Naked City Pizza is now supplying the food at PKWY Tavern’s Decatur location, on the corner of Tropicana Avenue and Decatur Boulevard.
Speaking to Neon News about the collaboration, owner Chris Palmeri says they had been looking for a new partner since the Blue Diamond Saloon, where they formerly operated a Naked City Express, was sold.
“We had lots of talks with different people, different bar groups, stuff like that, but kind of last minute, PKWY came through,” says Palmeri.
Rather than replicate the Blue Diamond experience, he and his brother Michael will create a larger menu a bit closer to what PKWY Tavern was offering before this deal, drawing on Chris’ experience running the now-shuttered Diego in MGM Grand and Desnudo Tacos on Arville Road.
“We kind of kept the same menu mix as what PKWY was doing. So a fair amount of appetizers, sandwiches, [and] I’m incorporating some of the tacos and stuff I was doing with Desnudo and with Diego in the past. And then, obviously, [there are] some pizzas on there, and the normal stuff like wings.”
It’s worth noting that the combinations available on Naked City’s famed Buffalo, New York-style pizza will be a bit more limited than the 11 options offered at Naked City’s Paradise Road location.
“It’s only about five or six of our most popular pizzas, and then the wings,” Palmeri says of the Paradise menu items that will cross over to the new locale.
Naked City will also supply four types of pizza, to be sold by the slice, to the Mint Tavern on Sahara Avenue.
Palmeri says there are no plans to expand into other PKWY Tavern locations.
“Right now, this is enough to take on, for sure,” he says of the 250-seat space on Decatur.
In a press release announcing the partnership, PKWY Taverns owner Jonathan Fine said in part: “Welcoming another beloved Las Vegas institution under our roof is an honor. Naked City Pizza has a long-standing history with this city, much like [ours]. This partnership is the culmination of two businesses that value our locals and seek to provide only the best in food and service.”
In the same release, brothers Chris and Michael call the partnership “a fantastic opportunity to introduce our products to a wider audience and to provide our central Las Vegas fans with a new gathering spot.”
