Popular pizzeria in Sacramento’s Oak Park closes with ‘heavy hearts’. What happened?

Brianna Taylor
·2 min read
23

Sacramento said goodbye to a Tennessee-based pizzeria with hip-hop flare over the weekend.

Slim + Husky’s Pizza permanently closed the doors to its sole site in California on Sunday in Oak Park after three and half years in business, according to a sign posted to the eatery’s glass doors.

The 2,600-square-foot restaurant and bar, which often doubled as a community entertainment space, sat adjacent to Faria Bakery at 3413 Broadway and baked thin-crust pizza and plump cinnamon rolls.

The shop dripped with musical innuendos, from its slogan Pizza Rules Everything Around Me (P.R.E.A.M.), a riff on the classic Wu-Tang Clan single, to the meat-lover pizza coined Cee No Green.

Pizzas available at Slim & Husky’s Pizza Beeria are displayed in their outdoor courtyard, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020, in Sacramento.
Pizzas available at Slim & Husky’s Pizza Beeria are displayed in their outdoor courtyard, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020, in Sacramento.

“It’s with heavy hearts that we announce ... we are electing to close the doors in Oak Park for good,” the Black-owned pizza chain wrote in its farewell note.

“Overall operation and financial health” were just a couple of reasons behind the closure, the business added.

‘Everyone will be sorely missed’

Slim + Husky’s — founded by longtime friends Clint Gray, EJ Reed and Derrick Moore — opened its Oak Park location in 2020 because it was the “right area for their ethos,” a previous Sacramento Bee story states.

The Tennessee State University graduates donated free food to the Sacramento Food Bank, Oak Park Community Center and Women’s Civic Improvement Center.

“For more than three years we’ve had the opportunity to serve the Oak Park neighborhood in an effort to add to the vitality of the community,” the pizza chain said.

“We thank you for your support and patronage throughout the years and please know that everyone will be sorely missed.”

Inside, murals from Sacramento and Nashville Black artists covered the space. Even the bathroom walls were decked out with art.

The menu included a selection of artisan pizzas made from scratch with dough and sauce made daily. Customers could also create their own pie.

Workers make pizza at Slim & Husky’s Pizza Beeria on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020, in Sacramento’s Oak Park neighborhood.
Workers make pizza at Slim & Husky’s Pizza Beeria on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020, in Sacramento’s Oak Park neighborhood.

Also available were wings and cinnamon rolls.

The cinnamon rolls are a popular item at Slim & Husky’s Pizza Beeria on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020 in Sacramento’s Oak Park neighborhood.
The cinnamon rolls are a popular item at Slim & Husky’s Pizza Beeria on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020 in Sacramento’s Oak Park neighborhood.

Outside, the patio sat roughly 50 people.

The Oak Park location was dropped from a list of 11 other locations across Tennessee and Georgia.

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