Sunday, August 16, 2015

I Fratelli Pizza ~ Texas chain : Keller


I Fratelli now has 22 locations, mostly still in DFW with an additional 3 in Austin and 1 in Houston.

Latest visit: Aug 2015 (Keller)

First visit: Jan 2006 (Southlake)

We've previously written about the i Fratelli restaurant over in Irving / Las Colinas, and it's a favorite of the RJG household, as well as my business partners. But I haven't discussed the pizza outlets yet, which are exclusively take-out. I'd been to the Southlake location a few times since they opened, but I think the last visit was before I had this blog - or close to it. Now they have one in Keller in the same shopping center with Funky Baja's (next door actually) and Mo'Fish. In fact, I think this was a Little Caeser's prior that didn't make the grade. Anyway, that's good news for the RJG since his official Mom lives in some apartments nearby and she's somewhat of a pizza fanatic. So we did something the other night that I imagine will be habit forming: Show up to Mom's with a I Fratelli large pizza in hand! Works for me.

I would describe I Fratelli's pizza as "Dallas Style". It has its roots in the type of pizza served over in central Dallas since the 1950s. Namely Campisi's and Prego's. I Fratelli has direct ties to the Campisi family so this isn't all that much a surprise. Basically it's a very thin crust pizza, served in an irregular shape, somewhat like an oval - or a football. Mrs. RJG likes the crispy crust, and I like the generous toppings. Personally I wish they'd use more sauce, and a higher grade of cheese, but those are minor grumps. The official Mom is just happy to have pizza, though secretly she still desires a sloppy slice like she remembers growing up with in Long Island.

So far the Keller location has been a hit, as the parking lot was a traffic jam of pizza delivery cars! Good to see folks spending their hard earned money on the local boys rather than the national chains. I think they'll be around for a long time in this location.

1/7/06; 3/2/13 (new entry); 8/16/15

2 comments:

Francis Shivone said...

I think that is a good description of iFratelli, I agree. Growing up near Philly it's a little too Dallas for me, but I don't dislike them, it's just not what I was raised on.

Also, the tagline may highlight their distinction but it's wrong and kind of silly. I mean pizza is kind of defined by the guy in the storefront window throwing it. Imho.

RJG said...

Thanks Francis for all the comments!

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