I was luckily granted a few pizza for a year at Rose City Pizza through the facebook group “SGV Eats” and funded by PGI Estates. THANK YOU AGAINNN!! This group was initially created by them during the initial start of “Shelter in Place” to gather information on restaurants in the 626 area (which ones were still open, which ones still offered take-out, new hours, etc). It was a very useful facebook group and my new go-to place for information during Shelter in Place because there were a lot of foodies posting and sharing information to each other. (At this time, Yelp hadn’t updated new hours or statuses yet either).
So each month I get a free pizza. I have been sharing my pizza with immediate family and our goal is to try all of them! I would also order another pizza or a side to help give something back to their store.
The Deluxe – tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, seasoned mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, sausage, pepperoni. So the first month I ordered the Deluxe. It is a pretty safe, basic pizza with vegetables. At that time, the pizza was only for my mom and me so I didn’t think she would be adventurous to try something interesting. This pizza hits the spot when you crave a “supreme” version of the pizza that includes your typical proteins and also some vegetables. Crust is crispy and pizza is thin.
Al Pastor – Mozzarella, marinated pork, pineapple, diced onions, sliced radish, jalapeno aioli. This pizza is a taco-inspired pizza and included al pastor. My sister and I were very curious about this pizza, but to our disappointment, it wasn’t that good. The pizza could have used a lot more aioli sauce because it was dry. The pork was crispy, but wasn’t as flavorful so could use some more seasoning.
Birria – Mozzarella, shredded beef, lime juice, diced onions, sliced radish, salsa de arbol. This pizza was BOMB. Even though birria means “goat,” this pizza was not topped with goat meat. Instead, it was just shredded beef. HOWEVER, I am willing to let that detail slide (birria was misleading) because the pizza was SOOO good!
The pizza even includes a cup of consomme broth to dip your pizza in (or pour over), however you desire. In fact, we drank the entire consomme afterwards because the broth was so flavorful. It was like a more intense, concentrated version of pho broth. I would come back to order this pizza.
Pizza tots – crispy tator tots topped with minced sausages, mozzarella, and pepperoni. This side sounds good and looks very appetizing, but tasted “weird.” What I mean is, each individual component tasted good, but when put together.. just didn’t seem to meld together. I guess pizza just doesn’t go with tots. I kept thinking I wanted chili on my tots instead!
Manila Sunrise – garlic chili paste, mozzarella, longanisa, fried garlic/onion, eggs, Thousand Island sauce. This pizza was surprisingly good! You cant’ order a half pizza of this (probably because of the eggs), but I don’t mind ordering a full pizza either! It looks and tastes so bright and refreshing! The longanisa meat was very well seasoned and the thousand island sauce helped tie all of the components together (surprisingly)! The red onions help to brighten up the pizza and give it a little of citrus.
El Santo – creamy cheese sauce, mozzarella, cheddar, parmesan, chicken, chorizo, jalapenos. This pizza was decadent, heavy and THICK. There was also A LOT of cheese (the creaminess of the sauce also added to the cheesiness). The jalapenos was a nice spicy touch. There was plenty of chicken and I liked the chorizo too! Chorizo offered a nice contrast to the white chicken.
Char Siu – hoisin sauce, mozzarella cheese, marinated pork, hot mustard, pickled red onion, cilantro. This pizza sounded interesting but it didn’t taste that good. It was too sweet.. I couldn’t really enjoy it. I rather just eat the Chinese char siu pork by itself with white rice…
Well.. I just called to try to redeem my pizza for January but they’re out of supplies. I’m told it’s also until supplies last haha.. It’s okay.. it’s the pandemic.. I won’t cry over it too much.
WELL! Thank you Rose City for a taster of some of your unique and fusion pizzas. While I wasn’t a fan of some, I absolutely LOVED others! I will definitely be back for more pizza in the near future to give back. 🙂
