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Pizza Boli's replaces Fox's Pizza Den in Hanover

Created: 12/21/2009 10:27:04 AM EST

Driving down York Street in Hanover toward work a few weeks ago, I had a horrible realization.

Fox's Pizza Den - the home to my absolute favorite the chicken rancher pizza - had closed.

I immediately called Evening Sun photographer Meghan Gauriloff to break the horrible news.

Yet much to my surprise, the next day Fox's was empty and a new place was moving in.

On Dec. 9, Pizza Boli's - a chain mainly in Washington, D.C., Maryland and Pennsylvania - had fluorescent signs proclaiming its grand opening.

So Meghan and I made it our mission to see if our beloved chicken rancher would be making an appearance at the new restaurant that shares the old love's phone number.

Walking in the door expecting a similar layout to Fox's, Meghan and I brought our Christmas presents to exchange. Only to find that the new Pizza Boli's is take-out and delivery only. Oops.

Pizza Boli's offers lunch specials that include: an eight-inch sub, soda and bag of chops for $5.49, $1 for french fries, and a medium one-topping pizza with soda for $8.99, add $1 for large and two sodas, $2 for extra large and three sodas.

But feeling ambitious in the lack of the chicken rancher, we tried the Greek pizza, which came with Tzatziki sauce; mozzarella, provolone, cheddar and feta cheeses; spinach; red onions; tomatoes; black olives; and Gyro meat. My side was no olives; Meghan's, no onions or tomatoes. And yes, we're often like that.

Sitting on a booth lined against the wall for those waiting on take-out, we opened presents as we waited, only to have our pizza ready before we knew it.

We then took the pizza back to my place and dug in.

It was delicious, especially with chunks of feta cheese. We were stuffed at two slices each because of its rich taste, but saved the rest for dinner.

And while it's no chicken rancher, Pizza Boli's offers good pizza at low prices. They also have strombolis, pasta and subs.

General Manager Liyas Chohan has worked for the company for 21 years, and now splits his time between the Westminster and Hanover locations.

Having many customers in Westminster, Md., who were actually from the Hanover area and traveled to Maryland for work, Chohan said they decided a year ago to open a Hanover franchise.

A deal was struck with Fox's, and the change was made almost in a blink of an eye.

And while you won't recognize it when you go inside Pizza Boli's, its new creations not found at other local pizza places make it worth the try.

But please, bring back the chicken rancher.

Ticket to Lunch is a weekly column featuring local restaurants' meals available during the lunch hour. Reach Katharine Harmon at kharmon@eveningsun.com.