Pizza rocks, and rockers love pizza. So it’s about time the founders of rock band Murder By Death dove into the pizza biz.
Adam Turla and Sarah Balliet launched Pizza Lupo in Louisville, Kentucky, last year after they realized the Neapolitan-style pizza niche was largely unfilled in Louisville. “It’s always been something that we’ve talked about because we are very into eating,” Turla told The Manual.
Life on the road means a life in restaurants, pizza joints and diners for veteran musicians like Turla, the band’s vocalist/guitarist, and cellist/keyboardist Balliet. They have been touring in support of their records since the band formed in 2000. They’ve also made dozens of trips to Italy, often to visit Turla’s family. Those experiences inspired them to start the pizzeria of their dreams, with help from co-owner Max Balliet, a fine-dining veteran and owner of the Holy Mole Taco Truck who also happens to be Sarah’s brother.
To house their restaurant, the trio restored a brick building in Louisville's Butchertown neighborhood that dates back to the 1860s. They reused original materials for the bar, shelves, walls and benches to preserve the building’s history. They also imported a Ferrari oven from Modena, Italy, to fire the pies, which earned Pizza Lupo recognition as the city’s “Best New Restaurant” by Louisville Magazine last year.
Signature pies on the menu include the new Charizard (below), featuring porcetta, ember-roasted onions, bechamel, Moroccan olives, stracchino and basil; the Sting Like a Bee, made with fra’mani sopressata, spicy honey, tomatoes, fresh mozz and basil; and the Moonchild, topped with taleggio, potatoes, Moroccan olives, oyster mushrooms and bechamel.