As we explored downtown Hermosa Beach as we got everything prepped for our trip out to Santa Cruz island, we walked by an interesting looking store: Redwood Pie, right on Pier Avenue. Notably, it had a short line for the lunchtime crowd, and seemed to be doing a pretty brisk business, so when we wanted a light dinner before calling it an early evening, we decided to go down and check them out.
Redwood Pie is a fairly new spot in Hermosa Beach, and more than a little minimalist. The sign simply proclaims “Pizza, Salad, Sandwiches, and Ice Cream”, and walking in the door, it’s a take-out only joint, with an ordering counter in front of the large pizza kitchen. The kitchen’s actually pretty impressive in a functional way, with bags of flour stacked up on one wall, an industrial mixer in back, a pizza-building station in the middle, and a large pizza oven at right. There’s no seating inside, but they’ll happily give you plates and cutlery to eat at one of the tables out front.
Menu-wise, Redwood Pie is also extremely functional and minimalist: while the sign proudly proclaims sandwiches and ice cream, those are apparently destined for a future menu expansion, since the menu is essentially “pizza”. 16 different varieties of it, available as either 12″ or 16″ pies. And, in the world of “California Pizza” with all sorts of nontraditional toppings, Redwood is strictly traditional as well, the options range from plain cheese, to margherita, to the classic “ANSI standard” pepperoni, veggies, and a few spicy variants (soppressata, or the White Heat, with white sauce and jalapenos). We decided to stick with the classics and order a pepperoni and sausage 16″ to share (we would have done sausage and mushrooms… but their list of toppings doesn’t include mushrooms).
The only non-pizza food item on our visit was a lemon arugula salad with shaved fennel, so we ordered one to enjoy while they cooked our pizza. This was a decently-executed salad: good, fresh, and well-cleaned arugula, nicely shaved fennel, freshly-shaved Parmesan, and a light lemon vinaigrette. Simple, straightforward, and refreshing. And honestly, not a bad amount of a fresh salad for $8.
About 15 minutes after ordering, our pizza was delivered out to our table. And I’ll have to say, it was an impressive pie. Thin crust, not overly laden with too much sauce or cheese, and a rather good toasted cornicione around the edges, just the way I like it, starting to approach “well-charred”, but avoiding “burnt”. The sausage is fresh crumbles, and roasted to the point it’s just starting to crisp, and the pepperoni is just starting to curl. From an aesthetic point, this is already looking, and smelling, like a good pizza.
The first bite gave another little surprise: the dough formulation at Redwood is sourdough-based. This isn’t “smack you in the palate” sour, more of a very mild sourdough, but the taste was clear, and it actually added to the pizza nicely. Even more importantly, the sourdough gave the dough an ever richer “chew” than most pizza crusts, and it toasted up well with becoming brittle. With a nice tomato-forward-but-not-too-salty sauce, and just about the right amount of cheese, this was a solid, good pizza. If you were craving a good, classic “New York Slice”, you’d like this pizza, it bears a strong similarity to New York and New Jersey pizza styles, and the slight sourdough crust just adds to it.
So while the place is minimalist and functional (heck, they don’t even have a website aside from an online ordering shopping cart)… hey, they live up to the adage of “do one thing, and do it well.” The pizza was quite good, the prices were reasonable, especially by South Bay standards. And the one non-pizza item we had, the salad, was quite good. I’m sure they’re going to expand their menu to match the marquee, but really, just go to Redwood Pie and order a pizza. You’ll likely enjoy it.
