For 25 years, in the wee hours of the morning in South Beach, the breakfast of champion bar-hoppers has been huge square slices of Pizza Rustica. Topped with traditional tomato and cheese, rustic meatballs, roasted potatoes or two dozen other fresh choices, this affordable pizza is available every day from 11am-6am, making it the go-to for lunch before the beach, a quick dinner or a snack after a night of boozy carousing.
Pizza Rustica got its start in 1996 when Pino Piroso, born in Argentina to Italian immigrant parents, decided South Beach needed a Roman-style pizza place. After running a nightclub and seeing the late-night activity, Piroso opened his pizzeria on the corner of 9th and Washington Ave. Piroso’s pizzas use dough and sauce made from scratch, using San Marzano tomatoes, fresh herbs and seasonal produce, whole-milk cheese and extra-virgin olive oil.
After years of hard work, Piroso says they knew they had built something very special. Today, there are Pizza Rustica spots in Brickell, Sunny Isles Beach, Hollywood, Fort Lauderdale and Delray Beach in Florida (the Lincoln Road location is temporarily closed); Columbus, Ohio, and Paris, France. South Florida locations are listed in visitor guidebooks as must-visits, and the pizzas have won best-of lists over the past two and a half decades. It’s an impressive accomplishment in a fast-moving town with few culinary institutions.
