Flying Squirrel Pizza opening Thursday at 5 p.m.

After  months of waiting, the new Maple Leaf location of Flying Squirrel Pizza Co. is scheduled to open this Thursday, Sept. 1, at 5 p.m.

The restaurant is taking the place of the former A New York Pizza Place at 8310 Fifth Ave. N.E., and required more extensive renovations than was originally expected, owner Bill Coury told us at the Maple Leaf Life Summer Social (where we snapped his picture at right).

He also told us the pizzeria would be open in time for Labor Day, and it looks like that deadline will be met. From his email:

A couple Flying Squirrel FAQ’s….

Yep…we’re kid friendly.  We don’t have a play area, nor encourage
running around, but we’re a family place!
Yep…we’ll have gluten-free options.
Nope…we don’t sell pizza by the slice.
Yep…we have lots of local beers and wines.
Nope…we don’t sell hard alcohol.
Nope…we don’t deliver.
Yep…we do takeout and love to see the neighborhood folks when they
pick up their pizzas.
Yep…we have amazing, salads, pizzas, appetizers, and sell Molly Moon
ice cream pints to go (also scoops in-house)

And a word of warning: In addition to fighting the Maple Leaf crowds that have been waiting for Flying Squirrel to open, you might have to fight Flying Squirrel’s loyal Seward Park fans for the first couple of weeks while that location is undergoing an extensive renovation. From Flying Squirrel’s Facebook page:

ATTN SEWARD PARK! Flying Squirrel Pizza in Seward is about to undergo a complete kitchen renovation. Due to this, we will unfortunately be closed starting tomorrow, Monday Aug. 29th – Sept. 15th. Sorry! However, we’re opening our Maple Leaf location on September 1st! So if you need a Squirrel fix, head on up and say hi to us in Maple Leaf.

It’s going to be an exciting weekend in Maple Leaf!