Popular Pizza Food Truck Finds Permanent Home At St. Pete Bar

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — A popular pizza food truck has found a permanent home at Hawthorne Bottle Shoppe in St. Petersburg.

Cipolla Rossa Pizzeria will celebrate its grand opening at the wine and craft beer bar at 2927 Central Ave. on Saturday, 2 to 6 p.m. The food truck will offer a special deal during this time - two slices of pizza and a pilsner beer for $10.

Owner Josh Anson got his start with operating mobile pizzerias while living in Washington, D.C. in 2015, he told Patch. He bought a trailer from his boss while working at Pizzeria Moto up north.

“Business was booming. I was grinding it out in D.C., making good money,” he said. “It wasn’t that business wasn’t good. It was the fact that life wasn’t good. My (now) wife told me, ‘You don’t have a day off.’”

Looking for a calmer way of life, Anson moved to St. Petersburg in 2022. He initially worked for Bavaro's Pizza Napoletana & Pastaria downtown.

“They needed someone who knew pizza and how to work the oven,” he said.

Dan Bavaro encouraged him to “do (his) own thing and buy an oven,” Anson said. “Little by little, I plotted my little woodfired trailer to start my own thing.”

He launched Cipolla Rossa in 2023 and built a name for himself by setting up at local markets, such as Indie Flea and Mezzo Market.

Anson met the new owner of Hawthorne Bottle Shoppe, Anthony Roman, at Brutalist, before he took over the bar, and they became friends over beers.

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Now, Cipolla Rossa has permanently set up at Hawthorne. The location is set up with deck ovens, rather than woodfired ovens, though Anson still has a woodfired mobile set up attending events throughout the region.

He also focuses on “good ingredients,” such as King Arthur flour and Grande Cheese, he said.

And Anson uses a 72-hour cold fermentation process, which he learned while working at a pizzeria in Brooklyn, for his dough.

Mostly, he’s excited to have a place to call home.

“I wanted to have something where people could find me,” Anson said. “I’m not trying to brag, but on my days off, I get calls from people wanting to get pizza.”

Cipolla Rossa will serve customers at Hawthorne Thursday through Sunday after 4 p.m.

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