New Philly-style pizza joint will take over La Taqueria

📸: La Taqueria quickly closed up shop sometime in August / Facebook

After weeks in limbo, the fate of La Taqueria appears to be in the hands of 2 Burley Men.

Scott Burley, who owns the moving company, officially took over the lease from the popular Fort Street Mexican restaurant on Aug. 15.

La Taqueria Pinche Shop still operates four other locations on the Lower Mainland.

The move was sudden, even Burley admits, but he intends to open up a new restaurant as soon as possible.

Since he took over the lease for La Taqueria, he’s also taken over most of its equipment, and he will be spending the next month or two rebranding the place from a Mexican restaurant to a Philadelphia-style pizza and hoagie restaurant, à la Angelo’s Pizzeria in South Philly.

“We painted it with new colours, there’s a new floor, and we’ve extended the kitchen—the pizza oven is much bigger than what was in here before,” he says.

Despite having never traveled to Philadelphia, Burley thanks the internet for the access and inspiration.

“It’s not going to be pan pizza, it’s going to be cooked right on stones—similar to wood-fired pizza,” he says. “I haven’t been [to Philadelphia], but I was inspired by a ton of YouTube videos.”

To help, Burley says he’s hired a chef from Boom + Batten and other consultants to shape the menu and make unique recipes (such as vodka sauce, he says) while achieving the classic hoagie sandwich stack most Victoria residents are likely used to from Hero Sandwich Bar.

“You shouldn’t be able to go down the street and get the same thing,” says Burley.

The restaurant will still be a sit-down place; but opposed to La Taqueria, you’ll head to the counter to order, and it will be a great place for takeout, too. “It’ll be a casual setting,” he says.

The restaurant will be called Serena’s Pizzeria, named after Burley’s daughter.