Tony Conte, of Inferno Pizzeria Napoletano, Nominated For James Beard Award

Tony Conte of Inferno Pizzeria Napoletana, located at 12207 Darnestown Rd. in Gaithersburg, has been nominated for a James Beard Award for best Chef in the Mid-Atlantic region (DC, DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA).

Established in 1990 and first awarded in 1991, the James Beard Foundation’s Restaurant and Chef Awards are one of five separate recognition programs of the James Beard Awards. The awards recognize “exceptional talent and achievement in the culinary arts, hospitality, media, and broader food system, as well as a demonstrated commitment to racial and gender equity, community, sustainability, and a culture where all can thrive.”

Chef Tony Conte opened Inferno Pizzeria Napoletana in October 2015 after he spent nine years in DC’s Oval Room. Inferno specializes in pizza, but regulars will tell you that the appetizers are often just as much of a draw. When the restaurant first opened, there was talk of Conte seeking the Verace Pizza Napoletana certification, which establishes the pies as “authentically Neapolitan.” He’s strayed in an effort to make a more modern product. According to the Inferno website, there is an updated style of pizza, called canotto, finding increasing favor from, amongst others, the younger generation of pizzaiolos in and around Naples. Canotto translates in Italian to ‘dinghy’ or ‘inflatable raft’ – alluding to the airy outer ring serving as crust. A higher water content allows this dough to puff up and in places, bubble and char, whereas a more traditional Neapolitan pizza produces a flatter, breadier, more evenly-colored crust.

Inferno is currently open four days a week– Wednesday through Saturday, from 5pm-9pm, or until the dough runs out. Sometimes that can be pretty early, so if you’re interested in getting a seat we would highly recommend getting there before the restaurant opens and lining up outside. If you want to eat the pizza at home, you can call in your order earlier in the afternoon and pick it up when the restaurant opens at 5pm to take with you, but even carry-out orders are limited to ensure enough dough for customers dining in each day.