Pizza News
California pizzeria with extreme pizzas opens in North Richland Hills
Burattino pepperoni pizza by the slice.
A buzzy pizzeria from Southern California has landed in Texas: Burattino Pizza, a small-but-growing chain that boasts a crazy social media following, just opened its first Texas location in North Richland Hills, at 6305 Precinct Line Rd., #300, a space that was previously home to a D'Lites ice cream shop.
Burattino was founded in 2016 as a single shop next to a tire shop in San Pedro, California, turning out a good thin-crust pizza. Its fortunes changed dramatically after it was acquired by colorful entrepreneur Emil Chiaberi, whose savvy use of social media transformed the concept into a viral sensation, with nearly 3 million followers across Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.
The chain now has four locations in California, another in Salt Lake City, and North Richland Hills, which just opened in February.
Bringing the concept to DFW is George Gomiashvili, a veteran restaurateur and winemaker from California.
"I’ve been involved in hospitality for a number of years and previously worked on concepts like Le Grand Restaurant in Los Angeles, Deda Restaurant in Pasadena, California as well as Jos Wines," Gomiashvili says. "Now I’m focusing on building Burattino here in Texas."
"Burattino originally started in California and developed a style of pizza that we call the 'California pizza standard'," Gomiashvili says. ”It’s a crisp, thin crust baked in brick ovens with a strong focus on high-quality pepperoni pies and unique ingredients like fermented black garlic. The goal has always been to keep the menu simple but do a few things extremely well."
Black garlic is a special garlic that is aged until it turns black, making for a mellow flavor and distinctive black appearance.
Additionally, Burattino is famous its popular pepperoni pizzas, with multiple pepperoni options including pork, beef, and wild boar; and for the crunchiness of its crust.
Their menu has notable offerings that include:
- Dirty Pepperoni — a unique combination of pepperoni and black olives on Burattino's famous Black Garlic Sauce. "Looks dirty, tastes delicious," their menu says.
- White Clam — white garlic sauce, topped with chopped clams, bacon, garlic, oregano, mozzarella & Parmesan cheese. "This is our take on the legendary East Coast classic."
- 120 Pepperoni — pepperoni pizza with mozzarella and marinara sauce. Choose XL size for the signature 120 Pepperoni, meaning the pizza has 120 slices.
- Mexican Pepperoni — red and green chorizo, bacon, garlic, red onion, jalapenos, Mozzarella cheese, on chunky mild salsa sauce.
- Quattro Gusti — ham, mushrooms, artichokes, basil, and mozzarella on marinara. "Artisan pizza at its best!"
The Mercedes pizza is a sampler, allowing you to order three of Burattino's classic pizzas in one: Meatlovers, Hawaiian and Margherita, XL size only. Pizzas start at $13 for a cheese pizza and top out at $28 for the Mercedes.
In addition to pizza, they offer extra-large calzones (with one called "The Beast"), mozzarella sticks, salads including a chicken Caesar, and baked wings in four flavors: plain, hot, Korean BBQ, and garlic parmesan.
Much of their approach is "extreme" including the Cheese Lava Pie, with a four-cheese blend — mozzarella, provolone, feta, and Parmesan — placed both inside and on top of the crust, creating a hot cheese lava that makes for outrageous, almost obscene social media posts.
The North Richland Hills shop is the first Burattino location in Texas, but hopefully is not the only location, Gomiashvili says.
"We spent time studying different parts of the Metroplex and felt this area had the right combination of strong community, families, and great local energy," he says. "So far the reception has been very encouraging."
"The long-term plan is to grow the brand across the DFW area if this location performs the way we expect," he says.
Ozzi's Pizza in southwest Fort Worth.Photo by Connie Bally/Fort Worth Foodies