A Dallas IT professional and self-described Cowboys superfan has turned his karaoke-night friendships into a pizzeria, opening Starboy’s Pizzeria inside the Medical District’s Food Nation Cinco Cocinas food hall at 4711 Maple Avenue. John Flores, who goes by the nickname Starboy, built the concept around New York-style pizza bases topped with Mexican flavors like birria, elote, al pastor, and chicken fajitas, filling the stall left behind when the longtime Sal’s Pizza closed earlier this year.
Flores created the restaurant after meeting food hall co-founders Ray Quintanilla and Mico Rodriguez while hosting karaoke nights at Mico’s Bar, according to CultureMap Dallas. When Sal’s Pizza closed, Quintanilla and Rodriguez saw an opening to fill the space with a refreshed pizza concept, and Flores says Rodriguez was the one who inspired him to take on the project. Rodriguez, celebrated across Dallas as the “Godfather of Dallas Tex-Mex” and co-founder of Mi Cocina, died at age 68 earlier this month after experiencing heart attack symptoms, as reported by CultureMap Dallas.
A Mentor’s Final Project
Rodriguez’s death came just weeks before Starboy’s Pizzeria opened its doors, giving the launch an added layer of tribute. His restaurant resume stretched back decades: he co-founded the original Mi Cocina in 1991 as a 12-table Tex-Mex spot at Preston Road and Forest Lane alongside partners Ray Washburne, Dick Washburne, and Bob McNutt under M Crowd Restaurant Group, according to People Newspapers. He later launched the upscale Mr. Mesero brand on McKinney Avenue in 2011, which grew into the Mesero chain before he spun off Doce Mesas, a concept he ran until 2025 before turning his focus to the Maple Avenue food hall project, the outlet’s report on his passing noted.
Flores named his pizzeria Starboy to reflect both his love of the Cowboys and a fascination with NASA and space, per the CultureMap Dallas report. He says his Mexican heritage and his mother’s influence — she hosted family gatherings and fed everyone who came through her door — also shaped the venture, and he wants Starboy’s to give back to the community the same way. Flores still hosts karaoke nights at Mico’s Bar and runs Cowboys watch parties, while his children Nathan, Natalie, and Amy help manage the pizzeria’s social media, website, and promotion.
A Food Hall Built to Preserve Local Ownership
The building at 4711 Maple Avenue has its own backstory tied to neighborhood preservation. Quintanilla, a Dallas native and founding board member of DART, originally launched the space in 2022 as Maple Street Food Hall, repurposing his family’s former furniture store to keep local Latino business ownership intact amid surrounding redevelopment, according to CultureMap Dallas. He divided the 8,400-square-foot building into five separate kitchen stalls, a central beverage counter called Crooked Tree Bar, and a 1,000-square-foot outdoor patio with big-screen televisions, per the same outlet.
That preservation effort sits inside a rapidly changing stretch of the Medical District. The Maple Avenue corridor saw major revitalization heading into 2024, anchored by Maple Terrace, a 3.37-acre mixed-use development that pairs a historic 1920s facade with a 22-story residential tower and ground-floor dining, the outlet reported. Maple Avenue has shifted from standalone local shops into a dense dining destination built around the area’s major medical institutions.
Replacing a 42-Year Pizza Fixture
Starboy’s Pizzeria took over the stall formerly occupied by Sal’s Pizza Restaurant, which Sal Jakova founded in Dallas in 1982 on Wycliff Avenue after relocating from New York. Sal’s operated for 42 years as one of the city’s pioneer authentic New York-style pizzerias before rising rent and food costs forced its May 2024 closure and move into 4711 Maple Avenue as a vendor stall, according to CultureMap Dallas. Flores kept Lupe Ibarra, a chef with 25 years of experience at Sal’s, on staff, and Ibarra now works on perfecting traditional recipes alongside new dishes built around Flores’s Mexican heritage.
The menu blends classic pizzeria staples with Mexican-inspired creations, offering more than 15 specialty pizzas. Among them: the Cry Eagles Cry, a Philly cheesesteak-inspired pie topped with beef, green peppers, onions, and mozzarella; the Starboy’s Classic in blue, with red sauce, mozzarella, mushrooms, onions, sausage, and fresh arugula; the silver version with white sauce, chicken, mushrooms, onions, arugula, mozzarella, and balsamic glaze; and the Cowboy Pizza, loaded with brisket, onions, barbecue sauce, and smoked gouda. The Pizza Birria taps into a fusion trend that has spread across Dallas-Fort Worth taquerias and pizzerias between 2024 and 2026, as the dish went viral on TikTok and Instagram before becoming a fixture on area menus, according to the Lone Star Sentinel.
Prices and Hours
Sixteen-inch pizzas run from $14 to $25, with individual slices priced around $4. Sub sandwiches, pastas in varied sauces, and chicken parmesan all come in under $14, and lunch deals under $12 pair pasta and garlic knots, or a pizza slice and salad, with a drink. Starboy’s Pizzeria is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Starboy’s joins a lineup inside Food Nation Cinco Cocinas that includes Mico’s Bar, Picazo Sushi and Poke, Wing City, and JJ’s Cafe, a breakfast-and-lunch concept known for its multi-sauce chilaquiles that opened its third North Texas location in the food hall this past August, per CultureMap Dallas. The hall now competes in a crowded Dallas-Fort Worth food hall field that in 2026 includes downtown’s The Exchange Food Hall, Legacy Hall in Plano, Harvest Hall in Grapevine, and Victory Social Eatery in Victory Park, according to Tabski, which notes North Texas food halls now range from historic public markets to high-density suburban entertainment complexes.
