Daily Slice gives a quick snapshot each weekday of a different slice or pie that the folks at the Serious Eats empire have enjoyed lately.
[Photographs: David Kover]
Originally, ordering the Brass Monkey at Little Star Pizza was just an excuse for me to trawl Youtube for old Beastie Boys videos and maybe to start a flame war here in the comments section. See, I'm already on record as not totally getting the whole deep dish thing. But somewhere between watching a bunch of goofy high school kids lip-syncing in gold chains and writing this review, I actually had to eat the pizza. And, sh-t, Little Star's Brass Monkey is really good!
Though it doesn't appear on the menu, the waitstaff at Little Star won't miss a beat when you ask for a Brass Monkey. They deliver their eponymous Little Star pie pumped up with the addition of sausage. It's a hearty combination of mushrooms, onions, garlic, spinach, and a mixture of ricotta and feta cheese that's just salty and tangy enough to occasionally tickle the tongue. The sausage adds spikes of pork and fennel, while a sweet-but-not-too-sweet tomato sauce ties everything together. That's a lot of stuff inside Little Star's crunchy, comforting cornmeal crust, but it hits every note just about right.
I wouldn't go as far as to say that I'm a deep dish convert, but certainly a Brass Monkey junkie.
Little Star Pizza
3 Bay Area locations
Location reviewed: 400 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94103 (map)
415-551-7827; littlestarpizza.com
About the author: David Kover is a San Francisco-based freelance writer and food enthusiast. He is particularly apt to fight for his right to pizza because he went to the same high school as the Beastie Boys' Ad Rock. Check out his attempt to bring Brooklyn bagels to San Francisco at Schmendricks.com.