For the sake of enjoying a delicious “only-in-L.A.” food experience today, let’s put aside that Cinco de Mayo is not really a Mexican holiday. Instead, let’s see it as an opportunity to once again celebrate that we live in a thriving cultural mosaic of a city that offers not one, not two, not three, not four, but five whole pizzas inspired by our city’s Taco Life.
This year, particularly on this day, the taco pizza phenomenon appears to be the strongest it's ever been, with some of L.A.’s, San Gabriel Valley’s, and Long Beach’s taco and pizza powerhouses offering unique sazón-filled pies.
These pizzas defy the “fusion” label because these two staple foods have lived side by side with each other for so long, that the marriage of the two is completely natural (like Kogi BBQ and Thai Curry Pizza). Don’t call these pizzas “stunt food,” call them birria pizza, chivichanga pizza, or just absolutely delicious. Don’t overthink it, just squeeze some lime on that pizza pie and live it up.
Speak Cheezy
Long Beach’s latest pizza challenger to enter the southeast L.A. beach community isn’t even a month old, but it came in swinging into Belmont Heights with its very-own birria pizza. Their Instagram account posted a story this week showing the process of building up the flavor in their beef short rib-based birria, including adding their own fermented chiles to mix up their birria adobo usually made with just dried chiles. Speak Cheezy also took the birriafication process one step further and brushed the top of their pizza crust with their own rich birria consomé to mimic the flavor-packed crunch of an orange taco dorado de birria. We suspect all these bold flavors will play nicely with their famed sourdough crust and will be one hell of a slice.
3950 4th Street, Long Beach, CA. The link to pre-order your birria pizza is available here. Closest transit line and stop: Long Beach Transit Line 151 - "4th/Termino."
Sonoratown
A “chivichanga pizza” makes so much damn sense once you think about it. A handmade flour tortilla is only a disulfide bonds and non-covalent bonds away from being a pizza crust (bakers and gluten nerds say wassup). If the meaty, cheesy, spicy guisado that goes inside a mesquite-grilled chivi made from shredded chicken, roasted chiles, cheese, and Sonoran love tastes so good rolled up, pizza taco logic says that it will taste just as amazing spread out on a baked pizza. For one day only, Sonoratown is teaming up with DTLA pizza OGs Pitfire Pizza to make this pizza taco dream a reality. It will be available at all Pitfire Pizza locations around Los Angeles.
Rose City Pizza
For some keepers of the slice in Los Angeles, beef birria pizza isn’t a bandwagon to be offered once a year when everyone suddenly bumps mariachi at their restaurants. Rose City Pizza has been offering birria-topped pizza for yeeeeearss. L.A. TACO first covered this S.G.V. gem in 2019 because who wouldn’t want to dip their crust in birria consomé? This mom-and-pop-owned neighborhood pizzeria in a strip mall gets bonus points for also offering a vegetarian-friendly exquisite pizza. Get one of both.
3588 Rosemead Blvd, Rosemead, CA 91770. Closest Metro line and stop: Bus Line 266 - “Rosemead/Marshall.”
Little Coyote
If you’ve ever come to Long Beach for a day trip, perhaps while taking your pup to the dog beach or perhaps to walk around 4th Street, the chances are pretty high that you’ve probably enjoyed a pie from Little Coyote. If not, you’ve definitely seen someone carrying one of their pizza boxes and have marveled at what might be the best pizzeria logo in the world. For this Cinco de Mayo, they are doing the Long Beach community thing that makes this beach community so damn cool and collaborating with La Taquería Brand to create a cilantro lovers dream of a birria pizza. Go and try it and support taco pizza unity.
2118 E 4th Street, Long Beach, CA 90814. Closest transit lines and stop: Long Beach Transit Lines 21, 22, 23, and 151 - "4th/Cherry."
3500 N Los Coyotes Diagonal, Long Beach, CA 90808. Closest transit line and stop: Long Beach Transit Line 172 - "Palo Verde/Wardlow."
L.A. Birria Pizza
L.A. Birria was also one of L.A.’s earliest adopters of birria pizza and it was so successful, that they now have a brick and mortar in West Adams strictly dedicated to their masterpiece. It must also be disclosed that L.A. Birria also gave us birria egg rolls! And their own version of birria ramen. So many birria mediums, and so little lime. The birria vehicle choice is yours.
4422 W Adams Blvd , Los Angeles, CA 90018. Closest Metro line and stop: Bus Lines 37 or 210 - “Adams/Crenshaw.”
