This popular Miami restaurant struggled during COVID. Now it’s becoming a pizzeria
The popular French-Persian restaurant Fooq’s is making a sharp pandemic pivot — to pizza.
The downtown restaurant, where owner David Foulquier has made a name for himself as a Forbes magazine 30 Under 30 honoree, is switching concepts completely to become the takeout-only Eleventh Street Pizza starting March 4.
“I had to play the hand I was dealt,” Foulquier said. “This is a way for us to stay relevant during the pandemic.”
Fooq’s, which instantly became a downtown favorite after opening in 2014, struggled during the coronavirus pandemic to reopen as a downsized version of itself in its small dining room. Foulquier experimented with hosting different restaurant pop ups, including the Lil’ Laos Laotion concept, which went on to open a permanent spot in The Citadel food hall in Little Haiti.
Its most successful pop up was Da Lida, a two-month pasta pop up that proved easier to manage — but inside dining remained a problem. (Foulquier’s girlfriend contracted COVID-19 while at the restaurant, and it switched immediately to takeout only.)
So when Da Lida ended in December, Foulquier turned to a longtime interest in opening a pure pizza restaurant, for takeout only. He ordered a pizza oven and hired the laid-off pizzaiolo from one of his favorite New York City pizza restaurants, Aquiles Bisogni, a 29-year veteran of Joe’s Pizza on Carmine Street in Greenwich Village who recently moved to South Florida.
Eleventh Street Pizza will be a blend of classic New York style pizza with naturally leavened sourdough with Bisogni in charge. They are calling it neo-New York style pizza.
Pies are not pedestrian by any means. They include the Wild Shroom, made with local wild maitake mushrooms, shallots, fresh homemade mozzarella, garlic confit and caramelized onions. The Nerano uses local roasted zucchini, pistachio caciocavallo cheese, mozzarella. and fresh homemade stracciatella. The pepperoni and hot honey uses organic tomatoes, roasted red onion and Calabrian chili paste with local orange blossom honey.
Sicilian square slices and a meatball sub will also be available.
“I thought about how I could make it better than the other New York style pizza places,” he said.
This won’t be mass-market pizza. Only about 25-30 pies will be available every day, Foulquier said, since the dough is hand made without a mixer. Think of it like barbecue: first-come, first-served until the food runs out. Orders can be placed days in advance.
“I’m a perfectionist when it comes to quality,” he said.
Prices will range from $24-$32, which puts it in line with South Florida’s highest-end pizza, Brooklyn import Lucali in Miami Beach.
Orders initially will only be taken via the website and app Tock, which costs restaurants less than the average 30 percent fee taken by delivery apps like Grub Hub and Uber Eats. But Foulquier said he will eventually make Eleventh Street Pizza available through the ubiquitious apps.
Fooq’s is not going away permanently, Foulquier said. He hopes to open the restaurant in a new location that lends itself to outdoor dining in time for next fall.
Eleventh Street Pizza
Address: 1035 N Miami Ave., downtown Miami
Hours: 5-10 p.m., Wednesday-Friday. 1-10 p.m., Saturday-Sunday
Order online: Through Tock.com
