Photo courtesy of Pizza Leila.
Pizza Leila brings a new pizza option with a modern twist to NorthPark Center’s food court, which is opening this summer.
The Dallas-based pizza eatery, part of NL Group Hospitality which includes Dakota’s Steakhouse, Sloane’s Corner and Hightower Dallas started as a pandemic pop-up before opening its brick-and-mortar location in Dallas’ Arts District.
The collaboration began last year when Nancy Nasher, co-owner of NorthPark Center, walked into Pizza Leila and expressed interest in the pizzeria to the mall.
“Nancy comes in and says, ‘Look I want this in North Park,’” NL Group CEO and founder, Tim McEneny, said. “Clearly we were like, this a good day. It’s hard to get into [NorthPark Center]. You almost have to have an invitation.”
Once Pizza Leila joins the lineup of other food court restaurants, Leila’s will be the only local restaurant to be in the food court, McEneny said. Pizza Leila will replace Snappy Salads in the food court.
“We’re going to give [NorthPark Center] the highest quality construction. I think we’ve got a cool spot coming,” McEneny said. “You’re going to see the pizza oven from standing out in the food court.”
Pizza Leila prides itself on being a contrarian. The menu offers 13 robust pizzas with options from Texas brisket to Korean pizza with kimchi to even a vegan pepperoni option. The different flavors come through collaborations with chef Ji Kang. Pies come by the slice or by the whole.
For the NorthPark Center location, they will add more salads to the menu and the interior design will change a little. But, the pizza will remain the same. McEneny and his team are looking forward to opening day.
“We’re going to put that thing together. We’ll have everything teed up, and it’s going to go pretty swiftly,” McEneny said. “We hope to be open in the summertime.”
D Magazine awarded Pizza Leila with the 2021 Best Pizza and even the Washington Post lauds it with the Best Regional Pizza award for the Sicilian-style slice.
