Six years after negotiating the contract that secured a lease for his food trucks at Crosscut Warming Hut No. 5, Cliff Abrahams has a new restaurant concept in the works.

He’s opening a brick-and-mortar location of Abe Capanna’s, the Detroit-style pizza food truck parked outside the tap house south of Bend’s Box Factory.

For the past six years, opening a traditional restaurant has been a dream for the founder of 8 Hands Hospitality, the company that includes the pizza cart, Bluma’s Chicken & Waffles and as of April 15, The Lost Texan, a new iteration of the truck formerly known as Queso in your Face-O.

“It’s just the right timing and it’s something I’ve wanted to do since I got to town,” said Abrahams, who moved to Bend from Austin in 2019. “I don’t ever rush these sorts of things.”

Coming to Bend’s east side

Abrahams didn’t explicitly name the exact location of the new restaurant, but strongly hinted that it will be on the east side of the city near St. Charles Medical Center.

At first, the pizzeria will have a menu nearly identical to the food truck’s menu, which sells Detroit-style pizza baked in a deep rectangular pan, along with a handful of designated non-pizza items, such as a salad, mozzarella sticks and sandwiches.

As the brick-and-mortar restaurant becomes more established, it’ll serve caprese salad, calamari, hoagies, pasta and additional salad options on its menu. In addition to beer and wine, Abrahams envisions serving sangria, frozen Bellinis, garlic knots and pizza by the slice.

“It’ll be a very neighborhood feel kind of place. It’s going to be fun and very approachable,” he said.

Patrons will be able to order at the counter, but not have to worry about bussing their tables. The joint will be family-friendly, with tables covered in white paper and crayons for children.

“I think we’re going to fill a niche that you’re not seeing on the east side of town. When it’s all said and done, there’s really nobody going to be doing exactly what we’re doing,” Abrahams said.

The restaurant is expected to open in late June.