The community has been beating down the door for weeks. And finally, Coast to Coast Pizza Company is just about ready to live up to the hype.
Marathon’s newest pizza joint combines the business and restaurant expertise of owners Omar and Nicole Maldonado – also owners of Grassy Key’s S.S. Wreck & Galley Grill – with the Philadelphia pizza-making roots of manager Anthony Ludovici-DeBrigida.
“It started off with, ‘could we do something from the Wreck?’” said Omar. “But then, I knew Anthony’s experience and his passion for making pizzas, and one thing led to another.”
The Maldonados had to pry Ludovici away from an eight-year career as a trainer at Dolphin Research Center, but he eventually couldn’t pass up a chance to return to his family roots.
“It feels like I’ve been in the pizza shop literally since I was born. My family has just been doing it for so long,” said Ludovici, recalling fond memories of co-owning a Philadelphia store with his uncle when he was just 19 years old.
A steadfast commitment from the Maldonados to authentically replicate tri-state area pizza ultimately sold Ludovici on the idea and has driven the development of Coast to Coast’s menu.
“The gold standard is New York pizza in the northeast,” Ludovici said. “I wanted to mimic the style and bring down the recipes that have been in my family forever, so I got the blessing from them. I was never going to just do this on my own.
“Our store had a harder time back there, because in Philly you have a pizza shop on every block and they all do things very similarly. But down here, we felt like it would work out well because every place has their own style.”
And Coast to Coast has a bit of science driving the team’s quest for authenticity: a New York Watermaker. The system chemically replicates New York City water, primarily by adding or subtracting minerals like magnesium and calcium to create a stronger and chewier dough. After receiving a water sample from Marathon, the company sent back a custom machine tailored to filter and modify Keys tap water before it makes its way into Coast to Coast’s dough.
“My family told me there would be challenges down here because of the water,” said Ludovici. “People always say the Keys have good water, but good for pizza and good for drinking is very different. The first time we made dough with this water, as soon as it came out of the mixer, it felt like back home. The dough stays nice and full.”
The pizza is Coast to Coast’s main focus. But Omar expects that other offerings like Philly cheese steaks, gator bites, buffalo wings and specialty french fry varieties, some of which were brought over from the Wreck, will take up a good chunk of the business. As the shop gets up and running, he expects the team to make good on the Coast to Coast’s name by adding menu variations from around the country, including Detroit style pizza from his hometown.
Coast to Coast’s Facebook and Instagram pages have successfully hyped the shop with sneak peeks of menu items as the kitchen rolls through its testing phase, and both Maldonado and Ludovici said questions about the impending opening fly in daily from every angle. In the time it took to conduct the interview for this article, three people walked into the shop to ask if they could place orders.
“People messaged me because they were sitting behind me in church and saw my Coast to Coast shirt,” said Ludovici. “I even made an appointment for a tattoo this week because I didn’t know how much time I’d have off once we started, and (the artist) told me they can’t wait for the shop to open.”
“I mean, we’re even getting phone calls at the Wreck asking when we’re going to open the pizza place,” said Maldonado with a laugh. “I’m a little nervous because I think it’s going to take off and do well, and I just want to make sure we’re ready to support it the right way.”
“This isn’t something where we’re going to turn out 10 pizzas in 10 minutes,” said Ludovici. “It’s going to take a little bit of time, but it will be worth the wait.”
Coast to Coast is located at 61 53rd St. in Marathon (the former Big Mouth space across from Publix) and plans to open its doors for dine-in, carry-out and online orders early in the week of March 28. Initial hours will be from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. from Tuesday-Sunday. For carry-out orders, call 305-414-8626.
