Some romances start with a lucky match on a dating app or an office crush, but Whitney and Anne B. Carothers Woodward’s began eight years ago in the restaurants of Park City Main Street.  Anne was working at Vinto’s Pizzeria. Whitney at The Mustang.  “I think I went over to borrow an onion or something,” Anne reminisced as she kneaded dough at the couple’s Midway eatery, Annie B’s Pizzeria. From the fryer, Whitney chimed in, “All I see is the little top of her head (over the counter) because she’s so short. I’m like, ‘Who the hell was that?’ And the rest is history.” Both had worked in the food industry their entire careers but hadn’t considered opening their own restaurant until they realized they couldn’t find the thin crust, East Coast-style pizza they were both raised on anywhere in Utah. Anne is from Massachusetts, and Whitney is from New Jersey. Whitney and Anne B. Woodward show off dishes available at Annie B’s Pizzeria. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record “We drove to Salt Lake, to Provo, to Ogden. During COVID, we drove to Vegas to get pizza. We couldn’t find good, reliable pizza anywhere,” Whitney said. So the couple decided to open their own pizzeria: Annie B’s. They opened in Coalville in 2021 and moved to Midway in May.  The move was inspired by a number of factors. The couple lives in Heber City and were not fans of the daily commute, which was often made even longer by weather and traffic. “When you’re getting your butt kicked, making pizzas all day, the last thing you want is a two-hour commute,” Whitney said. The most important factor, however, was a desire to operate out of a larger space. The couple’s restaurant in Coalville was less than 1,000 square feet. The only upside of that was the omnipresent smell of pizza cooking in the kitchen. “It smelled like pizza as soon as you walked through the door. It gives me goosebumps, still,” Whitney said. The couple is much more content in their 8,000-square-foot building at 380 E. Main St. in Midway, which used to house Mexican restaurant Tarahumara.  An array of dishes available from Annie B’s Pizzeria. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park RecordAnnie B’s Pizzeria’s “Layla” pizza. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park RecordAnnie B’s Pizzeria’s Buffalo wings. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park RecordAnnie B’s Pizzeria’s sausage and meatball calzone. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park RecordAnnie B’s Pizzeria’s chicken sandwich. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record The Woodwards spent a little over a year renovating the space, from re-tiling the floors to cutting out sections of the wall to serve as windows into the kitchen. “You’ll see some of the remnants of our unprofessional construction,” Whitney joked. “Don’t look down at the floor,” Annie said, pointing out imperfections. “I should stick to making the pizzas, not pouring concrete.” The walls are lined with jerseys signed by athletes like Karl Malone and Pete Rose. Whitney likes to think of his expensive hobby as an investment, but at the same time, he’s not sure if he’ll ever sell any of his over 50 treasures. The restaurant includes a small coffee shop the couple will open as soon as they hire baristas, and a room with a foosball table and Skee-Ball machine that will eventually be built out as a full arcade. The Woodwards have also purchased the 3,500-square-foot building next door to develop into a second restaurant. The cuisine is to be determined, but the couple hopes to open it by Christmas. For now, patrons can enjoy Annie B’s current offerings: sub sandwiches, fish and chips, wings, salads, calzones and plenty of pizzas. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Annie B’s Pizzeria co-owner Whitney Woodward tosses wings in his authentic Buffalo sauce. Each pizza was born from experimentation. For example, a friend recently begged the Woodwards to make a chicken parmesan pizza. “We actually made the cutlet, deep-fried it, melted the cheese on it and put it on top of this really rich, cheesy pizza. He said it was amazing,” Anne said. But only the best make it on the menu. Two crowd-pleasers are the Meatballer pizza, topped with homemade meatballs, and Buffalo chicken pizza, which is slathered in the authentic Buffalo sauce of western New York, where Whitney once lived. The funniest story behind a pizza comes from the Layla, Annie B’s cheesiest pizza, topped with feta cheese, roasted tomatoes, balsamic reduction, arugula salad and lemon vinaigrette. “We were doing a catering event, and this little 9-year-old girl named Layla would not stop eating all my cheese,” Anne said. “I had it all grated and cut, and it was all ready to go, and she’s just sitting there (eating it). And finally, I had to be like, ‘I’m not going to have enough for the pizza, sweetie.’” The Woodwards’ secret ingredients are garlic butter on every pizza crust and herb ricotta on every calzone. When Annie B’s started out, it took three months and over 300 batches for the couple to perfect the dough. Anne B. Woodward, co-owner of Annie B’s Pizzeria, laughs in the kitchen. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park RecordAnne B. Woodward, co-owner of Annie B’s Pizzeria, puts the final touches on a dish. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park RecordAnne B. Woodward, co-owner of Annie B’s Pizzeria, places a pizza into the oven. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record “We were so sick of pizza, if you can ever be. Try 10 different batches a day for weeks,” Whitney said. “Towards the end there, I thought, ‘We’ve just eaten too much pizza, and we’re pissed off.’” That dough-making experience reflects the couple’s philosophy when it comes to food: serve only the best. “What we can’t make by hand, we buy the top quality, best ingredients we could possibly find.” Whitney said. “Even the fish, we went through 12 different fish companies to try and find the perfect piece of battered cod that wasn’t too light, wasn’t too heavy. And they’re expensive, but that’s just the way we are with food.” Part of the reason for that is Whitney’s background working at fine dining restaurants. It’s been difficult to realize he doesn’t need tweezers to ensure every little piece of oregano is perfectly placed. Anne’s culinary background began with enrolling in the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont her mid-20s, when she was a ski bum in Park City trying to figure out what to do with her life. Ever since, she’s been fascinated with the business side of the industry and has always wanted more responsibility than what was in a cook’s job description. For Whitney and Anne, blending their backgrounds as co-owners was difficult at first. “We met so late in life that we both had our set ways. First couple of years, we didn’t know who was boss,” Anne said. “But we found our things that we’re great at.” Whitney and Anne B. Woodward are moving Annie B’s Pizzeria from Coalville to Midway. Credit: Jonathan Herrera/Park Record Whitney’s greatest strength, Anne said, is his people skills, which counterbalance her shyness. Anne’s greatest strength is that she’s “a little prep monster,” as her husband put it, always preparing trays of dough balls to prepare the restaurant for the week. Plus, Anne chimed in, she’s “the fastest pizza-slinger out there.” She won’t, however, toss pizzas after she got caked in flour the first time she tried it. The Woodwards are well aware that Midway has a more competitive pizza market than Coalville did, but they think their style of pizza can coexist with local favorites like The Pizza Yard and Café Galleria. “We’re not looking to compete, (but) be successful with everybody else. We’re surrounded by other great restaurants, which is another reason we picked Midway,” Whitney said.  Anne added, “There’s higher expectations here. And that makes us feel happy when people love our food, and they have high expectations. It’s almost like the new Park City out here.” The post Annie B’s Pizzeria moves from Coalville to Midway with a bigger slice of aspirations appeared first on Park Record. ...read more read less