Just had some delicious pizza from a pop-up in El Cerrito at a bar called Little Hill Lounge. Kind of an old school dive bar, but the bartender makes drinks with home grown and home made ingredients. I loved the strawberry rhubarb whiskey sour!
Anyway, the pop-up is called Pie on the Fly and they do it on Wednesday. They were there for happy hour, so I tried some. It’s kind of a hybrid California/Neapolitan style. It’s puffy and light, but instead of being limp like a true Napolitana style it has a nice crisp undercarriage. The topping selection is kind of limited, but they are all good quality. They had two specials when I was there; one with pesto and pistachios and prosciutto, and a lemon margherita with lemon basil and lemon zest. It sounded good, but I opted for a sausage. It tasted home made with lots of fennel and spices.
Anyway, I live in Albany, so it’s not too far away for me. I will try and get there again sometime. It’s a lonely stretch of San Pablo Ave. and there isn’t too much for a pizza fan anywhere close, between Gioia’s in North Berkeley and Raymond’s in Point Richmond. Check them out if you’re in the area.
Pizza Leah, Windsor, CA.
Got a half old gray beard (Red sauce, mozzarella, fontina, Italian sausage, Calabrian peppers, hot honey & orange zest) and half cheese. Cooked in a brick oven, the crust is really excellent, light and airy but crackly when you fold it, almost like a fresh baked baguette. The old gray beard is a great combo, with top notch ingredients and they use the honey sparingly so not too sweet, which I’ve found with other places that put honey on pizzas. I think the only thing keeping this from being just a really-good versus great/excellent pizza is the cheese and sauce could have been a bit more flavorful. The chef is a longtime member of the US pizza team. I will definitely go back and try other combinations when I’m in the area.
Two Dog Night Creamery is just a couple doors down from Pizza Leah in Windsor [They have a branch in Sebastopol as well]. Organic local ingredients using Strauss cream. Thai tea and Banana’s Foster Crunch. They say they use real tea, not syrups for the Thai tea and it tased like tea, subtle than other versions I’ve had - daughter got mochi balls on top - these were nothing special. The Bananas Foster was excellent - one free topping so I got coconut - highly recommend this combo.
Got a red bell pepper and spicy Italian sausage to go yesterday. Maybe a little small for $18, but very quick and tasty with pools of melty cheese. The oven looked rickety, but obviously worked well. The crust was bubbly and a little charred. No one else getting pizza while I was there. Felt kinda sorry for the guy out there in the cold wind!
Damn Fine, Outer Sunset SF
Acapulco - spicy red sauce, prosciutto, pineapple, jalepeño, mozzarella, pickled onion and habanero, queso fresco, cilantro.
Somehow this combo really worked for me, but then again pickled and spicy things are right up my alley so this might not be for everyone. The fresh (not canned) pineapple provided a nice sweet (but not too sweet) element to counter the heat from the peppers. Crust seems slightly more Neapolitan than I remembered from last time I had them. Margherita for the kids, but they inhaled it before I could get a pic, looked good though.
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!
