Andrew Blau has turned other restaurants' leftover bread into one of Beacon Hill's hottest pizza tickets, and he still can't keep up with demand. The 29-year-old entrepreneur behind the pop-up Scrappie's has been selling out of pies since his very first day in business, and now he's preparing to open a permanent storefront in the old Figs space at 42 Charles Street.
From Bagels to Bread-Scrap Pizza
Blau is also one of the owners of Brick Street Bagels, and he told the Boston Globe that Scrappie's grew out of that work almost by accident. “Scrappie's started off as a little passion project. I'm also one of the owners of Brick Street Bagels,” he said. The idea clicked after he learned about Wasted, a Copenhagen company that turns bread scraps into pasta, which got him wondering whether something similar could work for pizza dough.
He started testing recipes and collecting discarded bread from restaurants around Charles Street, spending roughly six months refining the dough before launching his first pop-up in April 2025. Before any of that, Blau had left a corporate procurement job at Boston Beer Company, where according to Boston Magazine he had helped sell the brewery's spent grain for animal feed and other uses — an early brush with repurposing food byproducts that would later define his pizza.
Sold Out Since Day One
That first pop-up produced just 25 pizzas, sold for under $10 apiece when Blau, a Barrington, Rhode Island native, had never made pizza before, the same Boston Magazine report notes. Pies now run $22 to $29 for a single personal-sized pizza, prepped, cooked, and picked up at Brick Street Bagels in South Boston. The business has been selling out since day one, Blau said, and per Edible Boston, the pies disappear in the blink of an eye whenever online ordering opens at midday on Mondays.
Most of the bread that becomes Scrappie's dough comes from Beacon Hill restaurants, with a few contributors in South Boston as well, though none of them want credit. “Most of them are Beacon Hill. I have a couple in Southie as well, but they all ask to be anonymous,” Blau told the Globe. The result is a style he describes as something between Neapolitan and New York pizza, leaning toward the latter, with a crust he bakes dark brown on purpose because he loves the crunch.
Pepperoni Fatigue, Dough Math, and a Favorite Pie
Blau has strong opinions about what goes on top of that dough. Pepperoni remains Scrappie's number-one seller, but he's grown weary of it: “I couldn't be more sick of putting pepperoni on pizza,” he told the Globe. Edible Boston names an agrodolce pizza as a personal favorite. He also has a soft spot for pineapple, praising a Hawaiian pizza topped with pineapple, spam, and jalapeños.
Blau told Edible Boston in an earlier conversation that “for me, pizza is 70% dough, 30% what you put on top of it.” That emphasis on the dough tracks with his stated goal of building one shop where the quality never wavers rather than chasing growth for its own sake.
A Permanent Home on Charles Street
That philosophy is about to get a real address. Scrappie's is slated to become a standalone restaurant, with easier ordering, in the former Figs space at 42 Charles Street, according to the Globe's report. A separate account from a local restaurant blog had estimated the permanent location could open in late September or early October if plans proceeded smoothly, though the brick-and-mortar debut's exact timing has not been independently confirmed beyond that expectation.
He's also been experimenting with focaccia and sandwiches in recent months, according to Boston.com.
Scrappie's arrives on Charles Street alongside other recent additions to Beacon Hill's pizza scene, including Willie's, a spot from BCB3 Hospitality that opened earlier this year a few doors down at 20 Charles Street. The openings signal a neighborhood where pizza is suddenly having a moment.
