How olive oil will twice be incorporated into pizzas at a new Myrtle Beach restaurant
Mostafa Fahmy loves pizza and olive oil, and he hopes you do too.
Fahmy opened Olive Tree Pizza & More on Friday on South Kings Highway in Myrtle Beach, and the business name reflects how Fahmy will make his pizza, with olive oil mixed into the dough and layered on it beneath the tomato-based sauce.
“Me and my wife love olive oil. We love it and it’s healthy,” Fahmy said. “I love the taste of it. I don’t know if the people are going to accept it or not, but for me I love it, and actually all my customers at my other restaurants also love it.”
Fahmy has worked at a few Italian restaurants and is a partner in a pair in Tennessee: Pyramid Pizza and Grill in Johnson City and Valentino’s in Bristol.
Olive Tree’s dough and sauce will both be created in the restaurant’s kitchen, and the pizza is cooked on stone.
Fahmy will try to attain the combination of fast and fresh, and the restaurant at the location of a former Wendy’s will offer dine-in, drive-though and delivery.
“We’ll make something near fast food but at the same time it’s fresh,” Fahmy said.
In addition to pizza, the restaurant will offer wings that are marinated for two days in a special sauce, marinated chicken and beef gyros, subs, salads, calzones, several pasta options and a few deserts including cannoli, cheesecake and beignets.
Fahmy and his wife Amy Malkus own the business and he’ll have the help of a cousin, but Malkus is a professor of Early Childhood Development at East Tennessee State and will be working during the school year in Johnson City, Tenn.
Fahmy said he signed a lease on the property in March but it has been a slow process with the City of Myrtle Beach to open, so he has missed essentially the entire summer tourist season.
“The plan was to open in the summer and we’re going to open at the end of August so it’s very bad,” Fahmy said. “We’ll rely on local people and hope they love my food, so I’m going to work real hard.”
Like most business owners on the Grand Strand, Fahmy is looking for more employees.
Alan Blondin writes about retail businesses for The Sun News. Have a tip to share about a retail store or restaurant opening or closing, or see new construction you’d like us to check out? Please let us know at ablondin@thesunnews.com.
This story was originally published August 20, 2021 at 9:03 AM.
