served with parmesan cheese. Healthy eaters will have the option of ordering a salad.

Power Plant Live developer Cordish Cos. operates several of its own eateries at the entertainment complex. The company invested more than $50,000 in updating the 900-square-foot space, which also has an 1,100-square-foot patio for outdoor dining when the weather is nice. Improvements to the restaurant include new decor and floors, indoor and outdoor seating as well as new ovens and fryers. The existing on-site, coal-fire pizza oven will remain.

Power Plant is partnering with Route One Apparel, known for its array of Maryland flag-themed products, to outfit its staff. Servers will have the option of wearing a Maryland flag-patterned hat, and the companies are talking about other touches, which might include pizza-and-flag-adorned socks and pizza earrings.

Inside, the decor will feature references to notable people with links to Baltimore such as Billie Holiday, John Waters, Michael Phelps, Cal Ripken and Edgar Allan Poe.

Though tenants have come and gone, pizza has been on the menu at Power Plant Live for years. Joe Squared, which focuses on pizza and risotto, closed in January after nearly four years in the space, which was previously occupied by Two Boots, another pizza parlor.

Chris Furst, a Power Plant spokesman, said the company wanted to continue offering the cheesy dish because it's a crowd pleaser. The restaurant is located in a tourist hot spot, across the street from the Port Discovery Children's Museum, as well as within walking distance of high-rise downtown office buildings.

"Pizza in general has always done very, very well at Power Plant Live," Furst said. "We feel that we can operate it to be productive."

The restaurant will be geared toward families and will offer a "Kids Eat Free" special with the purchase of an adult-sized entrée. Power Plant has been bulking up its family-oriented programming lately, with movie nights and "family fun days."

Other planned deals include a happy hour Monday through Friday from 5 to 7 p.m., during which "house" slices of pizza will be sold for $1.

Other tenants at Power Plant Live include Mex Tequila Bar, Mosaic Lounge, PBR, Luckie's Tavern and Howl at the Moon.

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