Pizzeria out of this world?

Published 9:15 pm Tuesday, July 1, 2014

At Cosmic Pizza and Wings, on West Washington Street, Dustin Miller checks on a pizza in the oven. The new eatery has been open only a week.

At Cosmic Pizza and Wings, on West Washington Street, Dustin Miller checks on a pizza in the oven. The new eatery has been open only a week.

A new pizzeria is breathing new life and enticing aromas into an old building in downtown Suffolk.

Cosmic Pizza and Wings, which opened its doors last week at 239 W. Washington St., serves up traditional and specialty pizzas as well as appetizers, salads, sandwiches, desserts and more.

Indeed, the menu is longer and more varied than your average pizzeria.

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“We did some stuff on the menu that none of the other pizzerias carry,” said Kyle Tierney.

Tierney has been in the pizza business for 12 years, he said, and he left Sal’s Pizza to manage the new eatery for Ralph Nahra.

“I left where I was for business reasons,” he said. “Ralph came to me, and the timing was right.”

Cosmic Pizza’s menu includes deep-dish pizzas — “Risen to perfection,” the menu states — and ciabatta sandwiches.

One ciabatta comes with thinly sliced turkey breast, applewood bacon, smoked gouda, lettuce, tomato and zesty mayonnaise.

Besides pizza, entrees include spaghetti with meatballs, cheese tortellini, and shrimp and crab scampi.

“We wanted to do something you can’t really find in downtown Suffolk,” Tierney said. “We try to keep the costs low and quality high, to get the people in. Good food, good service keeps them coming back.”

In the seven days the pizzeria has been open, business has been increasing steadily, Tierney said. “We’re not advertising a whole lot,” he said, citing word of mouth and Facebook.

When a reporter visited Monday, Dustin Miller was manning the pizza oven. Another key person in the kitchen, Tierney said, is Malcolm Hedgepeth, who followed him from Sal’s.

“We didn’t change a whole lot,” he said of the building. “We like the feel of the open kitchen, so customers can see what’s going on.

“You get that interaction between the customers and the kitchen. They can see the food being made and know it’s being done the way they want it.”

Nahra is seeking city approval for an outside dining patio next to the building, and has plans for musical artists to entertain customers.

“Do you know any tenors?” he joked.