Pizza shop to open on Greenville Avenue in Dallas, in place of former Wayward Sons

A Dallas-area restaurateur plans to "Testa-fy" the defunct restaurant at 3525 Greenville Avenue, across the street from the Granada Theater. Pizzeria Testa is expected to open in the 6,000 square-foot former Wayward Sons space in late 2017 or early 2018.

Testa is the maiden name of owner Rod Schaefer's mother, whose Italian family helped inspire the restaurant. Schaefer opened his first Pizzeria Testa in his home city of Frisco. Dallas is Testa 2.0.

Pizzeria Testa is a Neapolitan pizza shop, which means its pies are cooked quickly -- 60 to 90 seconds -- in a super-hot oven that weighs 7,000 pounds and can get up to 1,000 degrees.

Keeping with Neapolitan tradition, the restaurant imports its flour from Naples and uses mozzarella di buffala on its pizzas.

Schaefer says Greenville Avenue in Dallas was "an area we've been wanting to come to for quite some time" and that the former Wayward Sons restaurant was just right.

"We love the space because it already has a lot of the feel that we like. But we are going to change it to where it really fits who we are," he says.

The menu will be similar to the Frisco restaurant, but Schaefer hints that he has "different things in store which I can't talk about." Pizzeria Testa 2.0, in Dallas, is expected to serve antipasti and pizzas -- both pizze rosse (red) and pizze bianche (white).

Pizzeria Testa is expected to open at 3525 Greenville Ave., Dallas, in late 2017 or early 2018.