Cowabunga, dudes! You can now eat like a totally tubular Ninja Turtle!
On Saturday the doors are opening to what may be the most important restaurant opening of 2026: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Pizzeria.
Themed around the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated series (the original and the best), the restaurant is an officially licensed pizza shop brought to life by Andy Nguyen, a restauranteur who has previously opened restaurants based around Hello Kitty and Sonic the Hedgehog.
FYI for Australian readers of ABW, there are Hello Kitty Cafes at Pacific Fair in Surfers Paradise and there’s also one in Melbourne.
The TMNT pizza joint is opening on Saturday along Santa Monica’s Third Street Promenade.
There are plans to open two more TMNT-themed Pizzarias by the end of this year with Sao Paolo and Mexico City locations. I’d hope for an Australian outpost, but to be real, unless the pizzas are amazing, at the prices being charged at the pizzaria, I think I’ll just stick to my beloved nearby pizza joint My Mothers Cousin.
In an article on the launch at THR, the team behind the restaurant and at license-holder Paramount are keen to emphasise that they have taken great care in creating the pizza range:
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.
The problem with the pizza menu is that true fans of the 1987 cartoon would know that the ninja turtles loved weird toppings on their pizza. I don’t see a single marshmallow on the menu.
News Desk
Netflix is turning schoolyard game Simple Simon into a game show. The last time I saw this game adapted for the screen, John McClane had to stop billions of dollars from being stolen by European thieves. Read: THR
Abbott Elementary creator and star Quinta Brunson is leaving Warner Bros Television with a new five year deal signed at the Disney-owned 20th Century Television. I can’t help but suspect we’ll hear of a number of big name talent leaving Warner Bros over the next few months… Read: Deadline
Ryan Coogler is leaving Disney as his own five year deal expired and is setting up shop over at Netflix. Read: Deadline
Former TV star Stephen Colbert (remember him?) has made a public appearance at the opening of the Obama Presidential Center, appearing in a tan suit. Read: USA Today
Jay Leno reckons Joe Rogan is the new Johnny Carson. This week former President Joe Biden appeared on Leno’s YouTube show. Read: Deadline
Emily Mortimer, Manny Jacinto, and Thomasin McKenzie have joined the season three cast of Fallout. Read: thefutoncritic
Trailer Park
The Gilded Age returns for season four later this year on HBO Max.
I don’t really understand why The Room Returns exists when one could just watch the original. But, this is coming to (likely select) cinemas and digital channels very soon after.
Treasure and Dirt debuts on Australia’s ABC July 19.
Treasure & Dirt is set in the scorched, dust-choked opal mining town of Nulla, where the brutal beheading of local miner pulls big-city detective Ivan Lucic (Dorman) into a labyrinthine case with no easy answers. Assigned to him is ambitious rookie detective Nell Buchanan (Hewson) who knows Nulla's lawless, corrupt underbelly far better than he does. Together, they’re drawn into a strange, surreal underworld of secrets, greed, and old sins that won’t stay buried.
Deeso debuts on Netflix July 17.
When a married lawyer starts an affair with her daughter's swim coach, a torrid romance turns into a twisted game where everyone loses control.
Outer Banks returns for its fifth and final season on Netflix August 20.
23,000 Lives debuts on Netflix July 17.
A group of young people sets sail for the Mediterranean to save the lives of refugees - a mission that puts their ideas of law and justice to the test.
Sons of Galicia returns to Netflix for a third and final season.
The Amazing Digital Circus final episode debuts June 19 on Netflix.
The East Palace debuts July 17 on Netflix.
A man who walks the spirit world and a court lady who hears the dead enter the East Palace by the king's orders - can they unravel its dark secrets?
That’s the newsletter for the today.
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