Blaze Pizza to Hold Grand Opening on Thursday

Blaze Pizza, a chain that specializes in quick pizzas with made-from-scratch dough and artisanal ingredients, will be opening their Belmont Ave. location on Thursday. 

The location near the Belmont CTA station, 953 W. Belmont Ave., which is Blaze's first location in Chicago, will open Thursday morning at 10 a.m., and it will remain open until 10 p.m. 

Friday is free pizza day — anyone who comes in between 10 a.m. and midnight and shows employees that they like Blaze on Facebook will get a free pizza. 

"Chicago is definitely one of the biggest restaurant hubs in the country," Jerry Shen, Franchise and Social Marketing Manager, told Patch. "This is definitely a great opportunity to share our pizzas with the residents of Chicago." 

Blaze uses an assembly line-style format where guests can create artisanal pizzas at a rapid pace — and each will sell for less than $8. The restaurant will offer gluten-free dough and vegan cheese, as well as salads, lemonades, craft beer, wine and house-made s'more pies. 

Shen said that there are a couple more Blaze's set to open in Chicago, including one at 555 W. Madison St. and 227 E. Ontario St. They're set to open in early 2014. 

Blaze Pizza is a California chain, but is being developed in Chicago by the Levy Family Partners.

"It's a light, crispy custom-built pizza that sells for less than eight bucks — and it only takes a couple of minutes to cook," said Steve Florsheim, managing partner of Levy Family Partners, said in a press release. "We've seen the popularity of this concept in Los Angeles and think that Chicago will flip for this too." 

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