Home Slice Pizza is heating up to open its second Houston location next Winter. The Austin-based pizzeria is expected to open in Houston Heights at 602 Studewood St. by November 2026, according to this recently filed state permit.
The permit also details that construction on the new Houston Home Slice Pizza is slated to start next March and is expected to wrap up by mid-November 2026. The ticket price: 1.5 million dollars, to renovate the existing building, which, according to the Houston Business Journal, has a history of bad juju for the eateries that set up shop at the 602 Studewood location. The mysterious curse that spectutatively lives at 602 Studewood Street in Houston Heights has taken out El Cantina Superior, which shuttered in 2014. Ritual shut down in 2021 shortly after it opened. Now Home Slice Pizza is set to replace the Korean BBQ joint, Mapojeong, which closed last November after opening in 2022.
The funny thing about curses is that they are often just man-made whispers. Home Slice Pizza has done well since its inception. According to its website, the dine-in side of Home Slice was opened in November 2005. More Home Slice, the takeout and slice operation across the parking lot, opened in 2010. Home Slice Pizza opened its third Austin location, on North Loop & Duval, in 2018. Owners Jen and Joseph Strickland, along with partner Terri Hannifin Buis, opened the first Home Slice Pizza shop outside of Austin, in Houston’s Midtown neighborhood, in December 2022.
Now, who’s to say that the good streak couldn’t keep going for Home Slice Pizza when it opens at 602 Studewood next winter?
What Now Houston out to Strickland for comment on the new Home Slice Pizza set to open in Houston Heights, but did not hear back by the time of publication.
Known for “unfailing goodness of authentic NY-style pizza,” Home Slice Pizza has continued its claim to fame with a rather straightforward yet uncompromising delicious menu that hits it out of the park in each of its locations.
Offering a variety of hot subs, calzones, pastas, and salads, aside its noteworthy pizza options, the New York-inspired pizza chain has so many pizza options it would be hard to list them all without leaving some special ones off the cutting board. But, Tried and True pizzas include the Eggplant Pie, White Clam Pizza, and Margherita, to name a few.
While the suspicions of a curse may linger, nothing seems to be stopping this hot steaming pie machine from rolling into Houston Heights and setting up shop. I guess it’s up to community members and visitors to help break “the curse of 602 Studewood Street” once Home Slice Pizza opens its doors in Houston Heights at 602 Studewood Street in Winter 2026.
