Once restaurants here are given the green light for dine-ins, Lucali BYGB - a collaboration between the founder of famed Brooklyn pizzeria Lucali and a Singapore-based hospitality partner - will open its doors along the Kallang riverfront.

But before the 70-seater Lucali BYGB at Kallang Rivergreen Building opens its doors to the public, Lucali's Mark Iacono, 52, and Singapore-based Gibran Baydoun, 31, are rolling out a takeaway and delivery menu from today - sans pizza - to give diners a taste of what they can expect.

Mr Baydoun, who has been living in Singapore for the past four years, says in an exclusive interview with The Straits Times in a conference call: "In time, we will deliver pizzas, but the reality is we want people to experience it when it's fresh out the oven - with its generous sprinkling of basil and that famous crispy thin crust and burnt sides."

His credentials include director of restaurant operations for famed New York-based restaurant group Momofuku and being part of the opening team of Adrift restaurant at Marina Bay Sands.

The BYGB in the new restaurant's name stands for "By Gibran Baydoun".

Considered by many to offer one of the best pizzas in New York, Lucali was founded in 2006 by Italian-American Iacono, who started out wanting to replicate the thin-crust, by-the-slice New York pizza he loved as a kid, according to the New York Times story.

It drew long lines around the block, even before appearing on British football icon David Beckham's Instagram feed and American restaurateur David Chang's 2018 Netflix series, Ugly Delicious.

Best known for its hybrid Neopolitan/New York-style pies (thin crust in the style of New York pizzas, but with dough that puffs up around the side and dotted with gobs of mozzarella in the style of Neopolitan pizzas), expect to find on the Singapore menu signature dishes such as its supersized 18-inch pizzas and decadent calzones.

To maintain the same high standards, the hand-built, partly wood-fired brick pizza oven here is being built under the guidance of the same person who made the oven at the Brooklyn flagship.

There will be a rotating menu and the toppings will change based on what is seasonal and fresh.

"We want to make sure the menu stays fresh and agile, so you can come a few times a week and you won't see the exact same menu," adds Mr Baydoun, who used to be a regular at Lucali's in New York.

"It's the sort of place you can go for a special occasion or on a weekday when you don't feel like cooking."

"It could either be fine dining or fun dining," adds Mr Iacono, speaking from New York on the same conference call.

"When people come to Lucali, there's such a great demand for the pizza, but when I opened up in Miami in 2013, it was a different story, where it had all the bells and whistles, the salads and meatballs. We gave it to them and it worked," he says.

Lucali has outlets only in Brooklyn and Miami.

Hence, for his first venture outside of the United States, he wanted to experiment with the menu. "So I told the guys, 'Do whatever you want. Let's just have fun with it.'"

Having always wanted to open in Asia, he chose Singapore on the advice of friend and customer-turned-business-partner Baydoun, who convinced him that "the Singapore market will appreciate it more than anyone else".

Mr Iacono hints that off-menu signatures, such as its housemade meatballs in four-hour sauce, could make their way here too.

The kitchen will be helmed by executive chef Ariana Flores, 38, who was formerly executive pastry chef at Osteria Mozza at Marina Bay Sands.

The pre-opening delivery menu includes pasta dishes such as Norma's (rigatoni with eggplant and pecorino) and Lasagna priced from $24 to $28; house salads such as Caesar, Cobb and The Big Salad (radicchio, endive, asparagus and salami), ranging from $18 to $26; and nostalgic favourites such as Meatloaf ($30).

The nostalgia extends to the desserts, which include American childhood favourites such as Rice Krispy Treats and Apple Hand Pies (both $6).

Opening a restaurant in the midst of a pandemic - with travel bans, global lockdowns and restaurants having to pivot to delivery model - has been challenging, including trying to get Mr Iacono to Singapore to start making pizzas.

"Our goal is that we'd like to be open the very first day of phase two of the country reopening," says Mr Baydoun.

"In the light of everything that's been going on, we feel that people need something new and fresh and a place to safely celebrate a kind of 'new era' of restaurants."