Viale, a new wood-fired pizza restaurant in Hampden, is turning out pies that owners Kate Shotwell and Mack Fowler say stand apart from anything else cooking in Baltimore. The pair recently welcomed CBS News Baltimore's Around Town segment into their new restaurant for a look at the kitchen and the menu driving the buzz.
Stephanie Douglas sat down with Shotwell and Fowler at their new restaurant, according to CBS News Baltimore, which described Viale as serving pizza that cannot be found anywhere else in the city. The restaurant occupies the former home of Paulie Gee's on Chestnut Avenue, where Fowler and Shotwell have debuted their wood-fired pizza concept, as Baltimore magazine reports. The name Viale translates to avenue in Italian, a nod to the restaurant's Chestnut Avenue address.
An Extensive Menu Built on Neapolitan Dough
Viale offers an extensive pizza menu, with two ovens turning out 14 pizzas built on the same high-hydration Neapolitan dough the owners used at their previous venture, Verde, the magazine's report notes. The restaurant is open Wednesday through Sunday and has served pies including a classic margherita, a soppressata picante pie, and a Romesco-topped option finished with Italian sausage and caramelized onions, per the same account.
Viale's own website describes its food simply as wood-fired Neapolitan pizza, paired with Hawaiian-style shave ice made with house-made syrups and toppings. The restaurant's site states that the shave ice contains nothing artificial, ever. Earlier reporting from Baltimore magazine indicated the shaved-ice offerings would not debut until spring, though the fluffy treat is central to how the owners envision the full Viale concept.
From Food Truck to Year-Round Storefront
Before settling into the Hampden space, Shotwell and Fowler built a following with Key Neapolitan by Verde, a pop-up that served wood-fired pies out of a 1949 Dodge pickup until June. The Baltimore Banner reported that the two previously served pizza and dessert seasonally in Riverside, operating just six months out of the year. The Banner's earlier reporting also described the owners' plan to bring both concepts under one roof in Hampden, with shaved ice sold near the front of the restaurant and pizzas coming out of the back.
Shotwell and Fowler opened their first passion projects, Key Neapolitan by Verde and Crushed Velvet, in 2023, according to the restaurant's own About page. That page describes Viale as the owners' new year-round home in Hampden, a shift from the seasonal pop-up model that first built their reputation. Baltimore Fishbowl also confirmed that Viale in Hampden has finally opened its doors, closing the loop on a project years in the making.
Part of a Citywide Pizza Boom
Viale's arrival lands amid what the Baltimore Banner has called a pizza boom across the city, with a rash of new restaurants opening to serve one of Baltimore's favorite dishes. For Hampden regulars who watched Paulie Gee's close out of that Chestnut Avenue storefront, Viale represents a new chapter for the space — one built around the same dough recipe and wood-fired technique that first drew crowds to the owners' food truck.
