This Pizza's Topped With Korean Barbecue and a Blooming Onion

Let’s get one thing straight: Pizza at Koreatown Pizza Co. isn’t simply pizza. All the pies at the Los Angeles restaurant are inspired by its Koreatown location, as well as by the familiar flavors of Asia. The Kingsley -- the most popular pizza, covered in Korean barbecue and a blooming onion -- manages to pay homage to both the cultural landscape of South Korea as well as the terroir of Idaho.

“Korean barbecue is really popular here in Koreatown, and so I wanted to add some of the elements of that,” explains co-owner Johnny Lee. “And then I wanted to bring something that I grew up with. A lot of the larger chain restaurants when I was growing up in Idaho had this big, fried blooming onion, and I felt like that’d be awesome to bring together.”

The pizza's nontraditional, to say the least. The Kingsley has a crust stuffed with sweet potato mousse, which then gets topped with house red sauce, mixed vegetables, and cheese before it’s baked in the oven. Once the pizza has cooked, it’s finished off with crispy corn, bulgogi beef (Korean marinated meat), and a full-on crispy blooming onion, a nod to the potatoes of Idaho.

“When you put that all together, you get a lot of different flavors, but for a lot of Koreans or Asians, you get a lot of familiar flavors,” Lee says.

Among the long list of classic and Asian-inspired pies, there’s also a breakfast pizza that's basically the perfect morning meal. The Morning Glory is made on a hash brown base and topped with vegetable scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, and ham -- basically, it's the kind of pizza we’d all love to wake up to in the morning.

Check out the video above to see this pizza fusion of Italy, Asia, and America.

Sign up here for our daily LA email and be the first to get all the food/drink/fun Los Angeles has to offer.

Amy Schulman is an Editorial Assistant at Thrillist who craves breakfast pizza. Follow her on Instagram.
Become a Local Insider in Los Angeles
Thanks for signing up!
Get our expert guides to your new favorite city.
We'll see you in your inbox.
By signing up, I agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy.

Related