Metro Pizza in the Northwest Is This Close to Opening

Grid View

• The new Metro Pizza in the northwest.
• The Metro Pizza sign is up.
• Lulu's Bread & Breakfast will open two weeks after Metro Pizza opens in mid-July.
• A view from the outside of Metro Pizza.
• The sign is up at Metro Pizza.
• The imprint as you walk in the front door at Metro Pizza.
• A look at the space for the pizza ovens to the left and the gelato and takeout area at the back.
• The future home of the pizza ovens.
• A look at the main dining room at Metro Pizza.
• The main dining room at Metro Pizza.
• The main dining room and bar at Metro Pizza.
• One of two chandeliers that will grace the ceiling.
• Lulu's Bread & Breakfast.
• The serpentine communal table inside Lulu's Bread & Breakfast.
• John Arena shows off the new bread oven from Italy.
• The Italian dough mixing machine.

The giddy anticipation of the first Metro Pizza to open in the northwest valley is palpable. The new location right off the 215 and 95 is that much closer to opening with a mid-July date slated.

Co-owner John Arena gave Eater Vegas a second tour of the new 11,500-square-foot digs that will look identical to the Green Valley outpost.

“We build these big stores because customer’s demand it, but my heart is in the bakery,” Arena says.

Already the ceramic tiles that mock wooden floors and a serpentine communal table in the new bakery, dubbed Lulu’s Bread & Breakfast, are ready to go. Here, Arena plans to offer artisanal breads from a hearth oven from Italy for all six Metro Pizza outlets. He tapped Chris Hanmer, who won Season 2 of Top Chef Just Desserts and owns the School of Pastry Design, to create the dessert menu as well as offer baking classes. The bakery plans to open two weeks after the restaurant.

In the kitchen, Arena landed a bread oven he’s pined for since 2001 straight out of Italy. Once the location opens, he plans to have all of his best dough makers relocate here to create the pizza dough in one place. A massive Italian mixing machine simulates hand mixing for a gentle touch with the dough.

This week, the front of the house gets chairs and custom light fixtures, including two chandeliers that echo the red lights that bedeck Mulberry Street in New York during the San Gennaro Feast.

Plus the restaurant is hiring, and interested parties should head over to the original location at 4001 S. Decatur Blvd. or 420 W. Horizon Ridge Parkway in Henderson to fill out applications. All positions are wide open.
· All Coverage of Metro Pizza [~ELV~]