Enjoy this Rockaway Pizzeria Video
I took a ton of footage from my visit in 2018 and it's been sitting on my phone!
In 2018 a friend of mine, Nicole, drove down to visit Josh’s pizza shop to see what this Rockaway Pizzeria was all about. I had heard tale of this pizza. Some say it was the closest anyone has gotten to NY Style pizza while others obsess over the type of screens he cooks his pizza on.
During my trip I took a boatload of footage while Josh was making me a Frankenstein pizza - 4 unique pizzas in one pie. This is such a novel idea I’m surprised no one else is implementing this.
Anyways, here’s the video of my trip to Rockaway Pizzeria. I hope it inspires you.
Visit Rockaway Pizzeria at your earliest convenience!
Here’s the script if you’re not in the mood for a video
What if I told you that to get the best NY Pizza in the city of Pittsburgh you only had to drive a mere 12 miles from the city center. Hop into your Honda, whatever Mr. Cochran sold you, make sure you have enough gas for a round trip (wouldn’t want to get stranded) and maybe a bottle of water even some jerky to warm up the digestive track.
24 minutes of driving. That’s all it takes to arrive in a pizza paradise. That’s 2.75 listens to Jungeland - much like Bruce you will be taking you stand down in Jungleland. Except much less street fighting and more picking apart and eating a pizza. And as thoughts of pizza runs through your road weary mind, desperate for any semblance of marinara sauce to hit your lips, you’ve arrived.
Rockaway Pizza in White Oak by all accounts shouldn’t exist. It’s an anomaly and, frankly, on paper Josh Sickels is not qualified to open a pizza shop. Especially in a place that many Pittsburghers haven’t heard of. The same way you shouldn’t tell a bee they can’t fly, you shouldn’t tell Josh Sickels not to do anything because he will defy you and create a masterpiece.
Yet, how is this one of the greatest pizza shops in existence? It shouldn’t be, but Josh has created a particularly perfect pizza oasis by trusting his gut and refusing to compromise on his vision on what pizza can and should be.
Josh doesn’t pray at the holy sanctum of Mineo’s and Aiello’s. Instead of finding strength and guidance from local god’s, Josh seeks the blessing of Domenico DeMarco who opened DiFara Pizza in Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn in 1965. DiFara has a reputation of having the best pizza in NYC, mostly for their commitment to quality, high standards and consistency. The same spirit Rockaway Pizza embodies.
Rockaway Pizza is a destination pizza shop because every item on that menu is a banger. I don’t know if Josh holds food auditions or tryouts, but nothing is tossed on the menu because it was convenient. It’s all purposefully placed, manicured and maintained. A bonsai tree carefully trimmed and plucked with expert detail.
The Roni cups hold little dollops of grease like little porcelain tea cups. The basil is strategically placed to satisfy every bite, cheese is properly dispersed and streams of sauce line pizzas like critical arteries delivering a life saving liquid to keep the pizza humming along.
Josh is maintaining a variety of sauces for pizza bases. Red sauce, a complicated vodka sauce. Cheese that is hand shredded daily. A house made balsamic glaze, a house made Italian dressing. Dough for round pies. Dough for square pies. It’s authentic, beautiful and majestic. It’s a pizza conservatory, carefully maintained so that each item is served with a consistent aura of “wowzas”
To many Rockaway is a sign of hope and a change in the swirling pizza sauce tides that run through the city. A trickling stream in the desert. Rockaway has already grown out of their initial shell and moved into a bigger space next door. If they keep up this level of growth up they will take over Heinz Field with one giant pizza shop in just a few years . I’m not sure anyone would be too cross.