Rockaway Pizzeria Opens in Regent Square this May
The crew almost hit the April deadline, so we'll let this slide in the spirit of great pizza.
Update on 4/30/2025: Due to the strong surge of the April storms, the Rockaway Pizzeria opening has been delayed from May 2. See their Instagram post below for more information.
April showers brings…astounding pizza?? That’s right. I may finally stop receiving daily emails from folks asking me when Rockaway Pizzeria will be opening in Regent Square. The answer is: May 2nd, 2025 at 11:00 a.m. eastern. The new shop is on 1137 S. Braddock Ave in the heart of Regent Square.
The balance of pizza power in the Pittsburgh pizza universe will change when Rockaway Pizzeria opens. Regent Square will flood with Rockaway zealots who have been without their precious pizza since October. Expect long lines and sell outs as Josh gets his crew prepared to served hoards of Pittsburgh pizza enthusiasts. There is no amount of training or experience that can prepare anyone for this. Like flying in a plane with a toddler, you gotta go in there expecting the worst and come out satisfied when things end way better than you imagined.
A couple of new items to look forward to on your visit to Rockaway Pizzeria:
Sicilian Pizza Update
If you're a fan of the Rockaway Sicilian, expect some changes. He's prepping them ahead of time to reduce the process from 45 minutes to about 15 minutes. The new version is more like a focaccia than a softer Sicilian. It's incredibly crispy and delicious.
The grandma pie will be unaffected.
New and Exciting Cheese
Josh is the only shop in Pittsburgh that will be carrying the same cheese that Lucali in Brooklyn uses. He didn't have it while I was there, but he's pretty excited. Just another way he's pushing the pizza medium.
A Yellow Pizza
I was treated to a new yellow-sauce pizza Josh was working on. It wasn't quite 100% figured out, but the potential is there. Josh has a vision for a number of new pizzas and rest assured that he's going to spend a ton of time in the lab perfecting this prior to opening on May 2.
I was lucky enough to sit down for a nice long interview with Josh Sickels, owner of Rockaway Pizzeria, back in March. Read all about it here.
I’m pretty tuckered out this week so this is all I have time for at the moment. I do want to thank everyone who sent me their own personal Police Station Pizza anecdote. It’s a quirky shop that has made quite an impact on their patrons.
-Dan Tallarico, Pizza Journalist
Love this! Reminds me of the Mortadella Focaccia sandwich recipe I adapted from L.A.-based Roman cuisine restaurant Mother Wolf for easy home cooking!
check it out:
https://thesecretingredient.substack.com/p/recreating-evan-funkes-la-mortazza