Perla’s Pizza, the nonconformist pie house by Michael Collantes, will reopen this fall in Winter Park

Michael Collantes is resuscitating Perla’s Pizza, the pie concept he started with Christian Ziegler (no, not this Christian Ziegler) in February 2021 before the pair mutually agreed to dissolve the business just six months into its existence.

Ziegler took over Perla’s space on Virginia Drive and reopened it as Ziggie’s Pizza. But, later this year, Collantes will open Perla’s Pizza v2.0 two doors down from his omakase house Soseki, and next door to his sake lounge Bar Kada, in Winter Park.

In my review from May 2021, I said I was a fan of the nonconformist pies being fired up at Perla’s, particularly the unconventional toppings like pineapple jam and (my favorite) bananas:

So go ahead and scarf down a cheesy, red-sauce pie dotted with curled-up rounds of pepperoni, Calabrese peppers and bananas. That’s right, bananas. Call me bananas, but it’s a great combination. The only thing missing? More bananas. The fruity flavor was subtle at best, and I wanted to, uhh, taste the bananas in this pizza they call “It’s Bananas.” Speaking of, remember Bananas magazine? Man, I was bananas for it. That is, until they put Scott Baio on the cover. Blecch!

So will bananas make it onto the menu of the new Perla’s?

“All I can say is it’s Florida Man pizza,” says Collantes. “We’re using pizza as a vessel to create something tasty and nontraditional. Really, it’s just pizza we like to eat. And, yes, bananas will make it onto our pizza.”

Yesss!

And get this, Florida Man: Collantes is promising even more oddball combinations this time around. “Something at every pizza spot in New York City is this vodka penne pizza. We’re  going to do a play on that called Mom’s Spaghetti.”

Ooh, maybe it’ll have meatballs … and bananas.

Perla’s Pizza will open in “late fall” at 959 W. Fairbanks Ave. in the space that previously housed the Winter Park Collective, and Wine Barn before that.

Be sure to follow @perlaspizza for all the latest.

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This article appears in Jun 5-11, 2024.