The wood-fired oven at Echo’s Pizza will continue to produce blistery-crusted pies, but soon they will be from another name in the New Orleans pizza circuit, and they’ll be joined by garlic knots and roasted cauliflower.

Echo’s Pizza (3200 Banks St., 504-267-3231) will close after service on Sunday (July 28). Local restaurant group BRG Hospitality has bought the business and plans to open a second location of its Pizza Domenica here in the fall.

Pizza Dominica opened Uptown on Magazine Street in 2014 as an offshoot of Domenica in downtown's Roosevelt Hotel. It is more casual than the original, and has a shorter menu more focused on the first restaurant’s bestseller: pizza.

The new location will have a similar menu, including the pizza happy hours that have been popular draws at Domenica and Pizza Domenica.

In a statement, BRG said it has “invited and encouraged” Echo’s employees to join the staff at the new Pizza Domenica or another restaurant in its group.

Echo’s Pizza opened in 2018 as a new concept from Theresa Galli and Gavin Cady, the couple behind the modern Mediterranean restaurant 1000 Figs, and their partner Kate Heller, a baker with a loyal following from her brand Leo’s Bread.

The Echo’s partners said they want to focus on their other businesses. Galli and Cady also opened the Mediterranean deli Little Fig last year in the Pythian Market food hall and they intend to expand the catering end of their business.

"Gavin and I have spent the past year learning where our passions lie and determining the type of work life and personal life that we’re striving to create for our family," Galli wrote via e-mail.

"For us that means taking a a more simplified approach. We’re looking forward to pouring all of our professional energies into the ‘Figs family’ that we’ve been building for the last five years as it continues to develop in exciting ways that we hadn’t expected," she wrote.

Heller, who has for years sold Leo’s Bread at markets and pop-ups, intends to open a new bakery. In an interview, she said she's now searching for a storefront location and that Leo's Bread will continue at farmers markets in the meantime.

“We learned a lot from Echo's, I want to use this experience for what comes next," Heller said.

Octavio Mantilla, a partner in BRG, said the company has always intended to add more Pizza Domenica locations and the opportunity to buy Echo’s spurred the move to expand now. Echo’s has a large, wood-fired oven at the heart of its operation, much like Pizza Domencia. The restaurant has a dining patio and full bar.

Pizza Domenica will bring its pizza making classes to the new location as well.

The Pizza Domenica expansion is the latest in a series of recent moves from BRG Hospitality, the company that was originally called Besh Restaurant Group. It was rebranded in 2017 following a sexual harassment scandal, when chef John Besh stepped down from his leadership role in the company.

In 2018, BRG Hospitality opened a new restaurant in Houston, called Eunice, and Warbucks in New Orleans, though it closed in July. The company plans to develop a new restaurant in the fall at Warbucks' former home, at 3218 Magazine St.

Earlier this year, BRG sold its share of Johnny Sánchez, the downtown Mexican restaurant it developed with celebrity chef Aarón Sánchez, who now runs it with different partners.

Echo’s Pizza

3200 Banks St., 504-267-3231 (closing July 28)

Dinner Wed.-Sun., brunch Fri., Sat.

Happy hour Wed.-Sun. 5-6 p.m.

Pizza Domenica

4933 Magazine St., 504-301-4978

Lunch and dinner daily

Happy hour Mon.-Fri., 3-5 p.m.

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