Olivella’s Pizza to open branch at Mockingbird & Abrams

Going into the old Pizzeria Venti space.

Marc Lee

Pizza maker making pizza at Olivella's.

DALLAS — Olivella's, the highly-rated pizzeria that opened in Snider Plaza in 2007, will expand with a branch at Mockingbird and Abrams, going into the space formerly occupied by the ill-fated Pizzeria Venti.

Owner Charlie Green confirmed the Advocate's report that he signed the lease yesterday, and said he plans to have the restaurant open by early 2012.

"I've been wanting to expand and that location is terrific," he said. "That area by Mockingbird and Abrams has mostly fast-food type places. You've got the Lakewood residents and M Streets, and Central Expressway is like crossing the Rubicon, so I don't think it'll cannibalize the business at the Snider Plaza location."

Olivella's uses a wood-burning oven and bakes its pizzas in the Neapolitan style, with thin, pliable crusts and carefully-portioned toppings that allow the diner to appreciate the flavor of the crust. The pizza has earned praise from culinary authorities such as Rachael Ray. This will be the third Olivella's, with the second being Neo Pizza Napoletana by Olivella's at Victory Park.

"It'll be larger than Olivella's but smaller than Neo," Green said. "We're going to renovate it so that it looks like an organic authentic Italian place. A lot of planning is going into that."

The menu will be basically the same as Neo's, which expands on the smaller menu at Olivella's.

"For pizza, we may add a few new ones that are not on the menu at the other two places," he said. "Maybe a few more salads, and the wrap sandwiches. We may do family-style on the pastas and salads, which is different from the other two branches, because it seems to fit into that neighborhood. There'll be beer and wine, not a full bar. But really, there's no need to tamper with the formula too much."