We have some bad news to report.

Angie’s Pizza, the ultra-popular pop-up from Houston-born chef Angelo Emiliani, will be wrapping up operations as we know it this month. That means no more absurdly delicious Neapolitan and square pizza.

But there is good news: Emiliani isn’t going away; on the contrary—he tells Houstonia that he’s opening an all-day café late this summer in “the east side” of Houston. While Emiliani can’t give away too much information on the concept, he said his sister is coming in from California to open it, and they’ll be focusing on pastries. 

“It’s pretty inspired by the time that I had at Tartine,” says Emiliani about Los Angeles restaurant Tartine Bianco, a collaboration from famed San Francisco bakery Tartine and star chef Chris Bianco.

Emiliani calls Bianco a mentor and father figure, so this new café will be his chance to bring much of what he’s learned from that experience to Houston.

“It’ll be a relaxed, all-day café,” he says. “And I haven’t been here for long so, correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think that it’s something that Houston has a lot of.”

He’s right. A few high-profile all-day cafés opened between 2018 and early 2020, but local diners are still searching for a few more. Plus, two spots in particular—Penny Quarter from Justin Yu and Bobby Heugel, and Tropicales from Greenway Coffee’s David Buehrer—closed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

But what about pizza? Fans of Angie’s shouldn’t be too worried—Emiliani tells Houstonia that he’s working on a permanent spot for Angie’s. That will also be in the east side of town.

“That’s where we wanna be,” says Emiliani. “It’s cool, it’s where I live, and there’s a lot of stuff that’s happening there.”

Until then, before he hits pause, keep an eye on the Angie’s Pizza Instagram for your chance to fulfill those Neapolitan cravings.

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