Dewey’s Pizza opening in Ranch Mart South

Cincinnati, Ohio-based Dewey’s Pizza is entering the market with a new Overland Park location.

Dewey’s is taking three spaces in Ranch Mart South for a scheduled early July opening. According to Ranch Mart management, the previous tenants were a dry cleaners that closed, a nail salon that has relocated within Ranch Mart South and Oz’s Maq Donuts, which will relocate to another center. Officials with Oz’s Maq Donuts couldn’t be reached for comment.

“We’re super excited to be coming to Kansas City. We would like to do four or five locations and maybe six or seven,” said David Justice, operating partner of Dewey’s.

The full-service Dewey’s offers fresh ingredients for its hand-tossed specialty pizzas like the Edgar Allan Poe (with mozzarella, fontina, mushrooms, whole roasted garlic, kalamata olives, and goat cheese along with tomatoes and parsley after the bake), Ryan’s Inferno (mozzarella, Buffalo chicken, gorgonzola, and red onion topped with ranch dressing and celery after the bake) and Dr. Dre (mozzarella, green peppers, red onions, Amish chicken, bacon and jalapenos topped with tomatoes and ranch dressing after the bake).

Its pizza dough is proofed for 48 hours.

“That’s just letting the dough rise and that makes the dough softer,” Justice said. “The longer it goes the better it gets. It’s a lot of work for us to make fresh dough and then store it for two days before we use it.”

Customers also can build their own pizzas with a choice of red or white sauce and a selection of more than 50 toppings, including barbecue sauce, banana pepper, green olives, roasted red peppers, meatballs, pine nuts, spinach, ricotta cheese and sun-dried tomatoes.

Other menu items include craft beers from across the country, wine, calzones, salads with house-made dressing, and desserts made by a local vendor. It also offers seasonal selections like its current Harvest Salad (field greens with fresh figs, Applewood bacon, pumpkin seeds and Boursin cheese tossed with its apple cider honey vinaigrette), and its Bleu Ribbon pizza (olive oil, mozzarella, pulled ham, caramelized red onions, chicken and provolone, with aioli and parsley added after bake).

The privately held company was founded by Andrew DeWitt in 1998 and currently has 16 locations in Ohio and six in St. Louis.

Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken sets opening in KCK

Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken plans a Feb. 8 opening for its first KC area location in Kansas City, Kan.

The Memphis-based fried chicken chain is taking a spot in the newly remodeled NorthWood Shopping Center, 2816 W. 47th Ave., Kansas City, Kan., formerly Fairway North Shopping Center. The 3,400-square-foot restaurant also will have a patio.

NorthWood is next to Joe’s Kansas City Bar-B-Que and across from a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market. Taco Republic and Lulu’s Asian Bistro also are nearby.

Andrew Johnson, managing partner for the area franchise group, grew up with Gus’s in Memphis and describes it as “crispy, spicy and consistently good.”

The chain has been rapidly expanding, picking sites in such cities as St. Louis, Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Fort Worth, Knoxville and Detroit. Once it “proves itself” at the new Kansas City, Kan., location, it could open another restaurant in the area, company officials said.

The first Gus’s opened in 1984, serving chicken with “just enough cayenne pepper to let you know it’s there,” according to one reviewer. Other menu items include baked beans, fried green tomatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, fried okra, slaw, sweet tea and beer.

This story was originally published January 26, 2016 at 4:47 PM with the headline "Dewey’s Pizza opening in Ranch Mart South."