Italian Powerhouse Flour + Water Will Bring Even More Pizza to North Beach Next Year

North Beach diners can look forward to one more option for thin-crust pizzas with bubbly, blistered spots, this time courtesy of one of San Francisco’s most respected Italian restaurant groups. Flour + Water Hospitality Group, the team behind the eponymous fresh pasta mecca in the Mission and Penny Roma just around the corner, will reopen Flour + Water Pizzeria on Columbus Avenue just up the street from Washington Square Park by late next year.

The group recently signed a lease for the former Rose Pistola space at 532 Columbus Avenue and hopes to start construction by the end of summer. The news comes on the heels of the announcement that the pizzeria’s original location on Valencia Street is being rebranded as Yellow Moto Pizzeria following a split among the restaurant group’s original partners. That restaurant and space are no longer a part of the Flour + Water Hospitality umbrella, but rather fall under the management of David White, who closed the pizzeria in mid-June to revamp and rebrand ahead of its mid-July debut.

In addition to dine-in service, the restaurant will be built around plans for a robust to-go and delivery operation and will serve a full menu of beer, wine, and cocktails. Lundberg Design, who also spearheaded the recent renovation at Flour + Water on the corner of 20th and Harrison streets, will handle the development plans.

With 4,000 square feet of space to play with, the Flour+Water Hospitality Group team plans to make the new pizzeria a flagship location — and a hub for a number of to-go-only spin-off locations scattered around the city. More details about these forthcoming satellite locations are expected in the coming months, but they’ll lean on the North Beach restaurant’s glassed-in dough production room. Co-chefs Thomas McNaughton and Ryan Pollnow will continue to refine their dough recipe, working with producers and farmers across Northern California to steer the menu direction.