SoDough Square, the Orlando-founded Detroit-style pizza chain, is expanding to Dale Mabry in South Tampa with an opening planned for later this summer. Per the operator's Instagram, the location will be South Tampa's first dedicated Detroit-style pizza shop — the brand's second Tampa Bay address, following a St. Pete debut earlier this year.
SoDough Square built its following across three Orlando locations before entering the Tampa Bay market. Its production method centers on a 24-hour fermented, high-hydration dough baked in traditional blue steel pans sourced directly from Michigan. That pan specification is not incidental: the gauge and material produce a crust that is thick and airy through the center, with a crisp, lacquered underside distinct from sheet-pan and hand-tossed variants.
The cheese program is equally specific. SoDough Square uses a proprietary brick blend — brick cheese being the Wisconsin-Michigan dairy variety historically associated with the Detroit format. Brick melts more aggressively than mozzarella, spreading to the edge of the pan and caramelizing against the hot steel into the frico: the crackling, buttery crust that rings every slice. The tomato sauce — house-made from Stanislaus whole tomatoes — goes on last, applied over the cheese in the traditional Detroit build sequence, inverted from the New York and Neapolitan order.
Beyond pizza, the menu includes Detroit-style garlic bread, coney dogs — the Michigan preparation with chili and mustard — bone-in wings, and Detroit Dough Dots, described by the operator as cinnamon bread bites made from the same fermented dough base as the pizza.
The Dale Mabry outpost would be SoDough Square's fifth location and its second outside Orlando. The operator has not announced a street address via public channels; the opening window of "later this summer" comes from the Instagram post. A permit filing or signed-lease announcement would sharpen that timeline.
Dale Mabry between Gandy and Kennedy has seen consistent new restaurant activity in recent years. SoDough Square's arrival would add a format — thick-crust, pan-baked Detroit-style — not previously represented on that stretch, per the operator's own account. The St. Pete location, which opened earlier this year, is the nearest bellwether for what the South Tampa concept will look like at launch.
