Zoli’s Plans to Close Bishop Arts Location Next Year, Might Open In Houston

Sometimes life really just isn’t fair. You have probably enjoyed the crisp, cheesy slices consistently turned out by the team at Zoli’s one zillion times, but it's time to do double-duty at this Bishop Arts slice joint before it closes its doors forever. Thanks to impending development, Zoli’s will shutter next year, and we’re really, really sad about it.

As GuideLive heartbreakingly reported yesterday, an Alamo Manhattan redevelopment project at the “gateway to Bishop Arts” will force Zoli’s to close in early 2016. Zoli’s owner Jay Jerrier told GuideLive that he knew Zoli’s would get “swallowed up” by the development, and doesn’t plan to reopen the much-beloved slice house in Oak Cliff. “We’re probably a better fit in another part of town,” Jerrier told the Dallas Morning News.

Since opening Zoli’s in 2013, Jerrier has certainly made some changes to his restaurant. Originally, all pies were available by the slice, cooked ahead of time and warmed in the oven when you order. Last November, the menu changed pretty dramatically, with freshly fired-to-order personal pies taking over the slices that sometimes languished in the case throughout the lunch hour. Still it’s managed to take home plenty of awards and attract plenty of fans, and was the reigning Best of Dallas winner in the pizza category until Zalat came along this year to de-throne its crispy goodness.

Fortunately, Jerrier did tell GuideLive that he is searching for a new home for Zoli’s, but that might not be in Dallas. Houston is on Jerrier’s list of potential candidates for the rebirth of Zoli’s, which makes sense considering that he announced plans to expand his chain of Neopolitan-style Cane Rosso restaurants to the city earlier this year. Locations in Dallas and Fort Worth are still on the table, though, and we sincerely hope that Jerrier won’t forsake us for swampier, more humid pastures.

Since the opening of Zoli’s, more New York-style pizza options have opened up in Dallas, including this year’s Best of Dallas winner, Zalat. But there isn’t anywhere else to grab one of those buttery, nap-inducing slices of Grandma or Sicilian pie, and those have damn near become a weekly component of our dining routine. We need that dough, okay, and Jerrier is going to have to pry those slices out of our cold, dead hands if he wants to take it all away and give it to Houston.

For the love of pizza and everything else that is holy, Dallas, there’s no way that we can lose Zoli’s to Houston. Protest, riot, do whatever is necessary to keep this institution in our fair city.