Photo by Nicole Lopez-Alvar
Audio By Carbonatix
Many things came out of the pandemic, including tie-dye sweaters being sold by an acquaintance you vaguely know on Facebook, banana bread baking on Instagram, and cookie businesses (that most likely have since run out of business). However, if there’s one thing we are grateful for here in the Magic City, it’s the creation of Old Greg’s Pizza.
What first started as a pandemic pop-up by Greg Tetzner and his girlfriend, Jackie Richie, inside of their Miami home in 2020 has turned into a popular brick-and-mortar pizza shop in the Miami Design District. So popular, in fact, that Time Out has just named the restaurant one of the 19 Best Pizza Spots in America.
Old Greg’s was also given the title of Best Pizza 2022 by Miami New Times, which might be even more powerful, to be honest (we’re biased).
“Whaaaaaaaaaaat,” proclaimed Richie on the restaurant’s Instagram post of the announcement. “Representing m i a m i. Thank you. thank you. thank you.”
Old Greg’s pies are a favorite with Miami locals.
Photo by Nicole Danna
Tetzner originally aimed to start selling pizzas in March 2020, but the lockdown derailed those plans. To bide time, he and Richie took to Instagram – posting pictures of pies gifted to friends, family, foodie influencers, and restaurant industry folks – in hopes of building momentum.
And boy, did they.
I can attest. I, New Times‘ food editor Nicole Lopez-Alvar, was one of them.
I remember the first time I picked up a box of Old Greg’s on April 25, 2020, from the couple’s front porch step in the Morningside neighborhood. I remember waving goodbye to them from a safe distance (it was the pandemic), walking back to my car, and propping open the brown pizza box that was still warm on my lap. (I noted to myself the box had a really cute logo.)
I’ll never forget my first bite of one of the restaurant’s most popular creations, the “O.G. Roni.” It really is the pizza that started the fanfare (and my devotion). Made with its famous, naturally leavened sourdough starter (affectionally named “Old Greg”), it is then perfectly baked and toasted to perfection with shredded mozzarella, crisp pepperoni cups, basil, and Zab’s hot honey. I wrote on Instagram at the time, “@oldgregspizza has a pizza my heart.”
They still do ’til this day.
Old Greg’s Pizza’s “O.G. Roni” pie sits on my lap on April 25, 2020, in Miami, during the COVID-19 pandemic. A mask is seen in the bottom right corner.
Photo by Nicole Lopez-Alvar
A few months later, in July 2020, the duo connected with James Beard Award-winning chef Brad Kilgore, who loaned the couple kitchen space in his former Japanese speakeasy, Kaido, allowing them to share their pies with a growing audience.
Since then, as previously mentioned, the pizza-making duo has opened a brick-and-mortar location of their own in the Design District on Northeast Second Avenue. As of December 2023, there remains a line out the door.
Although Time Out notes the ordering process is still “a bit chaotic,” it’s a beautiful chaos. One that is worth the wait.
Old Greg’s Pizza. 3620 NE Second Ave., Miami; 866-653-4734; oldgregspizza.com.
