ROCA Pizza Opens in Palisades Village

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

The latest eatery to open at Palisades Village is ROCA Pizza, which celebrated its official grand opening on Monday, March 6.

ROCA Pizza, which offers an “elevated fast-casual interpretation of Roman-style street food pizza,” is the creation of Rick Rosenfield, a co-founder of California Pizza Kitchen, and his wife, Esther. It is served “al taglio,” which translates to “by-the-cut.” The Rosenfields are joined by Chief Development Officer and Chief Operating Officer Steve Rich and Director of Operations and Executive Chef Ohad Yosef.

“The new restaurants will celebrate the Roman origin of their unique style of pizza (‘RO’) with a California-inspired ethos (‘CA’), which blends creativity and commitment to premium products and ingredients sourced locally and internationally,” according to a press release, “but what really sets ROCA apart is its artisan dough, perfected down to a science after more than 70 years of research and development in Rome, and discovered by the Rosenfields a decade ago.”

ROCA’s dough is long cold fermented for 48-plus hours, which is said to create an “airy, puffy, soft rise in the dough,” which when baked, “achieves a notable crunch.” The pizzas are baked in “highly specialized,” “Italian-made,” “humidity-controlled” ovens, in order to maintain “the freshness of seasonal toppings while ensuring a delightfully crisp crunch.”

The restaurant, which previously hosted a pop-up experience for more than a year at Caruso’s The Americana at Brand in Glendale, is also slated to open at The Waterside in Marina Del Rey in summer 2023. At Palisades Village, it opened in the space previously occupied by SunLife Organics.

“Palisades Village is an important part of the Palisades community and the ideal backdrop for our artisanal product, with its vibrant mix of retailers and impressive culinary offerings,” Rick Rosenfield said in a statement. “The new space reflects ROCA’s ethos and showcases a product we are extremely proud of. We are eager to introduce ROCA to LA’s Westside.”

The 1,000-square-foot Palisades Village location, which was first announced in July 2021, has a “jewel box bakery feel,” with “floor-to-ceiling windows,” which allow “natural light to flood the space.”

“A Cambria white stone quartz block [serves] as the main counter, while light color tile and stone adorn the walls,” according to a press release. “A display case exhibits full pan pizzas that customers can select by the slice by-the-cut, with half- and full-pan options as well, encouraging guests to enjoy a sampling of several different specialty pizzas.”

The space also features a “grab-and-go” section along the back wall, which has pre-packaged salads, as well as sandwiches made from ROCA pizza dough.

“The exterior will feature an abundance of outdoor seating between ROCA tables and public Palisades Village seating,” the press release continued. “A pick-up window for take-out has been installed on the front façade and designated 12-minute short-term parking directly in front of the restaurant for pick-up orders.”

The ROCA menu features “extensive” pizza flavors, in addition to Roman specialty “suppli” (a Roman street food of rice balls with tomato sauce and melted mozzarella cheese), salads, appetizers and tiramisu dessert. It has “traditionally topped” pizzas, as well as vegan options.

At the time of its opening, the ROCA menu featured flavors such as Pepperoni Hot Honey, with tomato sauce, pepperoni, mozzarella, gorgonzola and Mike’s hot honey; Amatriciana Pizza, with guanciale (pork cheek), pecorino Romano, mozzarella and tomato sauce; and its bestselling Soppressata and Burrata, with tomato sauce, mozzarella, spicy soppressata, di Stefano burrata and basil Parmigiano oil.