Henderson gets to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this year with pizza. But not just any pizza—the highly acclaimed Pizza Rock from award-winning Bay Area-based pizza maker Tony Gemignani opens today at Green Valley Ranch Resort.
The new restaurant takes up the space formerly occupied by Asian restaurants China Spice and Sushi & Sake. Pizza Rock made its Las Vegas debut at Downtown 3rd in 2013 and became an immediate hit. As a result, Gemignani has made plans to continue to expand in the Vegas Valley—he opened Slice House in GVR’s food court recently, and Little Tony’s is scheduled to open at Palace Station later this spring.
“We love Henderson,” Gemignani says. “I have a lot of employees working Downtown that live in Henderson. Everybody’s been asking: Are you going to change the menu? Will it be different? Are you going to cater to Henderson?”
The short answer is yes, although Pizza Rock’s menu is already incredibly diverse, offering so many different, authentic styles of pizza. But Gemignani acknowledges that the favorite pies at his Downtown location might not be the ones Green Valley loves best. He’s planning to add some healthier options as well as some new dishes specifically for kids. “I had a baby recently so I’m thinking about those things,” he says. “You’ll see that side of the menu building. But really, we’ll see what customers ask for. If someone says Why don’t you add this? then I’ll probably do it.”
Expect to sample a few new creations with your pizza, like a “GVR pasta” of gemelli with local roasted vegetables and a fried green tomato caprese salad with hand-pulled mozzarella. “We’ve been pulling mozzarella Downtown but it’s always in the back, and we want to move that up to where the woodfired oven is so people can see it,” Gemignani says.
Expect to be blown away by the selection of pizzas and the craft beer program, served up in a casual, high-energy setting. “This is probably the best one yet,” Gemignani says. “We paid a lot of attention to the details, from the oven to the special Tony’s Table to the truck [in the dining room] to the bar to the kitchen. It feels gigantic. We’re pretty excited. We don’t know how we’re going to top it.”
