Pizza Is Back

Dallas' most missed pizzeria returns with grand new menu and location

Oh Zoli, how we've missed you so.

Zoli's NY Pizza Tavern/Facebook

UPDATE: Zoli's launched lunch service on November 1. Go get 'em!

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In what is surely the biggest Dallas pizza news of 2017, Zoli's, the New York-style pizzeria sibling to the Cane Rosso pizza chain, has named a date for the official opening (versus soft opening) of its new location in Addison: November 3.

Located at 14910 Midway Rd., Zoli's will rejoin the family of nine Cane Rosso Neapolitan-style restaurants located in Dallas, Houston, and Austin. It will offer a selection of East Coast dishes such as New York-style pizzas, salads, pasta, and sandwiches on house-made bread.

Zoli's originally opened as a slice shop in Bishop Arts, where the awesome pizza stylings of chef and New York native Lee Hunzinger won over diners and critics everywhere. That location on Davis Street was swept up in the area's redevelopment, and it closed in 2016, on Valentine's Day, sniff sniff.

The re-opening in Addison represents a kind of Zoli's 2.0, with both lunch and dinner and a menu of East Coast Italian classics along with the pizzas and other bites from the original Zoli's.

Highlights from the menu include:

Nuggz. Old school style fried mozzarella, served with marinara.
Carbonara. Spaghetti, bacon, egg, garlic breadcrumbs, and pecorino.
Pizza Loves Emily. Pizza with mozzarella, roasted mushrooms and habanero honey, finished with cold cheese.
Brian Luscher. Pizza with mozzarella, sausage bolognese, and creamy ricotta.
Zeppole. Fried-to-order doughnuts tossed in cinnamon and sugar, with caramel dipping sauce.

The New York-style pizzas can be ordered in both 14" round pie and 12" square versions, and guests can choose to customize their own pies with a mix of their favorite meats, veggies, cheeses, and sauces. The restaurant will also offer a $1 side of jalapeno ranch for dipping, previously verboten in the Cane Rosso family; the proceeds will go to Cane Rosso Rescue.

Zoli's was also noted for its irreverent personality and motifs, including an iconic white unicorn head and the famous marquee sign that staffers used to comment on pop culture, now hanging on the wall.

Taking over an address that was once a Snuffer's, the new space has vaulted ceilings, an open pizza kitchen, and a white marble bar. Colorful geometric wood tables designed by Sarah Reiss for R&R Design Works and custom steel-cut lighting fixtures add texture.

A 10-foot Clay Stinnett painting of the "Last Supper" featuring Star Wars characters, dresses up the best seat in the house: Reiss' 10-person purple velour banquette. The 4200-square-foot space also features a private area that's just the right size to host a business lunch, dinner, or happy hour.

"After a long delay due to permitting and construction, we are thrilled to finally unveil the new version of Zoli's to Dallas," says owner Jay Jerrier. "The delay gave us plenty of time to travel to the East and West Coasts to find inspiration for the new menu, and we really have the dough dialed in after working with Brian Spangler from Apizza Scholls in Portland, Oregon. The large space and kitchen gives us the flexibility to create and offer so many of the things that both Lee and I ate growing up in the Northeast."

pizza

Chocolate News

Richardson dessert shop Chocolate Drip lays out eye-catching treats

Chocolate Drip

Chocolate bear with pistachio sauce at Chocolate Drip

A dessert shop in Richardson has become the toast of the sweets world: Called Chocolate Drip, it opened in August at 1057 S. Sherman St., in a center east of US-75 near Spring Valley Road, where it's rolling out some eye-catching chocolate treats.

Chocolate Drip is a passion project from Mohammad Quzmar, a Palestinian-born owner who moved to Dallas four years ago and taught himself to cook through tinkering. That experimentation has translated into a constantly evolving menu, with new creations appearing whenever inspiration strikes — earning him a growing reputation as something of a modern-day Willy Wonka.

"Chocolate is my passion. I just love being in the kitchen and creating,” he says.

The cafe's offerings are extensive, from sweet breakfast staples like pancakes and waffles to off-menu items teased on the café’s Instagram, such as the Dubai Drip platter — an interactive fondue plate with fruit, brownies, waffles, marshmallows, to be dipped into melted chocolate and pistachio cream.

Many of his items have the kind of eye-catching twists and table-side presentations that draw attention on Instagram, such as the cruffle (a waffle made from a croissant) topped with spaghetti-like strands of gelato, which a server extrudes through a potato ricer right before your eyes.

Other signatures include a teddy bear made of chocolate mousse and kanafa, finished with pistachio sauce for $13.30, and crepes filled with a brownie, with pistachio and chocolate sauce for $15.

Prices are not cheap but these are ultra-decadent items with generous portions, often meant for sharing.

The drink list is ambitious, spanning coffee, matcha, smoothies, milkshakes, and nonalcoholic mocktails. It's obvious Quzmar is having fun, rolling out his versions of viral items like the famous s'mores hot chocolate pioneered by New York dessert shop Glace, which features a cap made of marshmallow meringue that’s torched and topped with a chocolate bonbon.

There are also a few savory offerings like egg-and-cheese crepes, a salmon croissant, and a turkey waffle. Those in the know also come to order Middle Eastern treats like salab, a creamy milk drink topped with cinnamon; and Om Ali, a sugary pudding with nuts, dried fruit, and coconut.

Named after the Gen Z slang for “cool” or “stylish,” Drip is meant to be a hangout spot more than a quick dessert stop, Quzmar says — a place to linger over brunch, then return late night to a place that feels buzzy and fun sans alcohol.

“Everyone who works here is either family or treated like family and everything is homemade with love," he says.

desserts openings