One of our favorite new food trucks in 2022 is now set to become what will surely be one of our favorite new restaurants in 2023. The Violet Stone, a wood-fired, brick oven pizza food truck, has officially opened a permanent brick-and-mortar location at 2134 9th Avenue North in Kenwood.

The Violet Stone burst onto the food truck scene in the second half of 2022 with its Philadelphia-style pizza, a wood-fired pie that manages a texture in its dough that is both fluffy and crispy, a chewy and crunchy delight scratch-made by the family behind the concept. In addition to the addictive pizzas, the shop is pumping out a full menu of house-made delights, including hoagies and cheesesteaks (with house-made bread, of course), meatballs, and homemade fried mozz.

Owners have slowly rolled out service with a few soft openings over the last couple weeks, before officially opening full time this week. The restaurant will start as takeout only before eventually becoming a dine-in eatery, as well. Orders can be placed by walk-in, by calling 727-202-8940, through the Slice app on your phone, or through The Violet Stone’s website here. Follow them on Instagram for more, and be on the lookout for the food truck around town.

Restaurant opening is a St. Pete success story

What started as a hobby for a local couple became a passion project as they first learned how to make their own ingredients pizza ingredients, followed by months of perfecting the results. The Violet Stone, named for their daughter Dani Violet, made its debut in September of 2022 and quickly grew a following thanks to its crispy crust and homemade ingredients.

The Violet Stone employs a French-style brick oven, which will be moving from the truck to the restaurant, and which helps get the perfect rise in the dough while adding a satisfying crunch to the edges of the pie. Everything but the cheese is made fresh with a secret recipe, including the dough, the sauce, and most of the toppings, with options like house sausage, hot honey, a balsamic reduction and much more.

The cheese on each pizza (or ‘The Cheese’ as it’s called on the menu) is a delicious, velvety mixture of whole milk, low moisture mozzarella, mozzarella di buffalo, and shaved parmigiano Reggiano. It is complemented (most of the time) by ‘The Sauce,’ the homemade concoction ownership developed.

We’ve sampled several of The Violet Stone’s rotating offerings, all of which have been fantastic, though we admit we’re partial to The Hot Ham, topped with The Cheese, capicola, hot honey, and basil, no sauce. We look forward to seeing what the team comes up with their first brick-and-mortar.