First Look: Pizza Leila Opens in the Arts District

Pizza Leila started life as a ghost kitchen to keep staff employed during the pandemic and has recently graduated to its own space.

It all got started in the back of Sloane's Corner, its mothership, perhaps, which sits at the bottom of Trammell Crow Center straddling downtown and the Dallas Arts District. The restaurant was a popular spot for downtown workers, residents and arts fans. When shelter-in-place orders hit in March 2020, chef Ji Kang suddenly had an empty restaurant and kitchen along with an adjacent catering kitchen for nearby businesses. All sat idle.

So, he researched foods that were doing well during the pandemic, and Pizza Leila was born as a ghost kitchen. With this contactless concept, he was able to keep his entire kitchen staff employed and built a steady business making square Sicilian-style pizzas long after the era of social distancing passed. The Grandma Pie is the most traditional style, simply topped with sauce, basil and a dollop of cheese on a focaccia crust.
Now Pizza Leila is all grown-up; it's flown the coop and has a place of its own. It's not far from home, though, just one block over. The new restaurant draws aesthetic inspiration from an old cab company with black-and-white checkers and bright yellow accents and is just around the corner from Sloane's Corner at 2111 Flora St., across from the Meyerson.

Pizza Leila still leans into being a to-go spot with a limited amount of seating. There's a long marble-top counter along the front window and about a half-dozen tables on the sidewalk outside.

Pizzas are displayed cafeteria style, allowing customers to view all the ready-made pies sold by the square. If you're getting pizza by the slice, they'll just pop it in the oven for a few minutes for a quick reheat. There are some salads here, as well as a handful of other menu items to go along with your pizza.  The Parmesan garlic knots looked good ($7) but it's highly advised to save the bread for the pizza and instead start with the cacio e pepe arancini ($12), which is a mouthful to pronounce, but "amazeballs" will do. These traditional Sicilian fried rice balls have, as the name implies, cheese and pepper inside them and come five to order, all nestled in a pool of spicy marinara sauce. Give each one a stab as soon as you receive them to allow them to cool just a bit; you'll want them warm for certain, but not still searing from the fryer. 
An order of meatballs ($14) is a hearty appetizer, too, and could easily be a meal. Five large orbs are topped with a mound of cheese, along with two big slices of focaccia bread. These, too, were hearty, and after dabbling in these two appetizers, the pizza seemed like an afterthought.

But, it's not an afterthought. The base for the pizza is focaccia and a lot goes a long way, which explains the price range on a full pizza from $32 to $40. It's enough food for four whole grown hungry people with maybe a couple of slices left over. There are 13 pizzas on offer, from pineapple bacon, quadruple cheese and spicy sweet soppressata to queso fundido. There's also spicy vegan pepperoni pizza along with gluten-free vegan options.

We cut each of our square slices in half, which cost from $4.50 to $6 each, and each one still seemed like a lot of food for one hand and mouth to handle at a time. We were committed, though, and managed.

This spot is cute; we'd definitely go back for takeout or to dine at the counter. Pizza Leila has a nitro negroni on tap; nitrogen gas helps impart a richer, silver texture to drinks. We didn't have one but look forward to imbibing on a return trip.

As for parking, signs in front of Pizza Leila explicitly say no parking, but oddly no one seemed to care on Saturday, making it easy to pop in, order and head back out in about 10 minutes. Otherwise, you can grab a metered spot nearby.

Pizza Leila, 2111 Flora St. Monday – Sunday, 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.