The staff at 2 Dough Girlz Pizzeria took a well-deserved break after their opening weekend.

It had been a lively two days of fellowship. They spent Friday and Saturday taking orders and posing for photos as family and friends stopped by for hugs and neighboring business owners offered congratulations.

The following Monday, the crew closed the shop to rest and regroup. On Tuesday, they reopened to take on their first full week. They hit the ground running that morning, putting finishing touches on the menu and adding details to the restaurant’s décor.

So far, 2 Dough Girlz has settled nicely into the building at 5422 1st Ave North.

In recent years, the city has seen a slew of new artisan pizza restaurants — large eateries sporting industrial chic interiors and ample seating, with open kitchens where patrons can watch the pizza bake in woodfired brick ovens.

There’s no shortage of good pizza in Birmingham, and there doesn’t need to be. But there’s something special about the character and feel of the cozy neighborhood pizza joint with limited seating and friendly chatter.

That’s where 2 Dough Girlz comes in. Walk through the front glass doors and it’s easy to hear the staff talking and laughing. Yellow and black metal stools line a counter topped with pizza stands, jars of parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes. Framed photos hanging on the wall near the cash register display the smiles and hugs from opening night.

‘Our ode to hip hop’

And of course, there’s the homage to the culture of hip hop.

It starts with the pizzeria’s name: “2 Dough Girlz” is a nod to Outkast’s “Two Dope Boyz (in a Cadillac),” the second track on the Atlanta duo’s 1996 album “ATLiens.”

Then there’s the menu — a rundown of dishes named after song titles, lyrics and record labels.

“Started from the Bottom,” a nod to Drake’s song from his 2013 album “Nothing Was the Same,” is a selection of appetizers and small plates, including “Rags to Riches” (crispy calamari seasoned with “Sprinkle Me Man” seasoning) and “C.R.E.A.M. or Cheese Rules Everything Around Me” (a three cheese blend garlic bread).

The section “Business is Business” is a lineup of sandwiches, pasta and meatball sandwiches.

“All About the Benjamins” is a selection of salads including “Don’t Push Me Cause” (a romaine wedge salad with pancetta and blue cheese crumbles) named after Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s 1982 song “The Message.”

“The Foundation” kicks off the selection of pizzas. On the rundown is the restaurant’s namesake pie, dubbed the “queen” of all meat pizzas: “2 Dough Girlz and a Cadillac,” a meat pizza topped with pepperoni, Italian sausage, pancetta, bacon and extra cheese.

More pizzas are listed under “The Marathon Continues,” including “Sauce All On Me,” the margarita pizza with marinara, fresh basil, and mozzarella.

“This is our ode to hip hop. Everything on the menu has to do with a hip hop song,” said 2 Dough Girlz co-owner Jennifer Craig.

An ‘80s or ‘90s vibe

The 2 Dough Girlz origin story, like so many restaurant stories, starts with timing.

Jennifer Craig and Steve Debrow originally wanted to open a pizza shop in Fairfield, about 15 minutes outside of Birmingham. They were in the process of finding a location in the city until they got news from Jennifer’s sister, Anita.

Jason Avery, the president of Woodlawn Neighborhood Association, told Anita that Lehman’s Pizzeria on 1st Ave North was closing.

Anita already had experience opening a business in the neighborhood. After years of running the coffee company Trvl Love Koffee as vendor at Woodlawn Street Market, Anita and her business partner Chauncey Moore transitioned the brand into a full-fledged coffee shop in 2022 as one of the tenants in the Woodlawn Marketplace.

The Craigs, Debrow, and Moore decided to team up and bring a pizza restaurant back to the neighborhood. Once the lease was finalized, they moved in and started renovations.

The first step: Expand the space so patrons could get a better view of the kitchen.

“It was very closed off. We wanted it to be a part of the cooking experience — see what you’re about to get and get excited with us,” said Jennifer Craig. “It’s an art.”

The team was also inspired by the pizza restaurants of the 1980s and ‘90s. For Debrow, thoughts of the classic Pizza Hut décor — the stained glass ceiling lamps, the stackable red plastic cups — drum up feelings of nostalgia.

“Even back in the day. The big pizza joints, they had buffet-style. Like Pizza Hut and all that. And Cici’s. They also had soft music and everything. I remember when I was young,” said Debrow. “I miss that. That’s what we’re trying to bring back to the community.”

Like hanging with family

The staff at 2 Dough Girlz is a close-knit group. As the crew prepared for dinner rush on that hot Tuesday afternoon, sitting in the restaurant felt like hanging out with a family.

Around 4:00 p.m., Cliff Davis rode up on a bike and started washing the windows. The sounds of music flowed through the pizza joint’s front door, propped open to let in the occasional breeze. Inside, the music piped through the speakers, filling the shop with beats and lyrics. The soundtrack that afternoon was a journey through rap of the 90s and early 2000s: “The Corner” by Common, featuring The Last Poets, “Definition” by Black Star, “Souls Of Mischief” by 93 ‘til Infinity,” and Outkast’s “Rosa Parks.”

Some of the crew rapped along as they worked — and the jokes flew.

“You not gon’ mess up this song!” a voice called out from the kitchen.

While the interior of 2 Dough Girlz may be simple, the artistry lies in the menu. Take, for instance, the “Wanna Be a Baller” pizza, featuring the hand-tossed organic wheat sourdough crust topped with slow-cooked oxtail, red onions, and yellow bell peppers.

When I placed an order for the pie, some of the crew called out the name with zeal –”That baallller pizza!”

Oxtail-topped pizza has been making the waves on social media. Search for “oxtail pizza” on Facebook and you’ll see photos and video reels of the dish from eateries around the country, from Chef Renaldo Norris of Renaldo’s Culinary Experience in Charlotte to Cuts and Slices, Randy Mclaren’s Trinidadian-influenced pizza joint in Brooklyn.

“All a pizza is, is an open-faced sandwich,” Anita said, laughing. To develop the concept and flavor profiles for the 2 Dough Girlz menu, she drew inspiration from decades of hip hop combined with Italian and Caribbean culture.

“And the thing about it, if you think about Italian culture, it’s fun,” said Anita. “You go into places like that and you’re throwing the pizza up in the air, and it’s a show, and it’s inviting and everyone’s family.”

There’s also the “Bad Boy,” a pizza topped with jalapenos, red onions, bell peppers, and chicken thighs marinated in Island Pineapple Jerk Seasoning.

“Reggae and hip hop have been infused for years. You know, Afrika Bambaataa,” said Anita.

“One Mic,” the restaurant’s specialty crust piled high with pepperoni, pays homage to Nas, one of Moore’s favorite artists.

“So, just being able to play off everything that’s ingrained in me,” said Anita. “It’s something that I really love.”

Hip hop, the culinary experience

After attending culinary school, Anita worked in the corporate side of restaurants and hospitality.

Her background in marketing and sales eventually led to a job at AT&T. But one of Craig’s biggest career shifts happened when she lost her job at the telecommunications company and started working in public relations.

Craig eventually started her own public relations and marketing firm in Atlanta. She worked with a lot of hip hop artists and executives, from one of the founders of Big Play Records — the label behind rapper YC — and Arlinda Garrett, the founder of A to Z Entertainment.

“I got really involved in hip hop,” said Craig. “So just being in that, [I] just really had a love for music, not so much for the industry. When I had the opportunity to bring that back around when the pizza shop presented itself, I was like ‘What better way to embrace hip hop than through pizza?’”

The wheels started turning and the ideas started falling into place. Anita pictured a restaurant that would pay homage to Outkast, a setup for the perfect opportunity to go into business with her sister.

“Coming up with 2 Dough Girlz. Bringing her on. It was already envisioned,” said Anita.

“That’s the only reason?” Jennifer joked as she walked by.

“Yeah, it isn’t because I liked you,” Anita quipped back, with a chuckle.

It’s fitting to open a restaurant devoted to the culture of hip hop, especially as artists, scholars, and lovers of the music celebrate the genre’s jubilee year.

“Hip hop is quality. Hip hop brings some of the best,” said Anita Craig. “In 1979, ‘Rappers Delight’ dropped. Hip-hop is here to stay. It comes with quality concepts and you can find so many different things under hip hop. So I wanted to pair hip hop with a culinary experience but make it easy, laid back, and approachable, the same thing I do with my coffee.”

Building the culture of Woodlawn

Woodlawn is in the midst of a rebirth. Over the past three years, the neighborhood has seen a swell of recently opened businesses including The Wood, the vintage clothing store and skate shop and from Cameron Williams and Jason Agan, Alycia Levels-Moore’s coworking space Polaris, Woodlawn Bar & Lounge, Slutty Vegan, and d’Trespa Consignment Boutique, the designer vintage clothing store LaRoyce Marsh relocated from Homewood. The Woodlawn Theatre also celebrated its grand opening the same weekend as 2 Dough Girlz.

Jennifer Craig is confident the pizzeria will fit into the character of Woodlawn.

“If it’s not, it will be,” she said. “It’s a great time to get into Woodlawn if you have a place or a space or chance to move in here. We’re feeling very blessed to be able to get here while it’s still in the building process. It’s like a family. Here or in Trvl Love Koffee. Everybody is very supportive.”

Jennifer said a number of visitors, including Williams, Jason Avery, Woodlawn United CEO Mashonda Taylor, the leadership team of REV Birmingham, and guests attending the Woodlawn Theatre reopening, came by to support 2 Dough Girls on their opening night.

For Jennifer, who also considers herself a new business owner in the neighborhood, that support meant a lot.

“My sister’s been here and we’re happy to be here with her,” Jennifer said.

Anita said she’s looking forward to building the culture of Woodlawn by partnering with neighboring businesses, especially The Wood. “I’m real cool with Cam,” she said.

“We do it for the culture. I took that approach, even though my coffee business is a little bit more buttoned up,” Anita said. Trvl Love Koffee, which specializes in ethically-sourced coffees from Africa, Asia, and South and Central America, is a tribute to the origins of coffee in Ethiopia.

“I’m more serious with my coffee because I use it as an educational tool and I use it as a way to give Black people back something that was taken from us. I still make it approachable,” Anita said. “So I wanted [2 Dough Girlz] to be just as approachable. Just as fun. And what other way to do that than with family, listening to good hip hop, and just having fun.”