Gusto – Pinsa Romana, Bush and Jones Street, San Francisco.
Diavola: Tomato, mozzarella, basil, oregano, bell pepper, hot calabrese salame, black olive, red onion.
Cotto & Funghi: Tomato, mozzarella, mushroom, prosciutto cotta, parsley.
Really light and airy crust with a little bottom char and fresh toppings. Very good. One thing I’ve noticed with pinsa though is the cheese/toppings never seem to be cooked or crisped. Is that a thing with the pinsa method, putting the toppings on later? The leftovers I brought home were better than when it was fresh because I heated it in my toaster oven and crisped the top a bit.
Pro-tip: Great place to grab a quick bite before a show at the Masonic Auditorium, as it is less than 2 blocks away.
Recently opened in Berkeley is Rose Pizzeria, on University downtown. The garden space it shares with The Butcher’s Son is one of the nicest outdoor spaces in town. A margherita pizza was well presented, with the correct proportions of tasty sauce and cheese. Sadly, the sourdough crust was a little too sour for my taste, but others might like it.
Across town, in the former Lalime’s space, another pizzeria will be opening this summer, with the odd name “three.one four…a swanky pizza lounge”, promising “date night vibes”. Whatever, as long as the pizza is good–it’s just a few blocks from my house.
And over in San Francisco, Arinell’s on Valencia might have to close down because of slow business.
I’m a weekly regular at their original Berkeley location, which has for me the best NY slices around. The Berkeley shop is not in any danger of closing.
I don’t eat pizza that often, so I haven’t tried as many places as y’all probably have, but I’ve really been liking the pizza from Sister. The crust has so much flavor!
Also Pollara.
I enjoyed reading this thread and see some new places to try out next time I’m up this way which is pretty often. I used to live in SF and have family up there too so I am nostalgic for some of the spots that are still there.
Personally my favorites in the Bay Area are Golden Boy in North Beach and Zachary’s in Berkeley. I still haven’t found a NY style single slice shop up there that really does it for me - of course I haven’t found a single slice that I failed to eat either. Zachary’s aside, which really hits those Lou Malnati notes for me, my tastes run to more plain pizzas not ones with piles of prosciutto and such. I do like that clam pizza at Golden Boy too.
Thanks for organizing such useful information and photos here! You’ve given me some new spots to check out!
Query for some of the older folks: Pizza and Pipes with Stu Boyer on the mighty Wurlitzer used be in Sacto - that spot was amazing! Any pizza and pipes places still surviving?
Love Golden Boy. I think I first had their clam pizza in 1981.
For me, the closest to a neighborhood NYC slice joint is Arinell in Berkeley. I just had a couple of their slices for lunch, in fact. They have the correct proportion of sauce and cheese (not too much of either one), and the crust is almost too thin to hold, even folded. I had to pat off some pooled oil with a napkin–a sign of true NY authenticity! I think their San Francisco branch had to close recently.
Ernie nice recommendation I’ll check it in a few weeks when I’m in Berkeley ! I agree about the grease being a special sign of quality but i generally just eat it. Some shirts and ties in the graveyard for that tho!
Will check it out. I may have had it before. A bit less fold in half and fancier toppings ? I tried the cheese board spot a few trips ago and my conclusion is that it was ok but not pizza.
Golden Boy brings back so many memories for me when I was little in the park there, older later at night after drinking at Mister Bings and the Saloon and other spots and now it’s fun to take my kids there and to the park and then get that brownie we crave at Stella. It always tastes great and hits the spot but that nostalgia maybe makes it even more special for me.
Agree when Arinell gets it right, it is a glorious NY slice with just the right crust-sauce-cheese meld matrix.
The problem was at some point they had about a 1:3 or so hit:miss rate … which brought the effective price of a slice to $10-$12. So I stopped ordering cheese or pep slices from there. Does anybody suggest they are now doing better than that hit/miss ratio? I can only imagine the rate would be higher on 4/20 … in fact I sort of assumed “everyday was 4/20” at Arinell – which largely explained this phenomena.
24th St Pizza Shop had a pretty credible NY Slice – I believe the proprietor was from NJ – but at some point when he became established enough to hire people – and didnt personally touch every pie (late) Dom DeMarco/DiFara style – they also experienced a drop in Quality Control. Not quite enough to Perma Boycott, but I did eat there less. And then I moved to a different Zone so the question was mostly moot.
I will third Arinell as their cheese slice was very NY style, though I’ve only had a few slices in NYC proper. Thin but foldable. The last time I had a slice from the Valencia St. location (a few weeks ago) it was good.
I also like the 24th St. Pizza Shop for NY style too but I haven’t been for awhile. From what I remember the crust there was a little more crispy/chewy than from Arinell.
I’m a fan of both Golden Boy (especially a slice from a fresh rectangle out of the oven) and Zachary’s as well. That spinach and mushroom from Zachary’s hits the spot. Now I’m hungry for some pizza
