Pizza News
Churrascaria-style pizzeria secures a slice in Dallas Design District
A unique "Brazilian-style" pizzeria is expanding, with a new location opening in Dallas' Design District.
Called Delucca Gaucho Pizza, it's like a marriage between a pizzeria and a Brazilian-style churrascaria, and it will open in Dallas, at 1628 Oak Lawn Blvd., in the space previously occupied by Quill.
This is the second location, following the original that opened in Southlake in spring 2018.
In a traditional churrascaria, servers circulate the dining room with meats they bring to your table. At Delucca, instead of chunks of steak, it's slices of pizza, with a choice of up to 20 flavors.
Husband-and-wife owners Evandro Caregnato and Vanderleia Mallmann are natives of Brazil who worked for Texas de Brazil for many years, helping the chain open 54 locations around the world.
Caregnato has Italian roots, so they merged their knowledge of the churrascaria concept with a cuisine they knew and loved.
Mallman says that the gauchos who created churrascaria steakhouses have also done a similar format with pizza, and it's a popular concept in their native country.
At Delucca, you pay a fixed price of $18.95 to sample an unlimited number of pizzas. It comes with a charcuterie and antipasto starter platter, a salad, and some seasonal small dishes. Then you wait for the pizza onslaught to arrive.
You can sample all the varieties or pick one. Choices include vodka sauce, sausage with fennel, shrimp and fontina cheese, steak and gorgonzola, chicken tikka masala, lamb and mint, soppressata and radicchio, mushrooms and leeks, and potato with rosemary and taleggio cheese.
Their signature flavor is the garlic picanha pizza — garlic picanha being the unique sirloin cut that's the churrascuria trademark.
The price also includes dessert pizzas, in five options that include Nutella; brie and apricot marmalade; and white chocolate-toasted coconut.
Their crust veers toward a thinner style. "In Brazil, the crust is a little bit thick," Mallman says. "But our style is light and thin."
Mallman says their Southlake location has surpassed their expectations, and it has always been their plan to open more locations and possibly franchise it to others.
Redesign of the Design District location has already begun; Mallmann anticipates an early fall opening. "We just don't have anything like this here," she says.
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