About
Caliente’s first location opened in 2012 on a handshake.
After years working in the pizza industry, owner Nick Bogacz, along with his wife Angie, had a deal in place to open their own pizzeria. Their families were so excited they were about to get a shot at their dreams! They came in every night and doubled as Caliente's taste testers. All the original recopies were crafted from their advice, Nick's pizza industry know-how and personal love for a good slice of pizza.
The food was there, but everyone opens a pizza shop and says that they have the best pizza and Caliente still needed a way to stand out. We needed beer.
We were able to corner the craft beer market, becoming known as the place to go for hard to source specialty drafts and bottles of brew from around the country and across the globe.
People started to notice to take notice. After Caliente Pizza and Draft House became recognized as the best new pizza place in the city, we exploded. We took our product on the road to the industry events, and Nick's childhood friend joined our team (bringing years of fine-dining expertise), and not uncoincidentally, we won the Best Pan Pizza in the World with the Quack Attack duck pie at the 2016 International Pizza Expo. A year later, another GM within our company won the World’s Largest Pizza Stretch, and the list goes on and on with too many awards to count. (OK, one more: The Mee-Maw was named the Best Pizza in America in 2019.)
You can say we made it, but we’re not going to rest. We’ll keep doing our best to get better and keep Pittsburgh on the global pizza map, as we now also represent our city with The World Pizza Champions Team, made up of elite pizza makers from all over the world. Caliente’s just getting started.
Oh, and welcome to the family.
