La Grassa Rectangular Pizza Pop-Up
Visited The Vandal to try La Grassa, where every body gets a corner slice.
I’ve been pining for La Grassa since they first popped up in my Instagram feed. Their Instagram presence is full of mystique. Posts on main are few and far between, but it’s a well curated and thoughtful approach to social media. Rather than drown visitors in content and pizza thirst traps, you get the occasional photo of pizza project, announcement of a pop-up, swag or rare take-out opportunity.
The way these artisan, startup pizza shops grow and market themselves is fascinating. Always a little mysterious and opaque. Who are you? What are you doing? It’s part of the fun, the thrill of a chase. You get to be one of the first to try out a fledgling pizza that might make a huge imprint on the city one day.
Last Sunday I got a chance to try La Grassa at their pop-up at the Vandal in Lawrenceville. La Grassa is operated by Haley and Eric who have a knack for creating a stellar pizza product. Christa, Tommy T and I arrived at 5pm for a nice Sunday outing. While I wanted to bring Charlie, I thought these pizzas might be too sophisticated for a four year old’s palate.
The modern environment of the Vandal elevated the meal beyond simple rectangular pizza. A couple of cocktails, nice wine pairings, some excellent appetizers were the perfect precursor to dipping into a stellar pizza. Unfortunately, part of the pre-pizza banter consisted of Tommy T ordering a Godfather while doing an impression of the titular Godfather. Then he commented that the waitress probably had never seen the Godfather or Godfather II. I’m not even slightly embarrassed at all that that exchange happened. I’m here simply documenting life.
Don’t You Want to Go Where Everybody Get’s a Corner Slice?
Have you ever watched in horror as someone grabs a slice of pizza that you’ve been eyeballing? Do you enjoy only specific types of slices from a square pie? The folks at La Grassa are on a mission to bring peace and equality to the pizza table.
The pizzas are Detroit-style. An elevated Detroit-style. Maybe Roman style with a Detroit finish? They are greasy, especially when topped with pepperoni or soppressata, and bordering overwhelming. But there’s nothing to be scared or terrified about here. The pizzas want to be devoured. They live to serve and need you to eat them.
The pizzas are rectangular and seem personal in nature. They pack a punch. These slices are hearty and the rectangles you grab are deceitful in their weight. You may struggle to pick one up, thinking it’d be lighter. That feeling of going down a step and there being one more step when you think you’ve hit the landing.
The crust is sturdy. Armor, shielding itself from prey. The pizzas perimeter is made up of melted cheese as if a dwarven blacksmith forged the crust themselves. Their motto is “Everyone get’s a corner slice.” As far as crust-based mottos go, this is one of the best. The other that comes to mind is “Good to the very edge” from Sir Pizza. Good is such a funny word to use there because they could have used any adjective and they chose one of the most mundane words in the English language. Reflective of their pizza making? No…certainly not.
La Grassa’s motto would lead you to believe that the star of the show is the crust. “Everyone gets a crust” and yes, that is true. Each rectangle has two sides of crust. A sturdy handle to hang on to as you bite into the body of the pizza. The caramelized cheese crust on the outside was a bit salty and greasy. This was fine for a standard amount of pizzas, but as we crushed three pizzas it became overwhelming. It covers the palate and takes over the flavor. That’s a shame when the core of the pizza is so great.
Christa ended up abandoning her crust at the local crust orphanage. Against my better judgement I took the crust under my wing for a few bites.
La Grassa had four pizzas on the menu this evening and I regret that we only got three of them. We ordered:
The Standard with crushed tomato, rosa grande pepperoni, parmigiana & basil.
Vodka with spicy vodka & parmigiana
Diavola with spicy diavola, hot soppressata, & local honey
Maybe three pizzas was too much for three people. By that logic, one pizza would be too much for a normal person. I was starving from competing in the Greenfield Glide 5k that morning. No I did not repeat as champion, but I did get third place which was enough for a plaque and a photo with the mayor. Through that race when things got tough I thought about La Grassa, I thought about pizza. I don’t believe food should be a reward, but I knew that pizza would taste better if I didn’t give up. The taste of victory, the taste of completely draining yourself. Emptying your cup only to be filled back up with pizza, wine and good company. That’s motivating.
I misread The Standard, possibly due to excitement, and did not realize pepperoni was on it. The Diavola and Standard share a lot in common except the soppressata was thicker and chewier. The roni cups were picturesque, but the grease and cured meat coupled with the caramelized crust was a salt bomb overload. The first few slices were enjoyable, but by the end I was picking the meat off the pizza. I never felt the heat or spice of the Diavola either.
Never once did I consider not eating the pizza. The heart of the pizza was amazing. Dough was flavorful, fluffy, a nice crunch. The sauce was delightful. Every element of the pizza was done extremely well and pushed to the max. I fault my own hubris. The pizza is decadent in the best way and if you’re not careful you’ll be overwhelmed by the flavors.
Their exception to this is the Vodka pizza. The vodka pizza, sans meat, is the way to go with La Grassa. There is the option to add whipped ricotta which is a show stealer. The ricotta is smooth, slowly seeping into the crevices of the pizza and melding with the vodka sauce. It has a hint of lemon, but not so much that it’s suffocating the other flavors.
Were I to reorder I would have gone for the Standard, Vodka and the white pizza, the Crema. Based on the savory nature of the vodka I’m sure the white pizza was popping off. Perhaps at their next pop-up or takeout event.
If you can, chase down La Grassa and try these pizzas for yourself. Get them to go or find a reservation at their next event. They’ll be at Scratch and Co this Sunday, but keep an eye on their Instagram for future opportunities.
Detroit-style pizza is hard to come by in this area. There’s a few noteworthy entrants, but it’s a type of pizza that the Pittsburgh crowd enjoys. La Grassa brings an air of elegance and excellence to their pizza that helps them stand out from the crowd. Looking forward to see how they forge their own path, a road built one crust at a time.
Spak & Two Frays
Friday night at Two Frays with a table full of Spak is becoming quite the family event.
Love a new pizza opportunity, very intrigued to see how La Grassa grows from here. Check em out when you can!
Pizza ya later!
-Dan Tallarico, Pizza Journalist
Maybe think about taking mom on your next adventure
I feel blessed that I could be a part of the team that made this happen. I’d bathe in that ricotta.