Pi Artisan Pizzeria to Open in Lahaina

By Vanessa Wolf

Pi’s Mushroom Pizza. Courtesy image.

Next Monday, Aug. 4, Lahaina’s latest addition — Pi Artisan Pizzeria — will open their doors for the very first time.

Located at 900 Front Street in Lahaina (the old David Paul’s location) on the ocean side of The Outlets of Maui, the restaurant will offer handcrafted pizza, panini, salads and desserts using fresh, local produce and ingredients.

Panini options include the Muffaletta ($10.25), Traditional Salami ($10.25) and Sicilian Di Pollo ($10.50) made with chicken salad, smoked pepper bacon, and arugula.

Salads range from two sizes of Caesar ($5 small/$10 large) to the Pi Chop ($9) with kale, arugula, bell peppers, tomatoes, pepperoni, pepperoncini and grated Pecorino Romano.

However, the star of the show – as well as the name – are the restaurant’s 10” pizzas.

The restaurant notes that “the heart of the restaurant is its 8,000-pound kiawe wood-burning oven fired at 800 degrees to produce a crispy, rustic pizza in five minutes. Unlike the standard round or rectangular-shaped ovens, Pi Artisan Pizzeria’s oval-shaped pizza oven has dual openings allowing two persons to use it at the same time.

“Our pizza oven is a massive reservoir of heat and it is the only one of its kind in Hawaii,” said Bert Noury, managing partner of Pi Artisan Pizzeria. “The dome height and oven curvatures allow the heat to flow evenly and the bottom is a little porous to wick away moisture from the dough creating a crisp pizza.”

Options include classics like Pepperoni ($12.25) and Margarita ($13) to the locally-themed Big Surf ($13.5) with blackened shrimp, Fontina cheese and roasted garlic or Seared Ahi Tataki ($14.50) made with local tuna, green chili puree, buffalo mozzarella and citrus bitter caramel “drizzle.”

The entirety of the menu options can be viewed online.

The interior. We’re thinking the glassed-in area to the right is the special dough room. Courtesy image.

Like to watch?

Diners can gawk at the kitchen team at they create many of the menu items – pizza dough, mozzarella cheese, sausages, meatballs, porchetta, sauces and desserts – inside the “glass-walled temperature-controlled dough room.” Fancy.

For those over 21, Pi’s full-service bar will offer handcrafted cocktails, local brews on tap and a selection of wine.

*****

Beginning Monday, Pi Artisan Pizzeria will open daily at 11 a.m. and will close at 10 p.m. on Sundays through Thursdays and midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.