Party, Pinsa Party
Does anyone remember this board game commercial? (Yes, that happened.)
What an insidious but effective earworm. With a side of the unimaginative caricature of an Italian pizzaiolo! “Party, pizza party”—the jingle burrowed deep into my brain during the 1980s and emerged when I sat down to write about pinsa.
Yes, you read that right. Not pizza, but pinsa.
The two sound very much the same, especially if you haven’t heard of pinsa. The first time I heard the word, I thought it was a misunderstanding. I watched the same miscommunication play out again after mentioning pinsa to a friend who replied, “oh yes, I love pizza.” You really have to exaggerate the nasal “en” if you mean business about describing the oblong pie and how it differs from its cousin.
A delicious pinsa—similar to, but not the same as, pizza—on a tabletop and ready to be devoured. Photograph by Victoria Shes, courtesy of Unsplash
Pinsa comes from the Latin root of the word pinsere, meaning “to press.” This Roman pie is pressed out into a thin crust by hand.
What’s the big deal? Why not just call it pizza?
Because it’s not. According to Alessandro Iacopelli, owner of Oste, pinsa is a variation on pizza. It has a higher water content than pizza dough (pinsa dough is 80-85% water compared to 55-65% hydration in a traditional Neapolitan pizza) and is composed of a blend of wheat, soy, and rice flours, rather than just medium-strength wheat flour. Usually it’s stretched into an oblong shape, and the pinsa is then topped with typical pizza ingredients, from mozzarella, to mushrooms, prosciutto, etc. Pinsa is lighter in calories and fat than pizza. (This is Los Angeles, where pizza has to be marketed as a health food or else be forever maligned given that it’s heavy on the carbs.)
The last time I was at Italian import store Guidi Marcello in Santa Monica, I found a frozen, raw pinsa dough base, ready to be baked and topped, clocking in at 300 calories. It’s not diet food , but picture it like a lighter pizza dough. One pinsa can easily be shared by two people as a light to moderate lunch, along with a side and salad.
I first heard about pinsa in 2021, and, my curiosity piqued, I then started noticing it on menus. A weekend trip to San Francisco late that year revealed that pinserie—restaurants devoted to the pie—were trending. Well-reviewed and cutely-decorated Montesacro, just south of Market Street at 6th Street, touts itself as the first pinseria on the West Coast.
Back home in LA, I discovered pinseria Oste, which had opened in Mid City earlier that year. The Roman owner explained that you don’t finish a pinsa feeling like you overate. “It’s not too heavy,” he assured me. The margherita arrived, with silver dollar slices of mozzarella di bufala melting into the tangy tomato sauce. A few freshly poured drops of olive oil glistened in the light. Although the crust was a little thinner, and with slightly less depth to it than its Neapolitan cousin, every last bit was quickly consumed and hardly any grease was left behind on the plate. The high-quality ingredients and crust both crispy and chewy made the pinsa a satisfying meal and I didn’t feel heavy afterward
Traditional Neapolitan pizza: it’s a classic for a reason. You really can’t argue that point. But sometimes you want something a touch lighter. Cauliflower crust? No, thanks! Try a pinsa, and invite your friends to join you. Even though they’ll probably just think it’s pizza anyway.
Is there a pinseria near you? What did you think of it?
