The IP-oriented restaurateur Andy Nguyen, who’s previously opened concepts based on Hello Kitty and Sonic the Hedgehog, has spent more than a decade chasing his “dream project”: producing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pizzeria. After years of indifference and then false starts with the rights holders at Viacom, he’s now partnered under the new ownership at Paramount — which has a pair of TMNT franchise films slated for 2027 and 2028 — on a themed restaurant, which debuts June 20 along Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade. “I finally got that green light,” he says, seemingly himself still shell-shocked.
Nguyen’s bodacious vision is a restorationist adaptation, ignoring the live-action amphibians of more recent years in favor of exulting in the aesthetics of the 1987 animated series. “I call it the ‘Millennial Turtles,’” he says. “Those original cartoons, the way they were drawn, there’s a sense of fun that just brings you happiness.”
Josh Silverman, Paramount’s president of global products and experiences, refers to the 1987 series’ look as “a keystone piece of creative” for the franchise and notes that “there’s a term we use: ‘new-stalgia.’ It’s new for kids but nostalgic for adults, often their parents.”
Silverman’s division has 32 Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. locations. (Paramount distributed Forrest Gump.) The studio’s planning to open two more TMNT pizzerias by the end of the year, in Sao Paolo and Mexico City. “They’re spiritually the same, also based on the ’87 animation.”
Paramount’s core belief is that brand extensions — including, in the current vernacular, immersive experiences such as restaurants — can’t be exploitative. “It needs to be a brand deposit, not a brand withdrawal,” as Silverman puts it.
To that end, Nguyen brought in pizza consultant Angelo Womack to advise on the pies. “If we weren’t going to be in New York, we needed a New York pizzeria chef to help us build a true product,” he says, adding: “We don’t want this to be a novelty gimmick. This place can’t just look cool. The food is the surprise element. It’s good. We know we need to beat expectations. Otherwise, fans crush you.”
A vet of the acclaimed Brooklyn pizzeria Roberta’s, Womack explains that the challenge with this project is “wanting to please everyone from the pizza snobs to the Ninja Turtles snobs — excuse me, maybe we call them both ‘connoisseurs.’” The resultant Santa Monica TMNT pizzeria is most inspired by New York City cult favorites Scarr’s, Mama’s TOO! and Brooklyn DOP. (The Shredder’s Revenge, with its spicy mix of pepperoni, jalapenos and Mike’s Hot Honey, is an ode to the Scarr’s staple Hotboi.)
Under Womack, the cheese is Grande, the tomatoes are California Stanislaus, the flour from King Arthur and the local water pH-balanced to match Manhattan. There’s no single leaf of basil on a slice. “I couldn’t see Donatello eating that,” he says, “and kids don’t want to see it.” But bright green basil-infused olive oil does feature in the TCRI pie. “It looks like TCRI glowing ooze,” Womack says, referring to the radioactive mutagen from the TMNT universe.
A key creative challenge was thinking through the cheese. “The pizza affiliated with the Turtles is a cartoon pizza,” Womack says. “It’s a super-stretchy pull. Does that make good New York-style pizza? Not really. Pizza is about the balance of tomato and cheese. In real life, you don’t want it to be overloaded with cheese.” That said, he knows there’s an experiential satisfaction for some visitors, no matter the practicality. “So, we’re making an option for guests to cheese it up. If the guest wants it, we want to give it to them.”
