Pizza News

Pizzeria from founder of Sprinkles cupcakes coming to Knox Street Dallas

Toppings are robust and very California-style.

Courtesy of Pizzana

A new pizzeria from California is coming to Dallas from the founder of Sprinkles, the cupcake chain. Called Pizzana, it's a Neapolitan-style concept that's opening at 3219 Knox St. in spring 2022.

Pizzana was founded in 2017 by Sprinkles queen Candace Nelson and her husband Charles Nelson, who partnered with actor Chris O'Donnell and chef Daniele Uditi, a native of Naples. There are two locations on Los Angeles' west side, in Brentwood and West Hollywood.

The restaurant will open in the Knox Street Tower building, aka the former Weir's Plaza. According to a spokesperson, it'll be the third location for Pizzana as well as their first foray outside of California.

It will join a growing number of restaurants that have opened in the neighborhood including Village Baking and the rooftop restaurant at RH Dallas. Stephen Summers, who is developing properties along Knox, tells the Dallas Morning News that they have plans to open "world-class restaurants up and down the street."

Pizzana's pizza is not true Neapolitan-style; instead, it's "reimagined," skipping Neapolitan basics like the use of Caputo 00 flour and the time/temperature at which the pizzas bake — opting instead for a lower temperature than Neapolitan style and baked for three to four minutes, rather than the 90 seconds a Neapolitan pizza bakes — so that the crust is firmer, which better hews to Dallas tastes.

Toppings are California-style innovative, such as the pizza with black truffle, fontina cheese, and pine nuts; or the one with San Marzano tomatoes, squash blossom, burrata, and cherry tomato.

The menu also features starters, salads, and sandwiches, plus seasonal pastas and specials. As Los Angeles magazine notes, these are "not afterthoughts but highlights" such as the addition of apples, pistachios, and shallot dressing to a shaved Brussels sprouts dish. There are also meatballs, charred artichokes, and polenta fries.

Pizzana's journey follows a template set by Sprinkles, which opened its first location outside California in Dallas, in 2007.

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Soul Food News

Dallas celebs are flocking to Soul Shack, new restaurant in Cedar Hill

Soul Shack

Fried chicken, mac & cheese, collards at Soul Shack.

Dallas has a new upscale soul food restaurant that originally hails from Chicago: Called Soul Shack, it’s in the former Turkey Leg King space at 305 W. FM 1382 #502, in the Hillside Village shopping center in Cedar Hill where it opened in late January.

Soul Shack was founded by owner Erik “Rico” Nance, an entrepreneur and veteran restaurateur, and is led by his business partners Theous Griffin and Ronald Edwards III, who serves as general manager. The original was a fast-casual concept in Chicago called Soul Shack Express, which is still open.

The Dallas location is a more ambitious effort, with a full-service restaurant, full bar, and swanky nightlife atmosphere. Nance had previously opened Mikkey's Retro Grill, a hip-hop themed burger restaurant, in Cedar Hill, which closed in late 2024.

"I felt like the city needed a cocktail lounge," he says.

The space boasts a 1920's jazz club atmosphere, with marble floors, circular black booths, chandeliers, crystal bead curtains, and tables topped with a newsprint design. There's a "Soul Shack" sign in white neon, and an Insta-friendly wall with flowers and photo collage of iconic Black artists and performers like Eddie Murphy and Diahann Carroll. They also host live music and DJs at night.

The menu is mostly Southern but with fusion twists: soul rolls (fried egg rolls) filled with jerk chicken, which is their signature dish; plus gumbo, collard greens, sweet potatoes, mac & cheese, lamb chops with a parmesan crust, oxtails, and beef short ribs in gravy.

Tranelle and Ron Edwards with Shaq O'Neal Shaq O'Neal (right) drops into Soul Shack.Soul Shack

"Soul Shack has been an offspring of the things that we've learned from our other restaurants," Nance says. "We're still in soft opening mode, but we've already taken off. We'll have a beautiful nightlife and older crowd."

They've quickly earned notice from celebrities including TikTok phenomenon Keith Lee, who touted them with a review in their first week open (giving it a high rating of 8 out of 10 on his scale); and more recently celebrity Shaquille "Shaq" O'Neal, who dropped in for a surprise visit, posing for a photo with Edwards and his wife, Tranelle.

"We had no idea, he just came in, made a reservation and said he'd heard the food was amazing," Nance says. "When he came in the door, we said, 'We're turning this into Soul Shaq.' We accommodated everything he wanted. I love that man and what he stands for, his philanthropy."

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