Brickyard Pizza, named after the nearby historic brickyard site, has called Saugerties’ Simmons Plaza home since this January, replacing Hungry Bambino’s and offering classic Italian fare with a wide variety of other dishes.
Young owners and couple Danielle Lukszewksi and Erik Moore-Pearson met working at another restaurant in Rhinebeck nearly three years ago. Moore-Pearson then moved to Glasco, where Lukszewksi lived her whole life.
“I worked in that restaurant for a while and enjoyed the fast pace of it,” said Moore-Pearson. “I liked always keeping busy and I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. I went to college for two years but didn’t find anything that attracted my interest.”
Lukszewksi also had a restaurant background. When she graduated college, she didn’t have a job right away, which led her to working at the restaurant with Moore-Pearson.
“We had the idea of owning our own store last spring,” said Lukszewksi. “We started looking last summer. We found one in Connecticut that we were going back and forth on, but we didn’t know if we wanted to move there.”
They put the pizza place idea on hold when Lukszewksi got a job at the Saugerties School District. Then the pandemic hit and she was laid off.
She remembers how it came together.
“We live a mile from the restaurant, and I’ve never eaten at this place before,” said Lukszewksi. “But one day we were craving pizza, which we never do because we work with it, and [Hungry Bambino’s] the only place open and we came to pick up our food and they said it was for sale.”
They were surprised and jumped on the offer, especially after receiving the unexpected support from their parents.
“I wasn’t expecting anything like this anytime soon,” said Moore-Pearson. “It was just so perfect and was close by.”
The prior owners and their past employers shared some of their knowledge with the pair and they were able to put into practice everything they learned from the years before.
“It was a little chaotic getting on our feet at first,” said Lukszewksi. “The first couple of weeks were a little rough. Now we have an awesome staff.”
When they bought the place, they renovated it with a week’s worth of 12-hour days and help from both of their families. Inside, there is an accent wall that draws on the Brickyard name, which replaced the former yellow, green Tuscan colors.
Things have changed on the menu as well. Lukszewksi learned how to cook and the rest of their staff helped grow the menu to create other bites like burgers, wraps and lunch specials. The customer favorite, they say, is actually the meatball sliders. They do more homemade, in-house cooking and preparation that the average pizza joint might. For example, they make their own sauces, boneless wings and dressings.
“I did a lot of reading and researching on how to get really great boneless wings,” said Lukszewksi.
The menu has the Italian favorites like grandma pizza, white pizza, eggplant goat cheese pizza, hot and cold subs, pasta dishes and dinners, strombolis and calzones. On the other hand, they have chili, jalapeno poppers, nachos, and salads. The dessert menu includes fried dough, cannolis with house-made filling and triple chocolate fudge brownies.
Brickyard Pizza is located at 11 Simmons Plaza Route 9W and is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and from 12 to 8 p.m. on Sunday. For more info visit brickyardpizzany.com.
Brickyard Pizza is only open for takeout and delivery due to Covid-19. It is considering opening for indoor seating in the future.
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