“I’m the owner on paper, but my fiancée tells me what to do all day,” Gildenblatt said. “We’re 100% family-owned and operated. It’s me, my fiancée, a little brother, two other little sisters, and then I’ve got another little sister, who’s actually 10 and created our Evans mini pizza for the kids’ menu.”
Gildenblatt’s story began with his family’s advertising company. It was there that he met his fiancée and where talks of opening up a restaurant for people to enjoy their product began.
“My grandfather, who passed away about three months ago, was in the advertising business his whole entire life," he said. "He had a couple of investments, and he said, 'I want us to open up a place as a family where I can hang up my hat and watch people enjoy our product,' because he had always done business over the phone. So, we found a little pizza shop in our hometown."
It was then and there that Gildenblatt and his family began to create their new business.
Entirely self-taught from YouTube, the family used trial and error to create their most successful crust – the Texas style crust. It is a New York thin-style crust with sauce all the way to the edge of the dough, which is then folded over the sauce and brushed with garlic butter.
“The first day we were here, we were just practicing," Gildenblatt said. "We never had the idea to do that, and my dad goes ‘Hey son, throw me out a pizza pie.’ So, I threw out a pie. He put sauce and, in the end, folded over the edges. We put it in the oven, [and] we took it out. I was like, 'That’s the business. That crust is delicious.'"
Gildenblatt also hired a professional chef, Vinicius Fernandes from Brazil, to help take the concept to the next level.
“He’s classically trained in pizza, so he shot up the knowledge of what we do here," Gildenblatt said. "I knew the basics, but Vini came in and showed us how to do what we want to do [in a] professional [way]."
Today, the restaurant serves both New York and Texas-style crusts, both by the slice or the entire pie.
The restaurant also has a BYOB policy, allowing customers to bring their own drinks to the shop. Dine-in, delivery and takeout are available.
In one year since the restaurant's opening, Gildenblatt said he has learned a lot and continues to grow the business despite several obstacles.
“It’s been scary, [and] it’s been fun," he said. "Most of all, it’s so cool to see the family work together. Pizza should be with the family, and pizza brings people together. It’s literally breaking bread.”
Sauce'd
110 N. Main St., Grapevine
817-527-6009
sauced.pizza
Hours: Mon.-Thu. 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sun. noon-8 p.m.
