Inside Pizza Leila, a pandemic pop-up in Dallas that became a real restaurant

Pizza Leila has graduated from a back-of-the-kitchen test to a true Dallas restaurant.

The cozy pizza joint opened in March 2023 on the first floor of an apartment building on Flora Street in downtown Dallas. For 2 ½ years prior, “if you know, you know” foodies could order Pizza Leila for pickup or delivery from the catering kitchen at Sloane’s Corner, a sibling restaurant on Ross Avenue.

Pizza Leila is named for owners Tim and Meredith McEneny’s 12-year-old daughter, so the growing-up references fit. Pizza Leila started during the COVID-19 pandemic and eventually became its own standalone restaurant — a pizza-specific trend that has worked for some other Dallas concepts like Thunderbird Pies.

(Conversely, restaurants like Urban Taco went the opposite direction: Urban Taco started as a traditional restaurant but turned into a ghost kitchen, with the brick-and-mortar location shuttering this month.)

Pizza Leila does provide delivery and takeout pizzas, but the small shop is also open seven days a week, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. It’s walking distance from Klyde Warren Park and on the same street as the Dallas Museum of Art, Nasher Sculpture Center and Winspear Opera House.

The restaurant sells Sicilian-style pizzas by the slice or whole. Leila’s slices are square cut, “Grandma” style, with a thick crust that’s crunchy on the bottom.

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Slices cost $4 to $5, and one slice is fairly filling. Varieties include pepperoni; sweet and spicy soppressata; Texas brisket with jalapeños and caramelized onions; and wild mushroom with garlic cream, goat cheese, arugula and truffle oil.

Pizzas cost $30 to $40, and the four to eight slices could probably feed four to eight people.

Pizza Leila sells Sicilian pizzas in downtown Dallas

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Ji Kang created the menu, like he did at Sloane’s Corner and at the reinvention of Dakota’s Steakhouse in 2021.

Kang coordinated with his friend Anastacia Quiñones-Pittman (executive chef of José) on Pizza Leila’s Queso Fundido pie, which comes topped with chorizo, charred poblano peppers, Oaxaca cheese and mushrooms.

The menu also includes Caesar salad, antipasto salad and a delicious cacio e pepe arancini appetizer with Mike’s Hot Honey.

We haven’t tried the Extra Really Spicy Pizza Sauce yet — it’s available on the side for an extra $5, or with the Parmesan garlic knots — but don’t you want to?

The restaurant also sells nitro negroni on tap, which was created by beverage director Trevor Landry and modeled after a cocktail in New York City.

Pizza Leila is at 2111 Flora St., Suite 120, Dallas.

For more food news, follow Sarah Blaskovich on Twitter at @sblaskovich.