First Look: Mister O1 Pizza Brings Yet Another Style of Pizza to Dallas

Mister O1 Pizza recently opened in the Turtle Creek Village shopping center, in a corner spot across from Jalisco. This pizzeria is originally from Miami, by way of master pizza chef Renato Viola, who was raised in southern Italy and started learning the ways of making pizza at age 11. He moved to Miami under the O1 visa category for his “extraordinary artistic ability.” Hence the name of his pizza restaurants.
We arrived on a Sunday evening at this casual, upscale spot. A simple but pretty dining room is full of light wood. On approach, it appears to be a fast-casual spot, yet once settled in you'll find the table service leans toward fine dining. Plates and cutlery smudged with remnants of your salad are whisked away and replaced with clean ones for the next dish. Your water carafe will always be chilled and full. And a manager will likely stop by a couple of times to back up the server.
We ordered two Peronis and decided on a Cesar salad ($9.99) to start. The salads are served in large bowls with tongs and bear an aggressive amount of Parmesan shavings. One bowl is enough for about four  people. The salad had just a drizzle of dressing across the top. We weren’t sure if O1s prefer barely dressed Caesar or if they forgot to dress it or what. Either way, we asked for and quickly received additional dressing.
We got an order of the burrata with an Italian balsamic glaze and arugula that came with a side of thin, fresh-baked focaccia bread. This bread might have been the meal highlight (it was a close second, we'll get to number one in a minute). Large, warm pieces of crisp bread were served in a brown paper bag with a sprig of rosemary. We wanted to hold the bag close to our chest like a child cuddling a puppy — a child who didn't really understand why they have to share. The focaccia was simply dressed with sea salt and was amazing.

Mister O1 sources its burrata from a spot in Miami, which a manager said the kitchen sticks with because the staff has yet to find another source that compares. We happen to like Cane Rosso’s house-made burrata as much, if not more (if only they’d put the bing cherries back in the recipe, a-hem).
Then, the star of the show is literally a star. Mister Oh-one’s unique take on the ubiquitous pizza is pinching the crust prior to baking so that it forms a cozy nook for cheese. And, actually, this is a “take” we oohed over. We ordered the Star Beckham ($17.99) with ricotta, mozzarella, bacon, red onions and fresh tomatoes. The ricotta was stuffed a bit under the pinches of dough, creating a wonderful little cove of warm cheese. The star gets a star.
Finally, the restaurant was giving out free dessert as a welcome to the neighborhood. We opted for a Nutella and banana calzone (normally $12.99). Here, the dough was thin and crisp, almost like a freshly made tortilla. The amount of Nutella was scandalous, like too much. Is that OK? Yes. This was a beautiful, messy treat.

There are about 15 regular pizzas on the menu, ranging from $12.99 to $17.99 for the 13-inch, and five more star-shaped pizzas. In addition to salads and burrata, there are also calzones, but no pasta here. Mister O1 offers a gluten-free vegan crust for $2.99 extra.

There are about a dozen other Mister O1 pizzas around the world, including Florida, Spain and Saudi Arabia. Dallas already has some serious pizza game going on, and now the field has gotten a little busier.

We saw only Peronis in the fridge, but there are also bottles of red wine and white wine here. A separate area is set up for to-go orders, making grabbing on the run pretty easy.

Mister O1, 3838 Oak Lawn Ave., 11 a.m. – 10 p.m. Sunday – Thursday; 11 a.m. –11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.