Lauren Drewes Daniels
Audio By Carbonatix
First, let’s be clear. We like to keep our pizza preferences local. Which is easy because there are just so many great spots. Too many to fit in our stretchy pants as a matter of fact. So, we approached Mister O1 pizzeria with more than a spoonful of skepticism. We literally didn’t even want to like the Miami import.
Alas, no amount of apathy could resist freshly baked warm foccacia or those happy little cheese cubbies on the signature star pizzas.
Mister O1 gets its name from the type of visa the founder – Southern Italy native Renato Viola – needed to move to America. This particular type of visa allows those with “extraordinary artistic ability” to Come on Down!
Viola moved to Miami and opened the first Mister O1 in 2014, and soon followed with more than a dozen locations in Florida, Spain and Saudi Arabia. Now, a third North Texas location is set to open in Mansfield later this year.
The dough at Mister O1 is very light and crisp, resting for a minimum of 72 hours before being baked and served. Who isn’t crisp after 72 hours of chill time, though? The signature technique here is a “star” pizza where the dough is pinched together at sequential points, creating little cubbies of cheese and meat that are quite wonderful. Mister O1 also makes burrata in-house and serves large, fresh salads.
The first Mister O1 opened in Dallas on Oak Lawn Avenue, followed by a second spot in Grapevine in May. Mazel tov, Mansfield.
The restaurant, at 1520 E. Debbie Lane, is expected to open this fall.
Lucky’s is in the old Einstein Bros. Bagels on Lemmon Avenue has closed, but the original in East Dallas is still open.
Courtesy of Lucky’s
Meanwhile, there’s news from the poultry beat. Is the Nashville hot chicken craze being plucked apart? Is that even possible? Probably not.
But maybe there’s only so much room for spicy chicken sandwiches. (Probably not.)
Case in point, The Dallas Morning News reported that Lucky’s Hot Chicken, which opened in the old Einstein Brothers Bagels on Lemmon Avenue just four months ago, has closed. Another location, on Forest Lane, also closed earlier this year.
In a press release from February 2023, Vandalay Hospitality announced that this Lemmon Avenue location was one of four slated to open this year. We reached out to Lucky’s for comment on the other locations but did not hear back. The original restaurant on Gaston Avenue remains open.
This trending cuisine likely will stick – because it’s so good, right? But perhaps there’s a thinning of the flock under way. With Palmers’, Hattie B’s, LA-based Dave’s and many more local places, the spicy bird bar is high.
