New York-bred passion fuels new pizza spot coming to Albuquerque’s West Side

Frank Khalil vividly remembers his first experience with Italian food.

It was a snowy day in New York and a group of co-workers at the engineering company Khalil worked for convinced him to get lunch with them at a local Italian eatery. The group barely got in, and it took half an hour before the packed establishment took Khalil’s order — but in the chaos, he had a realization.

“I saw this guy behind the counter, and he’s calling out names and the pastas and the pizzas,” Khalil said. “I’m looking at him, how he operates, and I saw me. I said, ‘OK, this is it.’”

Khalil liked being an engineer but it was never a passion, he said. During that experience, he saw an opportunity to pursue a passion-filled career making pizzas and never looked back.

He opened his first pizza shop in upstate New York six months later, which he said reaffirmed his decision and fueled the opening of five more shops, with help from his brothers.

Now, Khalil is launching a new pizza shop in the Duke City — one he said will reflect fresh passion, New York-inspired recipes and lessons learned from 30 years of pizza making.

Johnny’s Pizza, named after Khalil’s only son, will make its debut on Albuquerque’s West Side in early February at 10401 Golf Course NW. The shop will employ up to eight people.

“Every business I open, it’s like having a newborn,” Khalil said. “It’s a beautiful feeling starting a business. It’s just excitement.”

Khalil and his brothers sold all their New York pizza shops and moved to New Mexico nearly 17 years ago. One of Khalil’s brothers came first in 2006 and launched Sahara Middle Eastern Eatery near the University of New Mexico before convincing Khalil to make the move.

“It was love at first sight,” Khalil said. “It’s just a smaller community. You see it, and you just feel connected.”

Johnny’s Pizza isn’t Khalil’s first business venture in the Land of Enchantment. He has previously owned grocery stores and had two pizza shops called Goodfellas Pizza across Albuquerque, Belen and Los Lunas. He sold the last of those shops a year and a half ago, deciding to take a break from business to spend more time with his kids.

“I worked too hard, and I didn’t spend enough time with them,” Khalil said.

But after a few family trips and finding a more centrally located shop space, Khalil feels ready to jump back into the restaurant scene.

His son, Johnathan Khalil, said he’s supportive of the venture and sees a future role in the business.

“Not a lot of kids my age can say they have a place named after them, so that’s cool,” said the son, a junior at Cottonwood Classical Preparatory School. “I definitely want to pursue a similar path in business.”

Johnny’s Pizza will occupy an end unit that was formerly a Motor Vehicle Division location at Golf Course Marketplace, a shopping center on the corner of Golf Course and McMahon NW near Smith’s and Lovelace Westside Hospital. The shopping center — which houses a Wing Stop, Subway, Perico’s, Rose Garden and a nail salon — is 100% occupied with the addition of the pizza joint, according to Resolut RE broker Austin Tidwell.

Frank Khalil signed a five-year lease for the unit, which he chose because of the shopping center’s frequent foot traffic; the smaller, more manageable size of the space; and the residential and occupational density in the surrounding area.

“I can see it as a neighborhood pizza place,” Frank Khalil said. “It felt like we belong here.”

Renovations on the 1,200-square-foot space began earlier this month.

As far as the menu goes, Frank Khalil said the West Side can expect high-quality, locally sourced ingredients; fresh sauce, meats and dough; and a New York-style pie marked by thin, crunchy slices.

The shop will cook its pizzas in a conveyor brick oven from Canada. It has moving parts that Frank Khalil said maintain the same quality and taste found in brick oven-cooked pizzas but provide more consistency in how the dough cooks.

The menu will offer a wide selection of toppings — even pineapple, despite Frank Khalil’s personal belief that the fruit doesn’t belong on pizza. But he respects unique pizza combinations, Frank Khalil said, and is open to suggestions for the menu.

“If you really like one that you ate in a different country or state and you say, ‘Man, Albuquerque’s never had that,’ Please tell me. And if I like it, I’m going to make it and maybe even name it after you,” Frank Khalil said.

Whether patrons indulge in a unique customer-inspired slice, a slice with pineapple or a familiar pepperoni option, Frank Khalil has just one request.

“Don’t eat it with a fork and knife, please,” he said. “You have to fold it.”

Kylie Garcia covers retail and real estate for the Journal. You can reach her at kgarcia@abqjournal.com.