www.lux-review.com Page 15 LUX 2021 Hospitality Awards The Privateer Coal Fire Pizza is a local family-owned restaurant using the freshest ingredients and a 100% coal fire oven, come Eat, Drink, and Socialize with us. The Privateer Coal Fire Pizza Best Upscale Casual Dining Venue - San Diego Aug21136 At the Privateer Coal Fire Pizza, members take ultimate care and pride in each of its menu items, with absolutely everything being made from scratch with the freshest ingredients possible. As a result, the Privateer is not an ordinary, cookie-cutter pizza restaurant – it creates an imaginative menu of delicious lunch and dinner items in a relaxed, organic dining setting that nobody else has in San Diego. The whole vision of the Privateer is a direct reflection of two South Oceanside locals, Charlie Anderson and Jamey Stone, living their dream of opening a seaside restaurant and doing it their way. Charlie Anderson, Co-Owner of the Privateer, states, “It was a childhood dream of mine and my best friend Jamey Stone to open a restaurant in our neighborhood. We were inspired by Lombardi’s in NYC, which was the original Coal Fire Pizza Restaurant in the US, and locally by the Flying Pig; they were the first to do something original and different in O’side.” Charlie continues, “We felt like we knew what our community needed at the time, and now we have the largest 100% Coal Fire Oven in North County mixing Mexican, Italian and California modern cuisine made from scratch with fresh ingredients grown by neighborhood farms. We are an independently owned, locally supported, and family operated business from the community we serve.” The Privateer is known for its pizza but encourage customers to open their minds and try a little bit of everything on the menu. Charlie explains, “Customers are amazed at what we put out and how good everything truly is. We also like to encourage customers to enjoy our weekly events like comedy Tuesdays, wine pairing dinners, vintner tastings and more.” In addition to its incredible food and inspiring events, The Privateer has a retail wine selection on the Market Side with their sommelier, Susan Porter. Charlie states, “We boast one of the largest wine selections in North County, which you can buy and take home or enjoy while dining.” The Privateer provides an experience that people can relate to and genuinely enjoy. With scratch-made and unique food, the menu is created using specialized ingredients from the farms it has helped start at the local schools that Charlie and Jamey attended in youth. Charlie explains, “We are so fortunate that we have four farms up the street (Palmquist Elementary, Lincoln Middle School, South O Elementary and Cyclops) that produce a large percentage of our organic veggies and herbs. Our community is growing our food; how can it get better than that? It provides something special and unique for our guests and the local community.” However, like many other businesses within the restaurant industry, The Privateer was also severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Charlie explains, “We were required to shut down our businesses and resort to ‘TOGO’ business solely. That was tough, but Oceanside is unique in that the small businesses are very close and work together. I organized a meeting of the local restaurant owners, community leaders, elected officials, Oceanside Chamber, and Visit Oceanside in March of 2020 to discuss the business shutdowns and how to navigate this issue together, resulting in a tremendous group of concerned individuals who have looked out for one another and collaborated in a noble effort to provide for the community while also ensuring businesses stayed in operation. As a result we were honored for our efforts as the “Small Business of the year 2020” for the 36th district by Senator Bates.” A food and libation revolution is happening in Oceanside. Charlie explains, “We are so unique in that we are all very collaborative (the independent restaurants), we’re very supportive of each other. We get the freshest veggies from our local farms, and we challenge each other to make unique dishes, which benefits our guests by having so many options for amazing food. We don’t represent our brands as much as we represent Oceanside as a collective whole.” For The Privateer, the goal is to ‘grow the pie and not just go after the same slice.’ As a result, they have stepped up the game in Oceanside, and other cities are recognizing its business as the place to eat, drink and socialize – a very humbling feeling at the least. Company: The Privateer Coal Fire Pizza Name: Charles Anderson Email:
[email protected] Web Address: theprivateercoalfirepizza.com