New Restaurant in Hot Springs : Michel’s Pizzeria

 

John Ellinger 0:00
We’re real close. We got the painting going on and the floors finished. We got to hook up equipment and get propane in there, then we’re really ready to fire up some pizzas.

Emma Marshall 0:09
That was Jonathan Ellinger. Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with him and Ed Neutelings to discuss their new business, Michel’s Pizzeria, which will be opening soon in downtown Hot Springs. I started by asking them to share the vision for their business.

Jonathan Ellinger 0:24
The vision is getting the community to come closer, having good pizza, bring in some more restaurants to downtown, and help downtown grow.

Emma Marshall 0:34
What do you plan on having on the menu, anything other than pizza? Any specialty pizza?

Eddie Neutelings 0:38
Homemade pesto, white-based sauces, turnovers, wings, kids menu, adding to the menu later in this year. We’ll also be incorporating Bacova Beer Company beer into some of our ingredients like the dough as well as wing sauces. But you know, in the future, we’re going to try to do more local-based, like local farms and stuff like that.

Emma Marshall 0:58
Do you plan on hosting live entertainment?

Jonathan Ellinger 1:01
Yes, we’re planning on having live bands, as the brewery does. We will kind of incorporate everything together. Opening day, we’re trying to put a block party together for the county and have a lot of bands lined up for that day. So yeah, so every so often we’ll have live entertainment down here.

Emma Marshall 1:20
What made you decide to open a pizza joint with his man

Jonathan Ellinger 1:22
Me and Eddie discussed it a couple of years ago, opening a pizzeria. This early October/November Eddie lost his dad. He was a well known cook around the Bath County Highlands. That’s why we decided to open a pizzeria. He passed away. And Eddie is a 20-year veteran of being a cook in Charlottesville and around so you know that’s why we got Michel’s Pizzeria named after his dad and I think that’s a good honor for him. We can bring good pizza

Emma Marshall 1:52
Are you hiring?

Jonathan Ellinger 1:53
We will be hiring a couple of people to start off. We will probably be taking applications here in a couple weeks. We are looking for a full-time cook and dishwasher/busser.

Emma Marshall 2:06
How is your business unique compared to anywhere else around here?

Eddie Neutelings 2:10
Well, this this is going to be unique by the atmosphere you feel when you walk in the door. The whole building is full of creativity from local artists to ourselves doing all the contracting work.

John Ellinger 2:22
We’ll definitely want to separate ourselves from other, other restaurants around the area.

Emma Marshall 2:27
Michel’s Pizzeria plans to open up at the end of July. They will be open during the week 11am to 10pm and they will stay open until 11pm on the weekends, more information can be found on their Facebook page. For Allegheny Mountain Radio, this is Emma Marshall

Transcribed by https://otter.ai