Evel Pie Celebrates Grand Opening!

Interior

The all-American, Evel Knievel-themed pizzeria Evel Pie celebrated its grand opening on Friday, Dec. 16 in Downtown Las Vegas with a pizza party benefitting the Nevada Partnership for Homeless Youth (NPHY) and a grand opening celebration later in the evening.    

Pizza by The Slice  

The festivities kicked off with an "Evel" pizza party for the kids of NPHY. General manager and chef Vincent Rotolo started by giving a brief history of Las Vegas legend Evel Knievel and why he is such an inspiration for the working man.  The kids were then led through a pizza-making demonstration before being taught how to make their their own "Cheesy Rider" pizzas, which were made and enjoyed by all attendees.

"He was an ordinary guy like you and I, but he had a dream and went for it," said Rotolo.  "He taught us that everyone can jump, but not everyone can stick the landing."

Later in the evening, several guests, including Evel's son Kelly Knievel, gathered to celebrate the grand opening with authentic New York style pizza, all-American beers and cocktails, and Knievel-themed games. Attendees got their chance to be daredevils by sampling some of the restaurant's speciality pizzas like the "Balls to the Wall" topped with Evel's special homemade meatballs, Sunday gravy, mushrooms and onions; "Evel Pie's Goblin Sausage" with spicy pepperoni, chorizo, Italian sausage and bacon; and "World Famous Snake River Special" featuring rattlesnake jalapeno sausage, onions, bell peppers and fresh garlic.

L-R: Jeff Fine, Seth Schorr, Branden Powers and Vincent Rotolo with Evel Pie's lifesize statue of Evel Knievel.

High Horse co-founders and Evel Pie managing partners Jeff Fine, Branden Powers and Seth Schorr were on-hand to unveil the lifesize statue of Evel Knievel standing on top of a cheese pizza and to conduct the ceremonial ribbon cutting, officially marking the opening of the business.  

"We'll make this fast because it's cold, but thank you all for coming and celebrating with us tonight," said Powers. "Evel was a Las Vegas legend and we're honored to pay tribute to him and all that he stood for through our business.  He inspired us and, just like him, we had a dream and went for it!"

Evel Pie is located at 508 East Fremont Street, Las Vegas, NV 89101 and is open Sunday - Thursday 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. and Friday and Saturday  - Sat. 11 a.m. - 4 a.m. For more information or to make a reservation, please visit evelpie.com or call 702.840.6460. Follow Evel Pie on Twitter -twitter.com/evelpielv , Instagram, and like on Facebook - www.facebook.com/evelpie/.

Photo credit: Hew Burney