Char owner Viraj Thomas on mission to make city's best pizza

KENSINGTON (WPVI) -- Viraj Thomas is turning out more than a half dozen varieties of pizza at Char. He opened the Kensington pizza shop in the middle of last August, falling just weeks shy of his entrepreneurial goals open a restauraunt before his 21st birthday.

Viraj grew up in Springfield, Delaware County and started selling pizzas out of his garage at the age of 16, using the money he'd earned at a summer job at Target to buy a $500 oven.

His first popup was at Attic Brewing in Germantown. He says he learned how to make good pizza by making a lot of bad pizza.

The vodka sauce with heavy cream is his best seller and personal favorite.

There's a margarita, a pepperoni and a marinara. His fungi is a white pie with caramelized onions and mushrooms.

Most of his pizzas are a thin crust sourdough baked in a brick oven but he does Sicilian style too.

And every two weeks he introduces a new special.

5 years after starting his pizza-making career, he says he thinks it's the best in the city and he hopes food critics and pizza-loving Philadelphians will agree.

Char | Instagram
310 Master Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19122
Wednesday-Sunday, 4-9 p.m.