During my typical morning routine, I cleanse my bowels, check my investments (feel free to contact me if you also want to lose money), and scour through my Uber Eats app for economically worth deals. However, I was completely thrown off by an ad for Prince Street Pizza, the legendary New York pizza chain famous for its Sicilian square pizzas.
With pizza being one of my top five foods, I’ve spent years diving deep into the pizza realm, and one thing remains clear: PSP is the undisputed king when it comes to square pies and consistently ranks highly alongside other New York legends like Joe’s or John’s of Bleecker Street. I knew I had to try PSP, but I was confused as to why Uber Eats would recommend a New York pizzeria when I live more than 2,000 miles away — perhaps their software engineering department was drunk. In reality, Prince Street Pizza has been expanding its footprint by opening many new West Coast locations including West Hollywood, West LA, Downtown LA, Venice, and their newest spot in San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter which opened in January 2023.
Despite Prince Street Pizza’s rapid expansion, they’ve faced some major headwinds, most notably involving their controversial owners. Back in 2021, food blogger Joe Rosenthal released a shocking Instagram post highlighting the rampant racism at PSP. Frank and Dominic Morano, the father and son team behind PSP, had made many disgusting remarks, from joking about BLM protestors being hit by cars to calling an Asian Yelp reviewer a “yellow dog.” Soon after, PSP was bombarded with negative reviews and outrage. Eventually, the Moranos released a public apology and stated that they would be stepping away from day-to-day operations while still maintaining ownership of PSP.
Although the Moranos’ actions were certainly deplorable, I won’t let this affect my rating on PSP as I believe the quality of a restaurant should be most dependent on the quality of the food. Other factors like service merely accentuate the restaurant, but food is king.
PSP’s menu offers Sicilian square pizzas, neapolitan style round pizzas, salads, and mozzarella balls. Obviously, I didn’t get the salad as I wasn’t keen on cosplaying as a rabbit; instead, I opted for the acclaimed Sicilian square. Despite my small appetite, I ordered a whole Spicy Spring pizza — eight decadent slices lathered with their fra diavola sauce, sprinkles of pecorino romano, splotches of creamy mozzarella, and an abundance of picturesque pepperoni cups dripping with oil. One bite in and I could already say that it was the best slice I’ve ever had. The dough was simply amazing; it was chewy, fluffy, and had me loudly moaning “mmm,” much to the dismay of my friend.
While the mozzarella and sauce were nothing to write home about, the pepperoni was to die for. Charred edges, heavily spiced, a “snap” texture — what more could you ask for in a pepperoni? However, a slight issue was how greasy the pizza was. It had so much oil that it’d even make the U.S. jealous; however, with the sheer amount of pepperonis on there, it’s inevitable that there would be plenty of fat. Overall, I was glad to have experienced pizza heaven in the urine-filled streets of Gaslamp without needing to go to New York! Now that’s what I call a successful food trip.
