Tony’s Pizzeria: Clear Lake Hidden Gem Serves up Pizzas & Poutine!
Grab a taste of Italy and Canada all at one little pizza shop! Brick oven pizzas, stuffed calzones and Canadian favorites like poutine, donair and man’ouche are all available at Tony’s Pizzeria off of Bay Area Blvd.
Never heard of poutine? Poutine is a mound of crispy French fries covered in brown gravy and melted cheese. The gravy at Tony’s is made from scratch. Other versions of poutine served here add bacon, beef, chicken or donair meat. The donair meat is made in-house with a special mix of spices. The meat is made into a meatloaf and shaved thin with a deli slicer. Donair is very similar to gyro meat.
Good old-fashioned love and romance brought Canadian Tony Jarmash to Texas. After years in a long distance relationship, Jarmash decided to move closer to his now-wife, Luciana, and bring his talent to the States. After owning a pizza place in Halifax, Nova Scotia, for four years, it felt right to open up shop here. Tony’s Pizzeria just celebrated its one-year anniversary on October 31.
This young couple has a passion for food. Every morning, they are in the kitchen chopping fresh vegetables and making pizza dough and marinara from scratch. Even the mozzarella cheese is freshly shredded.
Jarmash’s passion for pizza comes from his father, who has been popping pizzas in the oven for over 35 years. Jarmash is excited and proud to share his father’s recipes with hungry Texans. Jarmash aims to please. “I’ll make anything. You request it; I’ll make it, no matter how bizarre the request,” Jarmash said. His most recent special order was a poutine pizza!
The pizzas are baked fresh in a hot 650-degree stone brick oven. Crust options are thin crust, hand-tossed, stuffed crust, whole-wheat crust, or a gluten-free crust. Tony’s also makes a deep-dish pizza. It’s hard to determine if Tony’s style of pizza is Chicago-style or New York style. “Some people come in and call our slices of pizza New York style and other people think our deep dish is Chicago-style. I just like to think of it as Tony’s style of pizza,” Tony said with a smile.
Unlike many popular pizza chains, Tony’s Pizzeria makes its chicken wings from fresh, not frozen chicken. Choose from hot, mild, honey garlic or barbeque, and be sure to grab a handful of napkins for these saucy wings! The wings are not breaded and can also be baked instead of fried, upon request. Fresh pasta dishes will soon be added to the menu, so stay tuned!
Breakfast items are available at Tony’s and are served all day. Man’ouche, which is a Lebanese flatbread, is topped with fresh herbs, mozzarella cheese or flavorful ground beef. Yes, this is breakfast! The breakfast pizza is another excellent choice, fully loaded with egg, cheese and bacon, sausage or ham.
Tony’s is BYOB so the weekends are busy with guests, bottles of wine and coolers of beer. There is also a secret dessert menu! No menu is posted, so guests must specifically ask for these items. Try a fresh, chewy brownie, triple chocolate pizza, or a cinnamon or s’mores pizza to satisfy that sweet tooth. Delivery is available for orders over $10, and as long as Tony’s is open, they’re delivering. Or get out and stop by Tony’s Pizzeria and become part of one of the newest pizza families by the lake.
