Deep dish pizza restaurant opening in Hoover

Patrick Decker is taking pizza to a deeper level with Deep Dish Pizza and Italian House, which is slated to open in November at 3000 Meadow Lake Drive.

Decker is the owner of several Jersey Mike’s franchise locations around Birmingham, as well as an ice cream and snacks shop in Homewood called Scoops, which opens later this month. He said a pizza restaurant has been on his mind for a while.

“I just always wanted to be in the pizza business, and I’ve always loved Chicago-style, stuffed crust pizzas, and there’s really not a big presence of that in Birmingham,” Decker said.

The menu will include classic Italian and Chicago style foods, such as meatball subs, Italian beef sandwiches, stuffed crust pizzas, baked ziti and other pastas, soups, salads and sides such as prosciutto-wrapped green beans. Deep Dish chef Johnny Harrington said the menu will feature Alabama produce when possible and everything from dough to sauces and toppings will be made in house.

“We're a truly scratch-made kind of place, and we pride ourselves in that,” Harrington said.

The restaurant will also serve gelato made at Scoops.

The menu is family style, Decker said, which means pizzas and other menu items meant to serve the entire table. Even single-person meals will have big portions, he said.

Deep Dish will offer delivery services and catering.

“We really want to fill that gap in the market, here, and believe a lot of our potential guests will appreciate the option for delivery,” Harrington said.

Renovations are under way at the restaurant, and the finished product will include an outdoor patio and a window for diners to watch the chefs in the kitchen at work.

Deep Dish will open on Nov. 7. Decker said he’s enjoying “creating something from nothing” with this new restaurant, and if it is successful he could see it becoming a franchise in the future.