Stop By and Say Hi

Your Patch editor is at Pizza Blitz until about 6 p.m. Stop by if you're at Quarry Lake.

Having a grilled chicken salad at Pizza Blitz, where it's nice and warm, and the soup of the day is beef vegetable. Stop by if you have any news tips for next week, or just to say hello. I've been here an hour and already I've met the owner of Greenspring Technology Group, a business that distributes industrial lighting and bulbs. Check out their Pikesville Patch listing for more information.

• Photos (2)

Jobs Available in Chocolate Publishing, Tavern, Mexican Restaurant

Three Pikesville area businesses have announced job openings.

Retail/Food service: Chocolate Publishing Company in Pikesville is looking for a full-time and part-time worker, according to its Facebook post. The business sells handmade truffles, chocolate-dipped fruits, frozen yogurt, soft pretzels candied or carmel apples, popcorn, and its specialtyy: food-color printed chocolates. To apply: E-mail resume to info@chocolatepublishing.com For more local news, like Pikesville Patch on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter. Food service: California Tortilla is hiring "spunky workers who smile a lot," according to a sign in the window at The Shops at Quarry Lake. The fast-food restaurant features tacos, burritos and a wall of bottled hot sauces from which to choose. To apply: Visit the store at 2588 Quarry …

• Photos (7)

Editor's Notebook

Pizza Blitz Adds Cheeseburgers, Grilled Chicken, Pastas and More

The Quarry Lake restaurant has expanded its menu to include penne pasta with rose cream or Alfredo sauce, tomato mozzarella caprese, fried zucchini, shrimp salad and tuna salad and gyros.

The hamburgers are in at Pizza Blitz. For weeks, I've known their expanded menu was coming, but I wanted to get a taste as well as a photograph. The hamburgers and cheeseburgers are part of the restaurant's expanded menu that also includes new pasta sauces—rose cream and Alfredo; appetizers such as fried zucchini and mozzarella caprese, and main dishes such as grilled chicken, chicken Alfredo and eggplant or penne Bolognese. The thick patty came on a fresh bun with ample condiments: sliced tomato, onion, lettuce and mayonnaise. I swapped out the standard slice of cheddar for provolone. This was not a greasy burger, although there is the option to add bacon. The fries were large, fresh and tasty, and the service was quick. In under 15 …

• Photos (5)

Illiano's Italian Restaurant to Open Sept. 14

The new restaurant will complete Pikesville's own "Corner Italy" at The Shops at Quarry Lake.

A manager at Illiano' J&P Restaurant J&P Restaurant said the new eatery is on track to open as early as Friday, Sept. 14. Located at 2620 Quarry Lake Dr. in Pikesville, Illiano's will be the second Italian restaurant at The Shops at Quarry Lake. In fact, the restaurant is next-door neighbors with Pizza Blitz, an Italian Restaurant restaurant that has been there for more than two years. Because both are located at the same corner of a building at Quarry Lake, some Pikesville Patch readers have said it's too close for two restaurants to survive. But others say we need only look to Baltimore City's Little Italy, where there are numerous Italian restaurants, to see that success in a close proximity is possible. Follow Pikesville Patch for …

• Photos (1)

Now Hiring: Illiano's Restaurant at Quarry Lake

A new restaurant is opening soon at Quarry Lake, and a banner is already up announcing that the business is hiring.

Looking for work? Pikesville's next restaurant, Illiano's, isn't open yet, but it's already hiring. The signs on the door still say "Ciao! Bistro Italiano" the mark of the former Italian restaurant that once inhabited the site, but a new, red, illuminated sign "Illiano's" is already up, as well as a banner that states: "Now Hiring." To apply for a job, print and complete the application found online. Visit Illiano's website for more information, including contact phone numbers and an email address under "careers." Illiano's, at 2620 Quarry Lake Dr., will be the second Italian restaurant at the Shops at Quarry Lake. Pizza Blitz is already there, and is located next to Illiano's. There are Illiano's franchises are already in Hampden, …

• Photos (1)

PHOTO OF THE DAY: A Place To Relax

Pizza Blitz has new outdoor seating with umbrellas, in time for the pleasant weather that's expected this weekend.

  The rain seems to have cleared for today, good weather for taking a seat outside, like the new setup at Pizza Blitz in the Shops at Quarry Lake. There are about 16 new chairs at the pizza, subs, pasta and salads restaurant, as well as two new umbrellas. Pizza fans and Wifi crowds alike (the Wifi is fast and uninterrupted, from what I've experienced) should take note of this new meeting spot.

•  4 Comments
• Photos (2)

Visit Patch's Mobile Office at Pizza Blitz

Considering lunch?

Tempting today is the cheese pizza with artichokes and green olives at Pizza Blitz. Have a news tip? Event information? Stop by and say 'Hi.' Pikesville Patch Editor Janet Metzner (that's me) will be here until about 3 p.m.

•  3 Comments
• Photos (2)

Patching, Salad Testing at Pizza Blitz

I tried the pizza last week at this Italian eatery in Quarry Lake at Greenspring. This week, I'm trying the house salad. And it, too, is a winner.

Where can you get a fresh, crisp and chunky house salad—completely unlike the kind of salad that has been wilting in a salad bar all day? Pizza Blitz at the Shops at Quarry Lake, 2622 Quarry Lake Drive in Pikesville. For about $5 you can get a large bowl of crispy iceberg lettuce, kalmata olives, thick slices of carrot and cucumber—the tasty varieties, mind you—and garlicy and spicy house Italian dressing. I must mention that this salad is seriously fresh. On a nice, warm day like today, while others are out walking near or running around the lake, stop in and watch them through one of Pizza Blitz's windows. And enjoy one excellent salad. For more info call the restaurant at 410-415-5644. Or visit Pizza Blitz's website.

• Photos (1)

Patching at Pizza Blitz

I went for a drive through the shopping center at Quarry Lake and stopped in for the first time at Pizza Blitz, where I found delicious pizza made from an Italian recipe.

Employee Justin Golliday at Pizza Blitz said the pizza here is the best in Baltimore. I tried a slice: cheese pizza with black and green olives and mushrooms—and it was fantastic. It had a delicately crispy crust, thick toppings, and was very tasty. While I've tried only a few pizza places in the Baltimore area, I recommend giving Pizza Blitz a try. Owner Luigi Starace—who has been in the restaurant business for 15 years, both in Naples, Italy, and in the U.S.—says he uses an old, Italian recipe passed down through generations. "We make it the way people used to make it back in our country," And they use fresh ingredients, he said. Of course, he won't share that recipe (I asked what makes it so good!). Starache said he chose Pikesville for…

•  3 Comments
• Photos (2)

Janet Metzner

2:28 pm on Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Tried the house salad today at Pizza Blitz. Seriously, I haven't had a fresher salad at home. And the Italian dressing was delectable.   more ›