We discovered a new pizza spot in Pacific Beach! It’s called Square Pizza Company and they specialize in three different styles of pizza: Boston Beach, Detroit, and Sicilian. As the name suggests, all of the pizzas here are square!
There was a pizzeria that used to be right next door called Lu Pizzetta that Jake and I discovered on his birthday pizza crawl. They closed and sadly never reopened.
The owner at Square Pizza was so very friendly and obviously excited to share his passion for pizza. He told us about how the shop is in a historic building and they took 8 months to properly remodel the space to make it feel like apart of the historic building. He also told us about the different kind of styles of pizza they sell here. Even though I went to college in Boston, I had never had, nor heard of, Boston “Beach Pizza”.
There’s an article in the Boston Globe about Tripoli Bakery, a bakery that makes this beach style pizza.
At Square Pizza, you can also pop in and get some frozen slices to take home and make yourself. They owner was nice enough to give us a bag of pizza to try. He gave us some beach pizza slices with basil, tomatoes, and truffle oil on top. I tried the slices out last night and while it’s better in the shop, these slices were pretty good! My oven doesn’t crisp it up quite as nice but I liked the addition of truffle oil to the pizza slices.
Here’s the menu for Square Pizza with more information on what kind of toppings they offer.
You can get pizzas by the slice here as well. On the left are slices of the beach pizza. To the right of that, slices of Sicilian style pizza. And at the top are slices of Detroit style pizza.
When you go in and order slices of the beach pizza, the cheese is left unmelted. It’s like they par cook the pizza but without melting the cheese so it doesn’t get cooked twice.
The owner also told us how he uses the lowest gluten flour he can to produce a lighter crust. He said this helps aid in digestion so the pizza doesn’t sit like a lump in your stomach. Little details!
To start with, we got two slices of the Beach Pizza [$2.25] to share between the three of us. The owner also made the excellent suggestion that we add provolone cheese [+$0.40] to the slices. The only other thing I asked for was basil, which is a free topping. Other free toppings include chives, cilantro, garlic, and parsley.
The crust is thin and quite crisp – a trait that I love and look for in pizza. The sauce is sweet – but not in a dessert kind of way. It’s sweet in a fresh vine ripe tomatoes kind of way. Sweet in the way that fresh corn on the cob is sweet. Light, delicious, not fussy, and not full of too many ingredients. The sauce enhances the pizza. The mozzarella and provolone cheese mixing together created the perfect amount of cheesiness. The fresh basil on top (after it came out of the oven, of course) added another level of fresh flavor to an already excellent slice of pizza. This beach pizza is something I will definitely crave again in the near future.
Jake and T are always up to eating pizza. I’m sure they’d eat pizza for every other meal if I let them. Ha.
We actually didn’t order this, but the owner cooked up a slice of the Sicilian Style pizza for us because he wanted us to try it. Jake was quite chatty with him and I think he took a liking to Jake. He was sweet and cut it into three equal pieces for us.
It kind of looks like a pizza breadstick now, doesn’t it? The crust on this slice is much thicker. It almost looks three times the height of the beach pizza. It’s airy with lots of nooks and crannies and has a really crisp exterior. This one mostly has cheese covering the top, with lines of sauce running through it rather than all over the crust. The sauce is also on top of the cheese. I liked this one, too!
My reason for wanting to try Square Pizza was to check out their Detroit Style pizza. We ordered a whole pie, the Cadillac [$27] which came with garlic, pepperoni, sausage, bacon, and ricotta. This is what the boys really wanted. If it were up to me, I would have ordered a simpler pie with less toppings!
The pie is cut into six large squares (you can also request eight instead). I liked how the ricotta was dotted so nicely (and evenly) on top of each slice.
Here’s a peek at the crust. The top of the edges kind of look like they’re covered in crisp cheese, don’t they? This is a thicker style pizza. The sauce is also put on top of the pizza with the other toppings on the bottom (I guess they are … bottoms now? haha). The edges are kind of crisp, but overall this was a much chewier and softer pizza. The boys really enjoyed this style while me… I gotta say, the beach pizza was what really did it for me! This isn’t a BAD pizza… I just felt like it was TOO MUCH for me. It felt a bit greasy and overwhelming and I missed munching on a crisp, crunchy crust. This was chewier than I like my pizza, but it’s good in its own right! The sauce on this pizza is also more savory and less sweet that the sauce that’s put on either the beach or Sicilian styles. Each pizza has its own sauce giving each style it’s own unique taste.
Pretty much the only other thing they sell at Square Pizza, besides pizza, are Cannolis [$3]. The owner said they really wanted to focus on their product and be the best at what they do. I think they’ve really got it going on with those pizzas, man. But if you come to visit them, you have GOT TO try a cannoli.
The cannoli shells are ready to go but they don’t fill the cannolis until you order them. This makes a huge difference in terms of flavor and freshness. The shell stays crispier when they wait to fill it. They use an amazing ricotta to fill the cannolis. It’s light, sweet (but not tooth achingly sweet), and the perfect companion to that crispy, crunchy shell. The owner told us that at first they used a premade filling but after three days he quit using it until they found the right ricotta to make cannolis. When we were talking about Boston, he asked me if I ever went to Mike’s Pastry when I lived in Boston and I said, “Yes!! I love Mike’s!” and he was thrilled. The cannolis here are, I daresay, as good as the ones I used to get at Mike’s in Boston.
They have two sizes to choose from as well. Large (which, duh, we ordered) and small (which the owner gave us on the house). The chocolate chips were for T and I. Jake protested that he didn’t get any chocolate chips to try. T and I told him it would have been “too chocolatey” for him and he wouldn’t have liked it anyway. Wink, wink.
Square Pizza Co.
4508 Cass Street
San Diego, CA 92109
858-412-4469
I want to try each style of pizza there!!! The light and airy crust looks so appealing too along with the fresh filled to order cannolis.
Hi CC – The styles are all unique and they’re fun to try! The cannolis – oh man, those were so good as well. I can see myself having a craving for them again in the very near future.
I showed this post to friend and we both wanna visit this pizza place stat. I remember seeing a similar pizza when I was younger – I don’t remember where though. The Cadillac looks bomb – I know my friends would crush that pie in a heartbeat. I like the way they don’t cook the cheese on their slices (until order) – it’s hard to find a fresh pizza slice these days.
Nice Hello Kitty band aid. I’m jealous.
Hi Faye! It was great to see that the cheese wasn’t melted until you ordered it. I thought that was a great little detail! The pizza is really unique here and well made. Hope you get to try it soon! The Hello Kitty band aid, man. That was all I could find to cover my boo boo.
I’ve never heard of Boston beach pizza either, but now I’m really curious! Plus cannolis! I don’t think I’ve had any good ones in SD lately.
Hi Jennifer! Yeah, I was surprised when the owner told me about it. I even lived in Boston but never heard of it! I liked the thinness of the crust a lot. The cannolis were really good, so creamy and sweet!