RedRocks FireBrickPizzeria, opened for business today.  RedRocks is located at the intersection of 11th St NW and Park Rd NW (1036 Park Rd NW).  They issued the following press release today:

Gourmet Brick-Oven Pizza, Chimay On Tap And Brunch On the Patio In Columbia Heights

Owner James O’Brien Announces the Opening of RedRocks FireBrickPizzeria at 1036 Park Rd., NW

O’Brien is also pleased to work with Executive Chef Edan MacQuaid, a longtime chef at two acclaimed local pizzerias and an expert in the precise art of brick oven pizza-making.

“The brick-oven pizza is special because in about 90 seconds it turns out a pizza with a crisp, wood-smoked crust that holds up to toppings in a way you can’t get from conventional pizza ovens,” said O’Brien. “I grew up on the Jersey Shore and attended school near New Haven, Connecticut, where pizza is a local obsession, so it’s fair to say that I’ve had a lifelong passion for great pizza. The brick oven makes the best, most flavorful pizza, with just the right amount of ‘bite’ in the crust.”

With spacious rooms on two levels for inside seated dining, a takeout section downstairs for carryout customers, and a gorgeous and expansive patio seating 35 people, RedRocks invites diners to stop in for dinner or weekend brunch to enjoy a hand-crafted beer, a glass of wine, and a crisp wood-fired pie.

O’Brien’s most recent D.C. venture was Staccato Lounge on 18th Street, which offered Adams Morgan live music and a laid-back atmosphere seven nights a week for the past six years. He is excited to bring his special flavor of relaxed charm to D.C.’s thriving Columbia Heights neighborhood.

“You can’t beat Columbia Heights for history, character and charm—it is really a neighborhood on the rise,” said O’Brien. “But until now, there was literally no place to get a beer and brick-oven pizza right in the neighborhood. I hope locals—and people from all over who are into wood-fired pizza—will stop by to check the place out, have a drink, and say hello. We’re so glad to be in the neighborhood.”

As he did in his Adam’s Morgan establishment, O’Brien is eager to become an integral part of the local community of Columbia Heights.  Situated in a restored rowhouse on the corner of Park Road and 11th Street Northwest, RedRocks is just one block from the historic Tivoli Theater, the forthcoming Target and Best Buy (to open in 2008) and only two blocks from the green and yellow line at the Columbia Heights Metro Station.

RedRocks (located at 1036 Park Rd. NW) officially opens for dinner service this evening at 5 p.m. and will offer late-night dining seven days a week. In addition, RedRocks will feature Saturday and Sunday brunch starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 21. Once brunch begins, dining hours are:

Monday – Thursday, 5 p.m. to 12 a.m.
Friday, 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Saturday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.
Sunday, 11 a.m. to 12 a.m.

Exterior Photo of RedRocks Pizzeria