827 East 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013
Some of NYC's most famous restaurants and foods have ventured out west in the past few months. LA is now home to several locations of the ever-popular Shake Shack, Grimaldi's Pizza, Magnolia Bakery is hawking its baked goods and famous banana pudding to us left-coasters, and Levain Bakery, which sells the best cookie on the planet, just opened on the day I am writing this review. We were going to be in LA for a White Coat Ceremony, so we tried another Big Apple export, Prince Street Pizza.
My Instagram feed has shown me plenty of slices of pizza recently. Most are from other parts of the country, but one has consistently been featured, and upon closer inspection, I found out that Prince Street Pizza had opened in LA. In fact, four locations are currently operating in LA: Venice, West Hollywood, West LA, and the one we were visiting in Downtown LA. That makes four places to get a slice in LA and only one in NYC. It's more than likely due to the urban sprawl of LA.
Prince Street Pizza opened for business in 2012 in the Nolita section of Manhattan. They are most known for their Sicilian-style pizza slices, which are closely related to Detroit-style pizza, served as squares, but the Sicilian style has a lighter, more airy crust that is more bread-like. PSP also offers Neopolitan pizza, the polar opposite of their Sicilian. It has a very thin crust baked in a round pan and cut into triangular slices, which is what people expect when eating pizza.
Both pizza styles are available by the slice, but most people opt for the Sicilian-style slices. We arrived at the Arts District just before 5pm on a Saturday. We found some parking about a block away and entered PSP. Ordering is done from behind the glass case housing the pizzas available. After selecting the slices you want, the pizza is whisked into the awaiting oven to be finished off while you pay at the register and then wait for your slices. The whole process took less than five minutes. We then found some seating at the communal tables in front of the restaurant and settled in to eat our bounty.
Yes, we were more than likely going to be having food after the White Coat ceremony we were in LA for, but we had no idea when we would be back up this way, and we felt a duty to you to try as many types of PSP pizza as we could. We went with the Meat Lovers ($6.50), Spicy Spring ($6.50), Four Cheese ($6.25), and the Mercer Margherita ($6.25).
The slices featured a crispy, spongy crust that melded nicely with the pizza toppings and cheese. Predictably, my favorite of this quartet was the Meat Lovers, which came with spicy pepperoni cups, sausage, marinara sauce, mozzarella, and romano cheeses, with a touch of garlic. Our slice also appeared to have a sprinkle of crumbled bacon, which is not listed as an option on their menu. The pepperoni cups crisped up nicely, providing a crunch, while the sauce and cheese were delightful. A killer slice that had me going back for more to take home.
My second favorite was the spicy spring, with pepperoni, a fra diavolo sauce, and mozzarella. The sauce had a little kick, but it was not over-the-top spicy. The heat hung out on the back end of each bite but did not overwhelm me. The end crust was good, but with four slices to finish, I discarded it as I ate more. The four-cheese slice was good, but it should be renamed three cheese because they count fresh mozzarella and shredded mozzarella as two of the cheeses, which joins whipped ricotta and pecorino romano to make up this slice. This is an excellent option for people who prefer something other than meat on their pizza. The Margherita pizza was Katie's choice, and I found it okay, but it lacked the flavor punch of the other three. Katie liked it way more than I did, so maybe it's just that I'm not that into Margherita pizza.
I am into Prince Street Pizza, though. Their pizza was less greasy and heavy than I was expecting. It still had a good flavor profile and satisfied us through the white coat ceremony we were going to next. It's easy to see why they are so popular, and I'd like to try their round pizza the next time we are up this way. The $6 price point was not awful, and the guys behind the counter were all pretty cool. It's another success story for an NYC restaurant moving to LA.
Out of five duels (because also on Prince Street in NYC is the former site of the estate of Aaron Burr, who had a famous duel with Alexander Hamilton), five being best to zero being worst, Prince Street Pizza gets 3.5 duels.
For more information about Prince Street Pizza, head to their website by clicking here: https://www.princestreetpizza.com/
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