Dallas' full-blown love affair with pizza was plain to see on Sunday, April 6 at Eataly Pizza Fest - Dallas, the largest all-inclusive, citywide pizza festival bringing together nearly 30 of DFW's best pizza spots to celebrate one of the best foods in the world.
The event took place at NorthPark Center, in the parking lot outside the entrance to Eataly, at the northwest corner of Boedeker Street and Northwest Highway, where a massive tent filled with booths had been erected — each booth backed up by an oven where pizzeria teams were cooking pizzas to order, to be cut into varying bite-sized samples.
They represented more than six styles of pizza, including Neapolitan, New York-style, Detroit, tavern, and Chicago. It presented an ideal opportunity to wander from booth to booth, comparing pizza styles, toppings, and crust.
The event drew famed pizzaiolo Chris Bianco, founder of nationally acclaimed Pizzeria Bianco, which has locations in Phoenix and Los Angeles, who participated in welcome speeches on the main stage and hosted a seminar on the education stage, where he shared his journey and held a meet & greet with attendees.
They broke the event into two time slots: 11 am-2:30 pm, and 3:30-7 pm. According to estimates, the total attendance for the day was more than 3,500 people, with the majority showing up for the second afternoon session.
Attendees were given tokens to vote on their favorites, and one winner was proclaimed for each time zone:
- For the early slot, the winner was DeLucca Gaucho, the small pizzeria chain that takes a Brazilian-style all-you-can-eat approach.
- For the afternoon slot, the winner was Partenope, the mom-and-pop from pizzaiolo Dino Santonicola and Megan Santonicola.
Megan and Dino Santonicola from Partenope at Eataly Pizza FestEataly/Michael Dee
But there was not a bad pizza in the house.
At peak times, each pizza stand had lines a dozen people deep. However, they were slinging pizzas so briskly that the lines moved quickly. Blissfully, nobody asked about gluten-free options. There was gluten everywhere.
The tent was a like a giant U-shape. Lined up on one side were the dome-shaped ovens that signify Neapolitan-style pizza, where purveyors included Pizzeria Testa, Fireova Pizza, Cane Rosso, Il Forno, Poco Fiasco, and Partenope.
On the other side, deck ovens stood shoulder-to-shoulder, behind slingers that included Dough Bird, Mimi's, Fortunate Son, Greenville Avenue Pizza Co., Cenzo's Pizza & Deli, Jet's Pizza, Neony Pizza Works, Prego Pasta House, South Polk Pizzeria, and Salisbury's Pizza.
Outside the main tent were two more rows of pizza stands, with one entire row dedicated to Eataly, who had side-by-side stands serving items such as mozzarella balls and desserts.
Lining the perimeter were 30 drink booths, pouring everything from craft beer by Peticolas, White Rock Brewing, Tupps, and more, to wines, spritzes, alcohol-free wines, and a cool Italian version of cola called Molecola.
To their credit, the organizers used paper boats instead of plastic or styrofoam, lessening the environmental impact.
Eataly Pizza FestEataly/Michael Dee
There was a band playing way too loud and the weather was just short of freezing, but few in the crowd seemed to mind.
I was there for the crust and brought a friend who was throwing away her crusts, so we ended up sharing a single portion, with me eating the crust and her eating the center.
Favorites included:
- Dough Bird, the restaurant from Fox Restaurant Concepts (Flower Child, Culinary Dropout), had a great biscuit-like almost foccaccia-style crust with a crunchy bottom and a moist fluffy top.
- Neony Pizza Works, the highly personal Oak Cliff pizzeria, had a refreshing "banh mi" variety with all the sweet and piquant flavors of a banh mi sandwich with toppings that included thinly sliced cucumber and thinly shaved carrot.
- Fortunate Son, the Garland pizzeria from the owners of Goodfriend Burger House, had an amazing crust with lots of toasty flavor and dark brown edges.
- Starship Bagel, the award-winning bagel chain from founder Oren Salomon, used bagel dough as the crust, and it had a killer flavor with loads of depth and complexity.
- Fireova, a mobile food truck-only, was among the best of the Neapolitan options, with a nice fermented flavor and some dark burnt spots on the crust — maybe because they're a food truck only and are accustomed to producing a pizza that succeeds in circumstances like these.
The full lineup included Andrew's American Pizza, Cane Rosso, Cenzo's, DeLucca Gaucho, Dough Bird, Eataly, Fireova, Fortunate Son, Greenville Avenue Pizza Co., Il Forno (San Antonio), Jet's Pizza, Mimi's Pizzeria, Neony Pizza Works, Paradize, Partenope, Pietro's Pizza (Longview), Pizzeria Testa, Poco Fiasco, Prego Pasta House, RossoPomodoro, Salisbury's Pizza, Sauce Bros., Starship Bagel, South Polk Pizzeria, San Martin Bistro, Urban Crust, and Vestals.
