Circles + Squares: Pizza Gutt’s New Home in Kensington

Photo by Michael Persico

When it first launched, Pizza Gutt, “Instagram’s first pizza shop,” was a revelation: just a dude (Dan Gutter) making square pan pies — a cross between pizza and focaccia — and selling them on Instagram, first as a sort-of roaming pop-up shop, and then eventually, out of the back of W/N W/N Coffee Bar, where he stayed put for over a year. And it was at W/N W/N that it was awarded three stars by our restaurant critic. It was at W/N W/N that it won its Best of Philly award.

His stint at W/N W/N officially came to an end on March 9th (despite a recent nod from Bon Appetit), so Gutter found himself a new permanent-permanent home in the shuttered Lil’ Lina’s Slices & Scoops shop at 2513 Tulip Street, which he’s calling Circles + Squares — the two kinds of pizzas he’ll be serving. (Lil Lina’s was owned by the guys behind Bourbon & Branch in NoLibs, who are partnering with Gutter on the new shop.)

Dan Gutter standing in front of Circles + Squares, opening in May.

Meaning, it won’t be only 10x10s this time around — he’ll do round pies, too. And he’s currently toying around with the idea of maybe nixing the reservation system he was using at W/N W/N in favor of a more old-school method: a phone. Also, no bar this time.

“I want to keep it very mom-and-pop, like the pizza shops I grew up going to and cooking in. I was kind of stuck in a cave at W/N W/N. Here, I’ll be able to say hi to everyone who walks through the door,” says Gutter.

The space doesn’t really need much work, just a new paint job. He’s shooting for a May 1st opening.