Pizza News
Tennis pros lob out New York pizzeria with by-the-slice in Near Southside
A new pizzeria has arisen in the Near Southside, selling New York-style pizzas and, even better, pizza by the slice. Called Pizza Bar None, it's located at 609 S. Jennings Ave., in the same hip area as eateries such as Cannon Chinese Kitchen.
Pizza Bar None is an exciting new venture for two friends, Tom Buell and Grafton Kille, who are also both tennis pros. Although still in the tennis pro business, they decided to explore something new that would take them beyond their tennis pro days.
"We realized that we're probably not going to be able to teach tennis forever," Kille says. "So we took on this adventure and decided to explore the world of pizza."
That included a fun period of research before settling on their preferred style: old-school New York.
"We do your prototypical New York-style pizza which you can get in 12-inch, 16-inch, and 18-inch pies," Kille says. "We also do pizza by the slice. So that way, if you're coming in and want something quick, you can get a slice."
He says they have a good crust and are going for the best quality on toppings. That said, you will not find arugula on their pies. That's right: No arugula.
"We're not into the frou-frou," Kille says. "We go top-of-the-line but we don't try to pile on everything. Sometimes less is more. You don't want to blow it all up."
Their selection of pizzas includes Margherita, meat, and BBQ chicken. The meat pizza has pepperoni, ham, sausage, bacon, beef, and Canadian bacon. Their vegetable pizza has artichokes, bell pepper, onion, spinach, mushroom, tomato, pepperoncini, and olives.
They're also doing spaghetti, lasagna, salads, and a couple of appetizers, plus beer and wine.
They feel lucky to have landed the location which until very recently was occupied by another pizzeria, a family-owned place called Trio Pizza & Pasta.
"We're still pretty new, we've only been here a couple of weeks," Kille says. "We wanted to be in Fort Worth, near downtown, and had been looking around to buy a building, but we got priced out. Near Southside is so up-and-coming. But then we happened to find this place and found out they were interested in selling."
Meanwhile, the tennis lessons have not stopped.
"We teach over in Fort Worth at Fort Worth Country Day," Kille says. "One of us teaches and the other one comes over here. We take turns."
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