Denton’s Flying Tomato (aka The Tomato Pizza) Is Plotting a Comeback

For more than two decades The Flying Tomato — later just The Tomato —  was a quintessential college pizza hangout across from the University of North Texas in Denton. Becky and Robert Slusarski opened the restaurant in 1984, and it was part of a special Fry Street era, uniquely weird and perfect.

The space burned down in 2007 in the Fry Street Fire, an act of arson to protest the redevelopment of the area. The Tomato never reopened in that location after the fire; a spot opened in Sanger in 2011 but closed the next year.

Great news today: the original owners’ son, Michael Slusarski, is bringing The Tomato back. A post on Facebook this morning got Dentonites and former UNT students in a dizzy:
We’d heard that The Tomato actually lived on for years as a small side hustle business for a few people who were in the know. The Slusarskis would bake pizzas for pick-up, sometimes making the exchange in a Dairy Queen parking lot. Soon, though, everyone will be able to have another slice of The Tomato.
Michael Slusarski confirms that the pizza will be the same.

“The plan is to do pizza by the slice like we used to at the store on Fry Street, personal-sized Chicago style, sandwiches and more,” he says.

Pizza ovens are often quite large, so finding the right kind of truck was a big challenge.

“We ended up finding a good deal on a trailer with more space than some of the food trucks/trailers I’ve seen recently,” Michael Slusarski says.

The menu will be tight to accommodate the small space. There’s no timeline or location yet, but Michael says they’ll have a better idea about all that in the coming weeks.

We will certainly follow-up.