Pizza News

One of Dallas' oldest Italian restaurants now doing buzziest pizza in town

Squared-off pizza is the hottest thing in town right now.

Photo by Big D

One of the biggest culinary trends in Dallas right now is Detroit-style pizza, known for being thick and square, with a crust that's crisp and cheesy on the edge, and now there's a surprising new purveyor.

Called Big D Pizza, it's from Peter Colombo, owner of Alfonso's Italian Restaurant, one of the oldest Italian restaurants in Dallas. Big D is a ghost kitchen, a restaurant-within-a-restaurant that's operating out of Alfonso's, located in Lake Highlands' White Rock Center at 718 N. Buckner Blvd.

Colombo is a native of Detroit who grew up on the east side in a town called Fraser. He knows all about Detroit pizza first-hand.

"I've been working on doing Detroit-style pizza for about two years, and we've had it on the menu, but I didn't make a big deal about it because I didn't want to turn Alfonso's into a pizzeria," he says. "But with it starting to become better known, and with pizza becoming more popular since the onset of the virus, I decided to just go ahead and do a full menu."

That menu includes:

Small and large Detroit-style pizzas, ranging from $10 to $24
Alfonso's original hand-tossed pizzas
Chicken parm and meatball heros, plus an Italian cold cuts sub sandwich
Garlic rolls
Cheese bread
Four salads including a Caesar and an antipasta with salami, ham, and brick cheese

Some naysayers have said there is no such thing as Detroit-style pizza, but Colombo says otherwise.

"It's not true that there is no Detroit-style pizza," he says. "The original in Detroit were made in cold rolled steel pans that held nuts and bolts from the manufacturing plants all over Detroit. Those steel pans worked the best to cook the pizza. It's an offshoot of Sicilian pizza, but they made them in these pans."

A true Detroit-style pizza also must use the delicacy known as brick cheese, an aged cheese with a tangy, salty, buttery flavor, similar to cheddar but with a high fat content.

"A lot of people use blends, but if you go to Buddy's or any true Detroit-style pizza, they use 100 percent brick cheese, that's what caramelizes around the edges and gives Detroit-style pizza the crisp, cheesy edges on the crust, for which it's known," he says.

"I experimented for about a year, then added it to the menu, but I didn't advertise it, it was just giving my customers another choice," he says.

In addition to the pizza, he's also serving some quintessential Detroit specialties including Better Made potato chips, the famous Vernor's Ginger Soda, and Faygo, the legendary Detroit soft drink company, in signature flavors that include redpop, rock and rye, and orange, all in long neck bottles.

Colombo opened Alfonso's in 1982, starting out in Casa Linda Plaza before moving to the White Rock Center in 1991. His customers are loyalists and he also has steady catering jobs that have helped him weather the virus.

"My dining room isn't doing that much, most of what we're doing is carry-out and to-go," he says. "I never wanted 10 locations, I have one place and I'm happy. Alfonso's is still trucking along after 38 years."

pizza

new roots

L.A. celebrity favorite The Ivy plants Dallas branch near Katy Trail

Photo courtesy of The Ivy/Facebook

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A Los Angeles restaurant famous for celebrity sightings on its bright floral patios is opening a branch in Dallas: The Ivy will debut in fall 2027 at 4205 Buena Vista St. inside The Terminal at Katy Trail.

“This will be the first Ivy outside of Southern California,” says India Wolfe, the restaurant founders' daughter, in a release. "I felt a strong calling to bring The Ivy somewhere new and to plant roots there with our family.”

India’s parents opened The Ivy on Robertson Boulevard in 1980, followed by Ivy at the Shore in Santa Monica five years later.

While her father, chef Richard Irving, and mother, Lynn von Kersting, remain in LA, Wolfe and her husband, Ernest Wolfe IV, will move to Dallas in February with their two children and dogs, to operate The Ivy. The restaurant will be located inside a luxury apartment tower overlooking the Katy Trail.

India started working as a teen at the family's third branch in Santa Monica and learned everything "from greeting guests and waiting tables to staging events, filming viral social media, and modernizing the business for a new generation," says the release.

Both she and her husband spent time in other professions but were drawn to the dining field. Ernest helped his in-laws so often at The Ivy that they finally employed him full-time.

“I love working with him," India says, "and we complement each other’s skills really well, not unlike my mom and dad.”

The Ivy The family behind The Ivy.Courtesy photo

The Wolfes say they want the Dallas restaurant to retain The Ivy’s familiar cooking, warmth and character, while making it feel like home in a new city.

“I love the idea of people taking a walk on the Katy Trail and then meeting friends for brunch at The Ivy,” India says.

Her parents are assisting with the design and menu; India wants a contemporary vibe but doesn’t plan to change what works so well.

“I don’t want to make it too different because I think the reason that people from Dallas come to The Ivy is because they love The Ivy,” she says. “That said, this new restaurant will certainly stand on its own two feet.”

Unlike the original, the Dallas Ivy will have a bar, an idea India dreamed up. While restaurant bars are nothing unusual, India actually envisioned what her family jokingly calls “the D Bar" (so named for Dallas), where guests can clink glasses and share good energy around a curved, D-shaped counter.

Her interest in art and flowers will result in a space well-appointed with roses, a family tradition, and local blooms like zinnias and snapdragons.

The Ivy serves upscale American comfort food and Californian cuisine with influences from Italian, French, Cajun, and Mexican cooking. Dishes are made with seasonal ingredients, so the menus evolve throughout the year.

While the Dallas menu is being developed, the restaurant's Southern California winter menus, for example, include starters such as crab cakes, Caesar salad, and grilled-vegetable salad. Pasta options include lobster ravioli with Ivy pink sauce and lobster tagliatelle. Wood- or stone-fired pizzas include margherita and Cajun shrimp pies, while house-baked breads, old-fashioned red velvet cake, coconut cake, and chocolate chip cookies round out the menu.

The Ivy has always been at the center of family life, India notes. Now she and Ernest are bringing that way of life to Dallas.

She adds, “I am confident it will be a great home for The Ivy and for our family.”

openings katy trail