Whether you call it Southern-style or soul-food pizza, the owners of Soul Circles Pizza Kitchen in Duncanville, Texas, just want you to call them and place an order in the accent of your choice.

D Magazine says founders Marlon Jackson and Sirr Rhodes are “likely the first” to offer a “Southern-style pizza” at Soul Circles, which currently shares space with the Smokey D’z BBQ restaurant and offers pizza for pickup and delivery only.

We’ll tell you what might make Soul Circles’ pizza a real-deal style in a minute, but let’s not forget that there are other pizza shops out there using some uniquely Deep South ingredients. Slice Pizza & Brew, for example, introduced the Soul Pie to Birmingham, Alabama, well over a decade ago. That white-sauce pizza comes topped with turnip greens and black-eyed peas, plus sausage, red onions, bacon and cheddar cheese. And Soul Slice in Oakland, California, baked up owner Karter Louis’ interpretation of pizza using a biscuit-based crust topped with options like black-eyed peas, sweet potatoes and even peach cobbler, but it appears to have gone out of business.

Regardless, Soul Circles does seem to be onto something unique—and very southern indeed. Jackson and Rhodes build their pies on a crust featuring a honey-wheat blend that’s made in-house every day. That flour blend alone sets Soul Circles apart as a potential pizza style innovator. Then pile on the Cajun boudin and shrimp for the Bayou Classic or the grilled chicken and collard greens (steeped in “potlikker,” no less) for the Southern Classic, and you’re talking about a pizza with a sweet-and-spicy southern drawl for sure.

Perhaps the most unique southern-themed pie on Soul Circles menu is the After Church, which features meatloaf, onions, garlic oil, red bell peppers and a drizzle of “soul sauce.”

Customers can also build their own pizzas with a choice of toppings like collard greens, crawfish tails, smoked brisket, meatloaf, smoked rib tips, boudin or shrimp—whatever makes them want to kick their shoes off and set a spell. And for $2.50, there’s a cold glass of Cajun Koolaid (in watermelon or green apple flavors) on the way.

The potlikker (a colorful name for the broth that remains after boiling collard greens) also lends a tasty twist to Soul Circles’ chicken wings, which are fried and then tossed in a seasoned potlikker sauce.

Rhodes and Jackson previously worked in the Italian food distribution industry, so they also know how to make classic Italian-American style pies. “We’ve both built an extensive list of clients in our professional careers, and Marlon has five years of experience working at an established pizza restaurant,” Rhodes told D Magazine. “We’ve also put a lot of thought into our business plan and the menu.”

OK, y’all, we’re sold.

Featured, Pizzerias