Highland Brewing’s new in-house pizzeria will make a fall debut at the East Asheville brewery’s campus.
Oscar’s Pizza, named after Highland Brewing‘s late founder, Oscar Wong, will be open with a limited menu Nov. 13-15 during the 30th Anniversary Cold Mountain weekend at 12 Old Charlotte Highway.
It will be the first taste of what’s to come before it opens with regular hours and a complete menu in November, Thanksgiving week.
The grand opening event will be hosted in December.
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Oscar’s Pizza menu will feature made-from-scratch, thin, crispy New Haven-style pizza with Philadelphia, New York, and Southern Italian influences, plus salads and shareables. Items will be designed to pair with Highland Brewing’s bestselling beers.
In 2025, Wong, the pizzeria’s namesake, died at age 84. Oscar’s Pizza is a new part of the legacy created by the “Godfather of Asheville craft beer,” who opened Asheville’s first craft beer brewery in 1994, with the release of the Gaelic Amber Ale.
“He was one of the craft beer pioneers of the American South, and his commitment to high-quality beer was matched by the care he showed for his community, our staff, our family and the people he mentored,” Leah Wong Ashburn, Wong’s daughter and president and CEO of Highland Brewing said in a news release. “Oscar’s Pizza is one way that we can keep nourishing our community in his memory.”
Oscar’s Pizza prepares to open at Highland Brewing
Guest Experience Director Chris Genua and Head Chef Adam Jones have led the concept’s development. Genua brings his pizza and restaurant expertise, along with his background as a first-generation Italian American and 12 years in New York’s pizza scene.
“Pizza has always been tied to family for me. I grew up making it with my dad and grandmother in Philadelphia, made it with my family in Italy, and later spent years immersed in the pizza cultures of New York and New Haven,” Genua said in a news release. “Oscar’s brings all of those influences together in a thin, crispy, charred pie meant to be shared with friends over a few Highland beers.”
For six years, he served as the opening general manager at Brooklyn’s The Double Windsor. Most recently, he led the pizza concept for White Labs Brewing Co. in Asheville.
Jones, a Hickory native, attended culinary school in Asheville, then developed a career in kitchens across the city, Charleston, South Carolina, Denver, Colorado, and Dallas, Texas.
Oscar’s Pizza will be introduced during one of Highland Brewing’s major events, the release of its seasonal Cold Mountain Winter Ale, which will be offered in assorted new and classic flavors during a celebratory weekend of live music, a curated beer diner, and other activities.
“Oscar embraced the simple joy of sitting around a table sharing food and beer with the people you love,” Genua said. “We want Oscar’s to capture that: A pizza experience that’s both nostalgic and energizing, one that honors tradition while also redefining what brewery pizza can be.”
More at Highland Brewing
Highland Brewing’s 40-acre campus continues to evolve, most recently becoming home to Black Dome Outfitters’ newly opened retail store and soon to Cultivate Climbing, which plans to expand with a new 20,000-square-foot rope-climbing facility featuring 45-foot walls.
The brewery also offers a sprawling Meadow with an outdoor stage and bar, volleyball courts, a disc golf course and more.
For more, visit highlandbrewing.com/oscars-pizza/ and highlandbrewing.com and follow @oscarspizzaavl on Instagram.
Reporting by Tiana Kennell, Asheville Citizen Times / Asheville Citizen Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
