Cary’s Pizza La Stella calls it quits, but a new wood-burning pizzeria plans to move in
A little more than a year after moving from downtown Raleigh to Cary, Pizza La Stella has closed and will reopen next month as a new pizzeria.
Jacksonville, Florida’s V Pizza is making its move into the Triangle, buying out the La Stella space at 1389 Kildaire Farm Road in Cary’s Shoppes of Kildaire shopping center. The new owners hope to open V Pizza by mid-January.
V Pizza opened its first location five and a half years ago, co-owner Paul Scott said, and is now up to five locations in Jacksonville, plus one more in Gainesville. Scott said the chain was inspired by a trip he and his business partner took with their moms to Italy.
“We loved the pizza so much, we thought, ‘We want that in Jacksonville,’” Scott said.
Like Pizza La Stella, V Pizza will be cooked in a wood-fire oven and specialize in craft beer, wings, salads and sandwiches.
La Stella owner Rudy Theale confirmed the purchase. Prior to moving to Raleigh, Theale was a managing partner in V Pizza, according to reporting from the Jacksonville Business Journal, but he said he’s no longer part of the ownership group.
This ends a nearly four-year run for La Stella as a Triangle pizza brand, initially opening on Fayetteville Street in downtown Raleigh, and then with iterations on Hillsborough Street and later in Cary.
V Pizza cites food quality
Scott said that while La Stella and other restaurants use wood-burning pizza ovens, he believes the quality of V Pizza sets it apart.
“We start with the best products in the world,” Scott said. “We don’t care about food costs, we don’t talk about food costs. ...The (buffalo mozzarella) we use is no more than 12 days from Italy to your plate in front of you.
“It’s over-the-top quality,” Scott said. “Pizza La Stella, I’m sure was fine and they may look alike and be a similar concept. But a cubic zirconia looks just like a diamond.”
V Pizza appears to be popular in Jacksonville, with the five locations all having a 4 1/2-star Yelp rating with hundreds of reviews. The television station News 4 Jax ranked V Pizza the second best Italian restaurant in Jacksonville.
Scott said Pizza La Stella officials reached out three months ago to ask whether V Pizza might be interested in taking over the Cary restaurant. In thinking about expanding out of Florida, Scott said the Raleigh area stood out in the South as an area with a well-traveled population that’s into food.
In other words, filled with folks who might know what pizza tastes like in Italy.
“People (in the Raleigh area) understand food and quality,” Scott said. “They know that you have to pay a little more for a quality product.”
V Pizza looks to add more locations in the Triangle, Scott said. One-year employee Anthony Rapillo will move to North Carolina from Jacksonville to operate the Cary V Pizza, Scott said, along with other employees.
This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 12:01 PM with the headline "Cary’s Pizza La Stella calls it quits, but a new wood-burning pizzeria plans to move in."
