Bebe Zito ice cream team opening Brazilian pizza spot on Minneapolis' Eat Street

As the forthcoming Eat Street Crossing food hall takes shape, half of its founding team has announced a new tenant that will bring Brazilian pizza to Minneapolis.

Ouro Pizzaria is a new concept from Gabriella Grant-Spangler and Ben Spangler, the couple behind Bebe Zito ice cream, and one of the two duos overseeing the food program at Eat Street Crossing. (Zen Box Izakaya's John Ng and Lina Goh are the Spanglers' partners.)

Brazilian pizza, which is "known for elaborate traditional and nontraditional toppings" both sweet and savory, according to a release, is near and dear to Grant-Spangler. Her parents are both from Brazil, where Italian and Japanese immigrants both influenced a homegrown style of pizza.

Grant-Spangler's family was among those Italian immigrants in Brazil, and with Ouro Pizzaria she strives to deliver "an accurate and nuanced representation of Brazilian food in the Minneapolis culinary scene," and to honor the legacy of her grandparents.

Grant-Spangler's husband, Ben Spangler, is the chef. The former pastry chef at Zelo and opening chef at Milkjam Creamery, Spangler has made Bebe Zito's inventive flavors into instant icons on the Twin Cities' ice cream scene.

On the Ouro Pizzaria menu, look for traditional pizzas with cheese and oregano and dessert pizzas with chocolate, fresh fruit and doce de leite. Rounding out the menu are salads and other Brazilian street food.

A former interior designer, Grant-Spangler developed a brand that is "rooted in the Brazilian modernist movement, bossa nova jazz and natural elements of the country." She wants the new space to be a significant departure from what the Twin Cities knows of as Brazilian food — steakhouses. "Oura Pizzaria better articulates how Brazilians feel," she said. "Being Brazilian is a different way of thinking and a lively approach to life."

Ouro means gold in Portuguese.

One of the most anticipated openings of the new year, Eat Street Crossing is a 15,000-square-foot food hall inside the Old Arizona Studio (2821 Nicollet Av. S.). It will contain six concepts, some new and some already existing, plus one cohesive bar program, when it opens sometime in winter 2023. Among the expected tenants are an outpost of Uptown-based Bebe Zito, the casual Ramen Shoten from Ng and Goh, and a Chatime tea. A bottle shop from beverage director Trish Gavin, the Liquor Exchange, is already open.