Queen Margherita Pizza hires former Langdon Hall chef Jonathan Gushue to open a spin-off in the downtown core

A clear sign that the city’s pizza wars are escalating: the ambitious underdog is bringing in a five-star chef. Queen Margherita Pizza, the east-end’s answer to Libretto and Terroni, has hired former Langdon Hall chef Jonathan Gushue as its new culinary head honcho (Gushue’s split with the tony country house made news earlier this week). As the local pizza chain’s Director of Culinary Operations, Gushue will oversee the kitchens at all three branches (including the soon-to-open Dundas West outpost), redesign the restaurants’ appetizer menus and possibly bring in weekend brunch. More interestingly, he’ll also head up a brand-new, as-yet-unnamed Queen Margherita spin-off that’s set to open in the downtown core in 2014. [CityBites]