Pizza News

Favorite mall pizzeria from New York opens shop by Medical City Dallas

That's what you call pizza.

Photo courtesy of Famous Famiglia

A pizza concept from New York is making a return to Dallas: Called Famous Famiglia, it will open as a standalone restaurant in a North Dallas center across from Medical City, at 7722 Forest Ln.

The restaurant is going into the space next door to Starbucks previously occupied by long-timer Tam's Egg Roll which closed at the end of 2018.

According to co-founder Paul Kolaj, the pizzeria will open in December.

Kolaj founded Famous Famiglia with his brothers Paul and John in New York City, where they opened their first pizzeria in 1986.

Is it New York's "favorite pizza," as it claims on its website? Guess it depends on how you define favorite. But today, you can find Famous Famiglia almost everywhere: malls and malls, airports, theme parks, hotels, casinos, stadiums and arenas, military bases, motorways, and in-line urban downtown locations.

Famous Famiglia currently operates approximately 50 locations, both company-owned and franchised, in the United States, Canada, Kosovo, Ecuador, Mexico, and the UAE.

Other than this Dallas location, their only restaurant in Texas is at the San Antonio International Airport. But this is not Famous Famiglia's first foray in Dallas; back in 2012, they had a location at NorthPark Center.

They're open for breakfast with strombolis, bagels, and a breakfast platter with choice of eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, croissant, bagel, and toast.

At lunch and dinner, they do pizza by the slice, kept piping hot for you under a heat lamp, plus stromboli in options such as pepperoni, spinach, and chicken parm. Pastas include penne or spaghetti marinara, pasta with meatballs, and pasta with chicken.

They also have garlic knots, salads, and sandwiches such as a chicken Caesar wrap, a classic Italian sandwich with cold cuts, and a turkey Siciliano.

Hopefully they can fill the area's need for cheap lunch grub that Tam's $6 special provided all those years.

Kolaj says that this store is a company store, not a franchisee. "We like this area," he says.

pizza openings

Costco lines up 3 new stores opening in Dallas-Fort Worth in 2025

costco

Cult favorite grocery warehouse Costco is gifting Dallas-Fort Worth with three new stores, two of which will open in mid-March.

Prosper will open at 5620 W. University Dr., near a School of Rock that's under construction and FM 1385.
Weatherford will open at 310 Center Point Rd., at the northwest corner of I-20 and Center Point Road.

The Prosper store has been in the works for nearly two years, and broke ground in March 2024.

In a statement, Prosper Economic Development President Jordan Simms said that the city welcomed the additional sales tax and property tax revenue the store would bring to Prosper.

The Weatherford location began construction in summer 2024 and is the first of its kind in Parker County. The 160,000-square-foot store will offer gas, tires, dining, optical & hearing centers, and prescriptions.

The two stores are part of a wave of openings that Costco is planning for the spring, with a goal to open 29 new locations by August.

Costco has become a cult favorite with its walk-in refrigerated section, free food and drink samples, discounted bulk groceries, flat screen TVs, gas, and prescriptions — not unlike its rival Sam's Club, but a little fancier.

The store brand is based in Issaquah Washington with 800 locations across the world and 13 stores across Dallas-Fort Worth, including Plano, McKinney, Southlake, and Fort Worth with stores averaging 160,000 square feet.

The last Costco that opened in DFW was in McKinney at 3650 W. University Dr. in 2018.

Celina

Additionally, Costco also has plans for a Celina location that is scheduled to open by December 2025.

The Celina Costco is under construction and will be attached to a mixed-use development project from Shop Companies called The Crossing at Moore Farm, a 105 acre development at the corner of Ownsby and Preston Road.

The grocery warehouse has a policy of not speaking on future locations before they’re complete, and a representative for the company said they have no further details to share about what factors played into expanding into these cities.

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