Pizza restaurant called Wheated planned in Highlands

Wheated is finally getting close to opening at 1553 Bardstown Road after more than two years of work (original post is here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=26131 ). It recently applied for a liquor license, which usually means it’s a couple of months from opening.

It’s connected to a sourdough pizza restaurant/cocktail and whiskey bar in Brooklyn that’s also called Wheated. The owners of the Brooklyn Wheated, who are part-owners of the Louisville restaurant, chose the name because they like wheated bourbon. The Brooklyn Wheated has also started making bagels; I wonder if they’ll do that in Louisville.

I can’t find a website for the Louisville restaurant yet, but here are links to the Brooklyn Facebook page and a New York Times story about the place.

https://www.facebook.com/WHEATEDBROOKLYN/

https://archive.is/ip7ev

[Robin Garr]

Interesting! I actually remember that Pete Wells story. Definitely worth a look ... I hope it opens soon because pizza.

I'm intrigued by the sourdough crust and, according to the Pete Wells article, the fact they put the sauce on top of the cheese. I'm a big fan of that type of layering and I wished more places did so. Impressed that they persevered over the last couple of years to see this through. I look forward to trying them.

[Robin Garr]

Same here, Steve. That sauce-over-cheese is really the Italian way. So, when do they open!?

Lot of similarities between this and Chicago deep dish, ranging from not slicing carry-out pizza unless asked to the "reverse" layering with sauce on top to the paper underneath that absorbs steam / lets it escape!

Especially interesting to me that in some older discussions of Chicago deep dish these were either not mentioned or were mentioned disparagingly, but now it's a "new way" of doing things that works very well!

Business First has a story today about Wheated that notes that construction is still underway and there's no firm timeline for when it will open.

https://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/ ... lands.html

If anyone's interested in learning more about David Sheridan, who co-founded the original Wheated in Brooklyn, the Pizza City podcast talked to him back in 2022; it's pretty interesting. (There's also a podcast episode that features Max Balliet from Pizza Lupo that I haven't had a chance to listen to yet.)

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show ... yn-e1siv23

Same here, Steve. That sauce-over-cheese is really the Italian way. So, when do they open!?

I'm not so sure that that's the way they do it nowadays. If you go to their Brooklyn website all of the pictures they show of pizzas have the topping on top. Maybe this just for show but it certainly makes you start thinking about how they make their pizzas.

I'm not so sure that that's the way they do it nowadays. If you go to their Brooklyn website all of the pictures they show of pizzas have the topping on top. Maybe this just for show but it certainly makes you start thinking about how they make their pizzas.

There is a famous Brooklyn restaurant, L&B Spumoni Gardens on 86th Street in Bensonhurst. They have been doing sauce on top since the 30's. We have always referred to that as Bklyn pizza. https://spumonigardens.com

Looking forward to trying this place and making the hubby angry, as he HATES sauce on top

Wheated has been hiring for a couple of weeks, and its liquor license was issued Thursday, so I’d guess at least a soft opening is very close. I still can’t find a website or Facebook page, but there are a bunch of photos on Instagram. It looks like they put a lot of effort into the renovations. Based on the help-wanted ads, they plan to be open Wednesday through Sunday, only in the evening.

https://www.instagram.com/wheatedlouisville/

[Robin Garr]

That dinner-only model seems to have expanded a lot since the pandemic. Cost reduction or lack of a market for lunch, I wonder?

It makes sense that restaurants would abandon lunch especially on week days. Since the pandemic and explosion of WFH, office workers aren't getting lunch the way they used to.

I think it’s also common that restaurants start with more limited hours and expand them as they work out the kinks. On the flip side, I think lack of parking impedes work day lunch business along that corridor, so that may also play a part here.

They have an Instagram page with pictures:
https://www.instagram.com/wheatedlouisville/
and GoogleMaps has plenty of pictures posted including the menu.
A week ago, I searched for a phone # to order a takeout, and not finding one, just hopped in the car and took the 5 minute drive there.
I was greeted by one of the owners who sheepishly admitted that they didn't have a phone # yet. I ordered the "Bensonhurst" with artichokes, mushrooms and spinach as added toppings. It came out in less than 15 minutes.
This pizza, like Lupo and Coals, is cooked in an oven hot enough to produce a slight char on parts of the crust and bubbles, which is a feature I personally like ( IMHO, char is an underrated flavor that's starting to make inroads... charred carrots at Lupo, Decade and Perso ). Once home, we dug in and weren't disappointed. The crust stood up to a center-fold (I'm talking about the off-plate eating technique here, not a magazine feature). The toppings were nicely proportioned and well distributed. We'll definitely put this on our go-to list. What's especially good for me is that it's so close by. Years ago, when Coal's first opened, they discouraged take-out citing this issue, but i guess Covid changed that along with everything else.
Despite just being opened. they were surprisingly busy and have an ample sized covered front porch. When I asked if dogs were allowed outside, the owner told me they hadn't thought of that one way or the other. Maybe they'll know by the time they get a phone, until then, it's carry-out.

A week ago, I searched for a phone # to order a takeout, and not finding one, just hopped in the car and took the 5 minute drive there. I was greeted by one of the owners who sheepishly admitted that they didn't have a phone # yet.

I've been waiting until I could order online or by phone, but I guess I should just order in person.

Here are some menu photos people posted online. Pizza prices seem comparable to Lupo (although they're less than Wheated charges in Brooklyn).

Pizza menu: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1 ... 1360-h1020

Cocktail menu: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1 ... 1360-h1020

And in addition to being on Instagram, Wheated is on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/people/Wheated ... 440504426/

[Robin Garr]

Good news ... it's taken a minute! Thanks, guys, for your quick reports.