Lately, the Dallas restaurant scene has felt more like a high-stakes competition to see who can offer the priciest, most extravagant food and drinks. Yet, amid $350 steaks and $28,500 bottles of wine, two restaurateurs set out to create an affordable, old-school pizza joint, complete with red-and-white-checkered tablecloths and multigenerational family photos lining the walls.
Will and Julie Salisbury met while working at Bullion, a celebrated high-end French brasserie in Downtown Dallas that has since closed. He was working as a chef, and she was on staff as a sommelier. From there, they often found themselves employed at the same luxe dining spots, including Monarch, Carbone, and Carbone Vino.
Last December, they got married by a justice of the peace, quickly exchanging rings before heading to their jobs that night. Some of their family members weren’t happy with the decision to forgo a big ceremony, but the couple had bigger plans.
“We took all the money that we would have spent on a wedding, and we put a down payment on a house, and decided we’re gonna build something for our family and the rest of our lives,” Will says.
When the space that formerly housed Be Home Soon (and Dugg Burger before that) in Casa Linda Plaza, at the corner of Garland Road and Buckner Boulevard, became available, the Salisburys knew it was time to seize the opportunity and bring their concept to life.
“We wanted to offer a dinner option that is great for kids, but also gives parents a dignified experience,” Julie says.
Once they secured the location, the real work began. To make the most of their capital, the couple did most of the renovations and decorating themselves. That meant assembling chairs, installing black-and-white tiles throughout the space, painting the walls, refinishing the bar, and even rewiring the Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga arcade game.
“We watch a lot of YouTube because I’m not a carpenter, I’ve never been a plumber or electrician, any of those trades,” Will says. “But if you need to do something, you figure it out because all those things are expensive, too. If we hired all these people to do what we needed, it would’ve tripled the amount of money for us to open.”
The restaurant officially made its debut on August 18, when the Salisburys opened the doors to their first customers and were met with enthusiastic crowds. The Dallas Morning News published a story prior to the opening, and the promise of a new dinner spot—an affordable one at that—thrilled many residents of Casa Linda, Lake Highlands, Little Forest Hills, and other surrounding neighborhoods.
The space itself is cozy, with only 13 two-top tables and 12 bar stools, which fill up by 5 p.m., shortly after the restaurant opens at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Between 5 and 7:30 p.m., the wait can stretch from 45 minutes to an hour.
Salisbury’s opening menu showcases a tight list of classics. Everything on the menu already includes tax, so what you see is what you pay. Among the six appetizers are comforting favorites such as meatballs, garlic knots, and Caesar salad. A trio of pastas includes a limited-availability lasagna, which may sound pricey at $28.95, but the portion is large enough to feed four people, especially if you add a salad or slice.
Because pizza is the only menu item in the restaurant’s name, it’s the primary focus, according to the Salisburys.
“It’s an 18-inch pie, thin crust, and it’s New York style because that’s what I grew up with as a kid. I like a foldable slice, and I wanted to make pizza that could travel well, especially once we get delivery off the ground because takeout will be a huge part of our business, especially with our limited number of tables,” Will says. “But the pizza is really our own Salisbury-style. New York-style is just the canvas we’re starting with.”
To make the dough, Will says they’re not using cheap flour, dry active yeast, a ton of sugar, and olive oil, as many slice shops in New York City do. Instead, the Salisburys use a carefully selected blend of flours and a long fermentation in a multistep process to create a thin crust that still has some chew, with slightly crisp edges and just the right amount of golden-brown char.
Slices, each one-sixth of an 18-inch pie, start at $3.95 and come in six predetermined combinations, including classic cheese with red sauce and a Bianco with white sauce and fresh oregano. More substantially loaded slices range from $4.95 to $5.95 and include pepperoni, veggie supreme, and housemade sausage with broccoli rabe, peppers, and ricotta.
The most unusual slice, at least in this neck of the woods, is the ziti pizza.
“It’s a Jersey thing. I grew up with it,” Will says. “These guys would make a couple of ziti pies, and when they ran out, they ran out. Kind of like barbecue around here. But we have ziti slices all day.”
Just as it sounds, a ziti slice comes loaded with a mound of baked, red-sauced pasta, ricotta, stracciatella, and fresh herbs. If you’re looking to carb-load, this one’s for you.
To customize your pizza, you’ll have to order an entire 18-inch pie, which starts at $22.95 for one topping. Choose a base of red or white sauce, then add from four types of cheese, 10 vegetables, and six meats, ranging from anchovies to pancetta.
Rounding out the menu are two styles of fried chicken cutlets: Parm’d or “Salisbury style.” The former comes with the traditional red sauce and cheese, while the latter is simply served with a wedge of lemon to squeeze on top.
“If you want to have it with your pasta or a salad, it’s perfect. That’s the way my mother would make the cutlets. We never had chicken parm at the house,” Will says. “That wasn’t a home dish. The simple cutlets were our favorite as kids, but chicken parm was something you got at a restaurant. Just like anything with vodka sauce. No self-respecting Italian mother makes vodka sauce at home.”
Julie has been certified by The Court of Master Sommeliers Americas since 2017, and she’s working toward her level four diploma with the Wine & Spirit Education Trust. Given her background, she’s eager to offer impressive wines at lower-than-expected prices. House wines, for one, are less than $10 a glass.
“The wine’s doing fabulously. Our wine menu is supposed to be accessible, so if you want to come in and not think about it and just get the house red, white, or sparkling, it’s gonna be the best house red you’ve ever had,” Julie says. “I get told that every day by customers.”
Julie says the house red, for example, is a Barbera. And like all the reds, it’s chilled to the proper service temperature rather than served at room temperature, as it is at some bars and restaurants.
“We’re not making hand-over-fist on this like some restaurants that might pay $5 bottle and charge eight bucks for one glass. We’re not crushing the margins, but it’s such a priority for me to give core value, and the quality is going to be there, too.”
The Salisburys plan to be in the business for a long time, allowing the menu to evolve along the way.
“Our biggest priority is taking everything we learned in fine-dining restaurants and approach regular food with the same attention to detail and intention, whether it be for the ingredients or the actual process of making it. For instance, there’s nothing mind-blowingly different about the bolognese we serve, other than the fact that we buy really good ingredients and we care very much about making it absolutely delicious,” Will says.
Less than a month after opening, both Salisburys are humbled by the amount of business they’ve already received.
“I think the really remarkable part about all of this is that you see how many little guardian angels and cheerleaders there are for the little guy, people like us that are bootstrapping and trying to make their dreams come true in a very honest way,” Julie says. “We couldn’t be more vulnerable, in the sense that these are our family photos on the walls. We did the renovations ourselves. It’s all us. But people are surrounding us with a sense of love and camaraderie that we could never have expected. It’s very humbling.”
The laughter among people lined up outside, gathered in the waiting area, and lingering in the hallway near the arcade game and cash register suggests diners are happy to wait for the pizza. At the bar, neighbors who may live only a few blocks apart strike up conversations, some meeting for the first time at the restaurant.
“This is really about creating a place that everyone feels welcome,” she says. “You can come as you are. You can have a date night or bring the whole family.”
After working as a chef in some of Dallas’ most demanding, high-profile restaurants, Will welcomes the change of pace, even if it still comes with 18-hour days.
“It’s the most fun I’ve had in a restaurant in years,” he says. “That’s my favorite part of it. I’m having a great time every single night.”
Salisbury’s Pizza, 9540 Garland Rd., Ste. 407, salisburyspizza.com
