New gourmet pizza place brings 'peace'

Add one more pizza place to the downtown area with a dash of gourmet and, voilà, you have Peace a Pizza.

Peace a Pizza, 418 E. College Ave., will hold its grand opening today and tomorrow, said Peter Howey, one of three co-owners of the new shop, which specializes in gourmet pizza slices.

The menu includes about 25 different kinds of gourmet slices and will increase as business increases, he said. These pizzas range from the seafood slice with shrimp, crab, monterey jack cheese and dill to the potato slice with red potatoes, bacon, cheese and scallions, he added. Peace a Pizza also offers the traditional cheese and pepperoni slices.

The variety of pizza attracted Christie Bennett (sophomore-recreation and park management) and Nicole Baer (sophomore-architectural engineering) to the new restaurant.

"I was interested in the different kinds of pizza," Bennett said as she finished lunch.

During the trial period this week, business has been up and down, Howey said, attracting crowds mainly at lunch.

To help bring in more customers, the Peace a Pizza Volkswagen van, with a large slice of pizza on top of it, will be used for special events, he said. It can usually be seen parked on College Avenue, he added.

The concept for Peace a Pizza began about three years ago, Howey said.

He and his two partners opened up the first Peace a Pizza in Ardmore, home to Villanova University, in August 1996.

It started doing well right away, Howey said. He and his partners have since opened up two more restaurants in addition to the one in State College, he said.