Redevelopment Grant Will Help Bring New Pizzeria To Lawrenceburg

By Mike Perleberg Strong's Brick Oven Pizza is planning to open it's third location in Lawrenceburg later this year. Photo via Strong's Brick Oven Pizzeria. (Lawrenceburg, Ind.) – As soon as this fall, hungry southeast Indiana residents will be able to get their pizza fix at a new restaurant. Strong’s Brick Oven Pizzeria is planning to open a new location at 1 E. High Street in downtown Lawrenceburg. It will be the third location for Strong’s, which already operates pizzerias in Hebron and Newport in Kentucky. According to the restaurant, Strong's Brick Oven Pizzeria serves authentic old world brick oven pizza, baked to perfection in an Italian brick oven. It has been voted Best Pizza in NKY Magazine each year since 2014. Dine-in and delivery service will be available at the family-oriented Lawrenceburg pizzeria. The building where the restaurant plans to open is currently occupied by River City Tap + Grille, which will be closing. Strong’s has agreed to lease the building for five years. The new establishment could employ about 15 people. “It was kind of a rush job,” co-owner Christian Strong told the Lawrenceburg Redevelopment Commission on August 8. “We weren’t planning on our third location yet, but we had some people mention the Lawrenceburg area to us… We stumbled into the location and, to be honest with you, we loved the area so much it was, like, we’re not going to turn it down.” The redevelopment commission approved Strong’s request for a $49,000 grant to remodel and purchase equipment for the restaurant, which is to include a brick oven to be delivered by mid-October. The money would only be paid after the restaurant opens for business. “We’ll create a pizza space that’s where all the pizza is going to come from. Everybody’s going to watch (the pizza baking) happen,” Strong said. The restaurant will have a full bar, keeping and utilizing the existing bar now inside River City. Redevelopment commission member Mel Davis, whose son operates River City Tap + Grille and owns the 1 E. High Street building, recused himself from the meeting during the discussion about the restaurant. The city is foreclosing on the building and expects to take ownership later this year, said city attorney Del Weldon. Weldon added that the city will take the necessary steps to protect the lease with Strong’s Brick Oven Pizza.